Woodland Walk Wednesday - Come Take a Walk With Me!



Common Blue Violet in the white form- My first violet of the spring just bloomed today
! I just love them! I have collected quite a few different varieties that
  I will share with you as they bloom. Shortly they will all be
 filling my woodland path with beautiful drifts of whites,
 purples, yellow and deep magenta pink!



 I'm so glad you were able to join me this week!

I've been busy working in my yard, trying to get my fertilizers down before it rained. Having a shady yard and woodland path, I have alot of rhododendrons, azaleas, and many other acid loving plants, so I give them a fertilizer that is specially formulated for acid loving plants. I like to give them a boost of nutrients for the growing season!

Persian Pearl Tulip(Tulipa humilis persian pearl)- This striking little tulip
 has naturalized itself along the woodland path.
 When I first planted them, our dog was just a puppy.
 As I dug the holes and dropped the bulba into them,
 our puppy was right behind me digging them up and chewing on them!
 Needless to say, I would have had a lot more of these!

  For the first time since I created my woodland path, I decided to also add a little tiny bit of fertilizer to my woodland garden. After rejuvenating the paths, and mulching the beds, I thought, why not rejuvenate the plants that live there too!  Hopefully, there will be alot more blooms to enjoy this year!



Kaufmanniana Tulip (Variety-Ice Stick) - Beautiful species tulip that grows about 12"HT.



I love to always add a selection of bulbs to my plantings.

  Little by little through the years, I have added species tulips and a variety of other bulbs to my woodland path. Unlike the hybrid tulips in your flower garden, they don't need to be replaced each year or two, instead they will come up every year and naturalize into colonies if they are happy where they've been planted. However,The squirrels seem to like my crocus bulbs,
so I have given up on growing them!

 Bleeding Hearts are beautiful when in bloom, but I think they are
 so graceful and colorful when they are coming up too!

Every day there are new plants popping up through the mulch. I find they can be just as beautiful on their own. Many new shoots start out one color and then mature into another color. Here are a few that are coming up now.

 Spiderworts are grasslike plants with beautiful flowers.  I love the
striking colors of the chartreuse green and deep crimson color sprouts.



Saving the best for last, are the fiddle heads that poke up and begin to
 unfurl into beautiful ferns. I have many different types of ferns along my path each
one with its own unique looking fiddle heads and later fronds.

My  Hummingbird feeder in red is hanging off a garden hook that has a
 kiwi plant growing up it. The green birdfeeder I temporarily put into the stump
 of the tulip tree we just took down until I decide what to replace it with!
 This bird feeder is supposed to be squirrel proof,,
 but they quickly figured out how to adjust their weight
so they can quickly grab a seed or two!! They're so clever!!



Walking along the woodland path I can always hear a variety of birds happily chirping! The chipping sparrow, junco, nuthatch, tufted titmouse, downy woodpecker and the carolina wren are a few of the regular birds I see along my path and at my feeders. Today there was a large Turkey Vulture circling above our property.  I have to wonder if it is looking for lunch - my yard is like a buffet for the hawks and larger birds of prey. I have many bird feeders, a small fish pond, and lots of bluestone walls filled with chipmunks--- what more could they ask for?! 

Yesterday, our local Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter mentioned that the hummingbirds are back in NJ.  They reccommended putting out our hummingbird feeders now, since after their long migration they are hungry and looking for food.

 I decided to finish our walk

at the hummingbird feeder I just put up today! I can't wait to greet them back with one of their favorite treats. Usually, when they first arrive back to our area, they will fly up to my kitchen window and look in as if to say- I'm back, where's my treat?  This year I will surprise them and have it waiting for them! If you would like to track the hummingbirds in your area, click on this website and find out when you should put out your feeders!

http://www.hummingbird-guide.com/hummingbird-migration.html

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/humm/spring2012/update040412.html

Hope you enjoyed our walk! Come back next Wednesday to see what else is going on along the path.

I would love to hear from you !

Tomorrow I will be showing a few of my favorite garden items found on Etsy and Artfire!

Have a great week!

Tracey:-)

Spring is Here - Come Take a Walk With Me!



 Hellebores are one of the earliest flowers to greet you in the very early spring.

Here in NJ there are few woodland flowers that are evergreen.  This year we are having record blooms!

They are also known as Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose because of their resemblance of a wild rose and they often bloom around Lent. Deer won't touch the Many of the Hellebores are toxic if ingested. 

 

I think spring IS finally here!

 If you read my earlier post on Groundhogs day, I think

 Long Island's Groundhog 'Chuck' had the winning prediction - spring is here!

 My woodland path is beginning to wake up from this mild winter 

and becoming alive with spring flowers! I get so excited each spring when I can finally go outside and be surprised each day by another emerging plant, or even better---a flower!

Spring Beauties are ephemerals that bloom in the spring and then die back by the summer.
 Mine are in full bloom along my path. Sensitive to light conditions, Spring Beauties
will close up their flowers on a cloudy day and at night, then cheerfully open up
for you on a sunny day!

  

With camera in hand and sometimes my coffee too,

 I love to go out each day and take pictures of the nature that surrounds me. In the spring, my woods are filled with ephemerals (wondering how to pronounce that? i-ˈfem-rəls) which are plants that grow, flower, and die in a few days.


Many of the plants I'm sharing with you today are ephemerals. (Spring Beauties, Dutchman's Breeches,
Glories of the Snow, Winter Aconite, and Bloodroot)





 Dutchman's Breeches are another spring ephemeral woodland plant that has striking
white flowers that look like little britches turned upside down! One of my favorites! 
Soon Violets and Trilliums will be replacing these unique flowers as they die back until next spring!





These beautiful purple/blue Sharp Lobed Hepaticas
and the white Round lobed Hepaticas (below) grow to about 4"-6" ht.
Butterflies, moths, bees, and beetles are some of the known pollinators. 

 



These are the white Round Lobed Hepaticas.
 Both Hepaticas grow in nice little clumps and flower before their
 new leaves emerge from the ground. They retain many of their leaves
 through out the winter and are quickly replaced
as the new foliage unfolds.



Unfortunately, this winter we had to take down one of my favorite trees. It was an amazing Tulip Tree that was estimated to be 135' to 150' tall! Needless to say, we got a lot of wood and mulch from this beloved tree!

 Our Tulip Tree that had been taken down.

 We were able to replenish the mulch on our entire woodland path! Being so early in the season, we decided to bring in several truck loads of shredded mulch from our local recycling center to cover all the plant beds around our house and along the path! Our woods never looked so good in February.

Our newly mulched woodland path. 

Now its toward the end of March and each day I'm surprised with new plants popping through all that luscious dark brown mulch!



 This is a little sitting area along our path. The bench sits between two very large black
walnut trees.. The blue Glories of the Snow and white Dutchman's Breeches surround the rock.
  When they die back later in the spring, Sweet Woodruff, Trilliums and Bleeding Hearts
will take over.

 

 Glory of the Snow - Beautiful blue flowering spring bulbs that have naturalized
through out my yard and woods. They create a beautiful blue carpet of flowers
 right after my white Snowdrops are finished blooming.





 Winter Aconite -  Cute little yellow flowers that grow 1-2".
 They are will die back once the tree canopy gets dense by late spring.
All parts of this plant are poisonous.




 Bloodroot - Amazing little woodland plants that have beautiful white
 daisy like flowers. I love the way their one large leaf wraps around their stems
 while they are in flower, and then unfurl once the flower fades..
. They get their name because they store sap in an orange red rhizome
 below the soil. Eventually they will grow into large colonies!

I have been adding to this woodland path for about 26 years now.
 It has been a real labor of love! Not everyone weeds their woods (twice a year) so these native gems can grow and thrive! Most have been purchased from places that have propagated them from seed - and not collected from the wild. When starting these plants from seeds it can take YEARS before I will get a flower! But it is so worth it when I finally look down and see that very first bloom! There is just something so enchanting about a wildflower.....I've been in love with them since I was a child!

I hope you enjoyed our first walk and become a wildflower enthusiast too! I'd love to hear about your plants, any questions I can help you with, or just say hi!

My woodland path walks will be on Wednesdays! I hope you can join me! :-)

Tracey