There has been fireworks lighting up the sky tonight, even though it isn’t the Fourth yet. There are wildflowers, like the hairy wild bergamot, which look like mini-fireworks near the ground. The unopened blooms of the Tuberous Grass-pink look like shooting rockets before they explode into a color display like the open blossoms. The Tuberous Grass-pink are native orchids to Wisconsin but with grass-like stems, they are not very noticeable unless they are blooming.
Tuberous Grass-pink
Another hot day did not lend itself to hiking in search of wildflowers, but these Wild Columbine, a native flower, almost look like they are on fire with their red and yellow blossoms.
Wild Columbine
The wild roses have started to bloom this year. And like many wildflowers, there are various legends and folklore stories for the flowers.
One story for the wild rose tells how abundant they once were and no noticed their decline until one summer there was no roses. Everyone was alarmed and at a meeting, the world was searched and a hummingbird found a solitary rose in a far off land. It was brought back and the medicine men and women tended the rose until it was healthy enough to give an account of the rose decline. The rose said the rabbits ate all the roses. The assembly was angry and the bears and wolves seized the rabbits by the ears and cuffed them, causing the rabbits ears to stretch and split their mouths open. The rose intervened so the animals didn’t kill all the rabbits as the rose stated the rest hadn’t watched out for the declining roses either. The rabbits retained their scars and roses received thorns to protect them but the rose never attain their former abundance.
The Disappearing Rose
The pink lady slipper flower, also known as the moccasin flower, is a wild native orchid. Pink lady’s slipper takes many years to go from seed to mature plants and can live to be twenty years old or more.
Among several Native American tribes, there are tales revolving around the pink lady slipper. One story is of a young Indian girl who embarks on a snow winter journey for desperately needed medicine for her family and tribe. On the journey she loses her moccasins, but continues on bloodying her feet, leaving a trail behind her. In the spring the bloody footprints are replaced by bright pink lady slipper orchid and all return to health. In other tales, the maiden does not survive after getting the medicine to her tribe and the beautiful flowers grow as a reminder of her bravery.
Pink Lady’s Slipper
Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 to commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. Today were was another type of ‘flag’ waving in the wind. A native iris, the Northern Blue Flag is often found at the margins of water. The blossom has large lobes that bees use as landing platforms to attract insects to the nectar glands. This wild iris is also a deer-resistant perennial.
Blue Flag on Flag Day
The name of this wildflower, Jack-in-the-pulpit, comes from looking like a preacher in a pulpit, although in this case, the preacher probably isn’t Jack as the plant is female. The double set of compound leaves indicates that the plant is female although the plants can change gender from year to year.
The male plants tend to be smaller and also allow pollinators, like the fungus gnat, to escape more easily due to a small hole at the bottom of the slippery spathe after coming into contact with pollen. Females flowers, without the hole, are more likely to trap the pollinators that may be carrying the male pollen, giving it a better chance of successful pollination.
No Jack in the Pulpit
The chilly, cloud day didn’t seem to spring like but I spotted a lonely Wild Geranium blooming in the ditch. So maybe after a sunny weekend, more blossoms will open up and fill the area with pink color.
Wild Geraniums
While I might not have found any Spring Beauties blooming yet, there were some Bloodroots buds poking up and may fully open in a few more day. And at least they only had some rain on them today and not snow this time.
Bloodroot Bud
The sunshine and temperatures reaching into the seventies finally made it feel like spring. And even though I still have a small pile of snow refusing to melt, I had a mosquito trying to land on my arm today so that makes it officially spring. Plus a walk through the wood revealed two little Hepaticas just opening up so the first wildflowers confirmed spring too.
Finally Spring
Mother Nature played a small April Fools’ Day joke today when I found a coating of new snow coating the ground. I would have appreciated a nice treat of wildflower blooming instead of the snow, even if they were white wildflowers like these bloodroots. Its name comes from bright red color of the sap when the stem is cut.
A Better White Coat
