Sunday, April 27, 2008

Blooming

Dutchman's Breeches
(Decentra cucullaria)

It's the second of the wild springtime cousins to come into view and another one of my favorite April findings.

The rich grey-green feathery clumps and nodding plumes of white pantaloon-shaped flowers spring out of drifts of dead leaves in sunny places, and they peer hopefully out of the granite of wooded cove and gorge and cliff as well. The best and most photogenic specimens always seem to be growing thirty feet up (or down) a towering wall of weathered stone. There are times when one just has to do a bit of climbing in April.

Again, it is not one of the more flamboyant residents of our woodland in April, but I have great affection for it as one of the first wild cousins to appear, and it always seems to be nodding in greeting when I find it.

5 comments:

Sorrow said...

like little white hearts with feet...

Shelli said...

Lovely. I've never seen them before.

Taexalia said...

Oh they are just darling.

Thanks for dropping by with the bosies. Much love to you.

Crayons said...

Hi Cate,

Hmmmm. My comment disappeared. Maybe it will resurface.

Thank you for these photos, especially the Dutchmen's breeches. I'm learning more names of woodland flowers this spring. I'd forgotten about bloodroot. Your posts make me pay more attention when I go outside.

Cathy said...

I love that you refer to the flora as "cousins". For a long time, I have thought of the spring greening and blooming as my lovely "sisters" getting dressed and adorning themselves in their finest!