Whew! The season is getting away from us. The first spring flowers were delayed by somewhat cooler than normal early spring weather. Everything has made up for lost time in the last two weeks. It was hard to know where to point the camera for a while. This year I think there was a lot of overlap of early- and mid-spring blooming species. The large-flowered white trillium were right on schedule, however. They are just past their peak, but still gleaming in many corners of the Woodland Garden ravine. They were named Ohio’s official state wildflower in 1988, because they are found in all 88 counties.

The Garden is participating in a nationwide study called Project Budburst, which collects information on flower and leaf emergence dates all around the country. It’s a “citizen science” project, which means all kinds of people, especially school biology classes, are encouraged to record and contribute data for the study. The data will be useful in studying the impact of climate change on plant life.

Pictured above: Large-flowered trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)

Posted by Ann McCulloh