Wednesday's Woodland Walk - Violets

 Viola pubescens

This week, most of the violets are blooming along our woodland path. Violets have always enchanted me since I was a little girl. I remember collecting all the beautiful purple/blue flowers into little bouquets before the lawn would be cut! They were so delicate! As I spent more and more time in the woods hiking, I happily discovered that there were many different colored violets!

Viola sororia (the white form)

When my husband and I moved into our home and created our woodland path, one of my goals was to start collecting a variety of violets. Right now I probably have 6-8 different varieties that I slowly gathered from friends yards and native wildflower sales.

Common Blue Violet- Viola sororia

 Although there are so many different flowers in bloom this week, I thought I would concentrate on these little beauties! Many people take violets for granted and don't really stop and enjoy these delicate flowers. The common blue or white violet can become a nuisance, popping up in little colonies in your lawn, but the next time you see them, stop and take another look. Better yet, make yourself a little bouquet! They are so charming in a little vase! You'll be amazed at their beauty!

I like to make little bouquets with some of my violets. My yellow violets haven't spread enough for me to want to steal a flower or two, but I'm sure next year I will be enjoying them in my little vases too!

Hairy Violet -Viola hirta

Hairy Violet -Viola hirta

 The violet is New Jersey's State Flower! It is also the state flower for Wisconson, Illinois, and Rhode Island.

 

I'm not sure what the name of this was, but it is a beautiful reddish purple color, very striking when its mixed with the other violets.

Sweet White Violet - Viola blanda

These small violets are very fragrant. They grow to a height of 3-5". Their shiny dark green leaves and flowers are on separate stems.

 -

'Freckles' Violet - Viola sororia 'Freckles'

Did you know that violet leaves are rich in vitamins A & C? Believe it or not, you can add them to your salads, cook them as greens (like spinach) or garnish cold soups. Their flowers are also edible, and can be made into candies and jellies!! I believe Martha Stewart explains how to sugar them and add them to cakes for edible decorations. They can also be used to decorate pastries, and fruit desserts. Just remember to only eat plants that were not sprayed with pesticides. If you chemically treat your lawn, you may not want to go grazing on it!!

Their fragrance can be extracted by steeping their flowers and leaves in water until it smells fragrant. This Violet Water, can then be used in teas, scent bedding or clothing (if rinsed or sprayed with it), and scent or flavor many other wonderful products.

Violets have also been used for medicinal purposes such as treating headaches, colds, coughs, sore throats and constipation.

Small grouping of violets along the path.

PS  Through the years I have lost many of the exact names of these flowers, so a few may be misnamed by me. Hopefully with a little more research I will be able to verify that these are accurately named!

Have you done anything special with violets? I'd love to hear from you!

 

Wednesday.s Woodland Walk

Creeping Woodland Phlox

 Woodland wildflowers have their own beautiful charm! After years of being an avid hiker, I am so happy to be able to enjoy many of these flowers in my own backyard!

The spring is my favorite season in the woods when everything is sprouting and the native flowers are blooming in a carpet of color. This week the creeping woodland phlox are beginning to bloom in pretty shades of purple and pink.

This week I thought I would give you little snap shots of pretty areas along my path.

White Foamflowers, Purple Violets, Pink Bleeding Hearts

Yellow Celandine Poppies along the path.

These cheerful bright yellow flowers line my woodland path.  I started with one little plant that originally died. Two years later I was surprised to see another little plant in bloom! I guess it had reseeded it self before it met its sad demise. Now, years later, I have celandine poppies scattered throughout the woods! They grow approximately 10-15", have nice deeply cut leaves and bloom throughout the summer.

Celandine Poppy - Stylophorum diphyllum

A little sitting area along the path. Mayapples are in the foreground (bottom left)

White Trilliums, Pink Bleeding Hearts, Celandine Poppies, and Virginia Blue bells.

 

 Virginia Blue Bells-  Mertensia virginica

Foamflower - Tirella cordifolia

I hope you enjoyed browsing!

Wednesday's Woodland Walk

                                    Wild Columbine - Aqueliga canadensis

Its hard to believe that it is mid April already! The weather has been perfect for planting and doing yard work.  The leaves are beginning to unfurl and the plants along the woodland path are beginning to rapidly fill in.  There are so many things in bloom right now that I'm not sure where to look first!

Pink Bleeding Hearts, Yellow Celandine Poppies & White Trilliums

In the foreground, are the lacy leaves of Dutchman's Breeches (Soon to disappear!)

Blooming in large colonies in different areas of my path are Wild Oats. They have one inch creamy yellow bell shaped flowers dangling beneath unstalked leaves. One might easily miss these 6-12" gems if not looking carefully. But I think they are charming!

Wild Oats - Uvularia sessilifolia

Wildflowers can sometimes be challenging even for the best of gardeners! For me, there have been several wildflowers that have been difficult to establish in my garden.

However, it makes them even more special to me as I walk along and spot them in bloom!

The Trout Lily is one of those baffling wildflowers that I patiently waited for 23 years to finally have one bloom!! Needless to say, I was doing the happy dance all day! Something my kids didn't appreciate!

Growing up, these amazing small 4-10" trout lilies grew along the banks of a woodland stream that ran through our property. Each spring they carpeted the banks with their beautiful clear yellow, lily-like flowers, and purplish brown mottled leaves, only to quietly disappear by the summer. I always loved them! I knew it may take up to 4-7 years for them to bloom, but 23 years! When transplanted along my path, they quickly grew like wildfire giving me a sea of beautiful leaves but no flowers until 2 years ago when I saw one little yellow flower blooming in the middle of all those leaves!! I couldn't believe my eyes, but here's the picture that captured that glorious moment!

Trout Lily (Dog Tooth Violet) - Erythronium americanum

This lovely plant has two common names. Many people refer to it by Trout Lily because it blooms at the beginning of Trout season and their leaves look similar to brook trout swimming under the water of rippling streams. Dog Tooth Violet, refers to the tooth-like shape of its white underground bulb.

Wild Columbine - Aquilega canadensis

This striking perennial wildflower jumps out at you with its gorgeous one to two inch red and yellow nodding flowers! Hummingbirds love to visit this native wildflower for its nectar from its long backward pointing spurs or tubes. Certain insects and Hummingbirds use their long tongues to extract the nectar as they hover below the blooms.

I often see columbines in rocky areas tucked inbetween rocks or cliffs when I hike. It grows one to two feet, is a short lived perennial (usually lasting for 3-4 years), and should reseed itself.

I have experimented planting this wildflower in many different areas of my woodland path, only to be disappointed that it has never reseeded itself for me! So every couple of  years I find myself purchasing another plant or two. I really hope this one will like its spot and reseed for me! There is also a yellow form of this columbine which is just as beautiful, but equally difficult for me to keep in my woodland garden! If anyone has a tip on how to get it to reseed let me know!

Wood Anemone - Anemone quinquefolia

Another beautiful little gem of a plant! I love its one inch clear white flowers and delicate leaves. It grows to about 4-8" on slender stems that often will tremble in the breeze, giving it another nickname called Wind Flowers.

 

Miterwort - Mitella diphylla

This wonderful wildflower is another native plant that you may just walk by without taking a second look! Nestled in front of two rocks along my path, this is slowly spreading into a nice little colony!

If you look closely, it has amazing tiny white fringed flowers(1/6") that bloom along a slender stem. It grows to 8-18", mine grow more like 10-12"tall. The fruit capsule is the shape of a bishop's miter or small cap releasing small black seeds. Sometimes people call it Bishop's Cap!

 

Virginia Bluebells - Mertensia virginica

I couldn't wait for my virginia bluebells to spread into a large area where my native Rhododendrons are growing.  I love their beautiful pink flower buds that turn into gorgeous blue trumpet-like flowers. They are so pretty blooming along my woodland path! They grow 8"-2' and have gray/green leaves that die back and go dormant until next spring.

You might be asking yourself what type of plants do I have after all these wildflowers go dormant? All kinds, is my answer! Just wait and see how the the woodland flora takes over, quickly covering the dying ephemerals. By mid-summer, one would never know there were wonderful native plants lying dormant, just waiting to wow me with their spring show again next year!

Wednesday's Woodland Walk

Dutchman's Breeches

The early spring wildflowers along my woodland path have finally burst into full bloom this week! After a few days of rain, the warmth of the sun seemed to bring the woods back to life from the long cold winter! Here are a few of the wonderful flowers that are making me smile this week!

The Dutchman's Breeches (above picture) are one of my favorites! The odd flower looks like a pair of pants turned upside down (personally, I think they look like teeth!) They grow up to 12" and have finely cut leaves. Once these plants got established in my woods they began multiplying into large clumps that I divided and transplanted into different areas of the path. After blooming, their leaves die back in the summer.  (Interesting fact: Bumble bees are one of the only insects that can reach deep inside the flower with their long tongues to get the nectar.)

They look great with the blue snow glories shown in the picture!

Snow Glories

Beautiful  snow glories are beginning to carpet the woodland floor in a sea of blue patches. These lovely star shaped flowers spread quickly and grow to about 4-6". They go dormant after blooming and disappear by the summer.

Spring  Beauty

These lovely white to pink dainty native flowers can be enjoyed only when its sunny out! These interesting flowers close each night, on cloudy days, and if you try to pick them! Needless to say, enjoy them where they are growing! Their tubers are edible, but I think I will test that out some other time!

Growing to 6-12" high, they slowly spread by self seeding and spreading rhizomes. After blooming they die back and go dormant until next spring.

Bloodroot

When my husband and I went to the Smokey Mountains, there was a store that was selling these little gems in small packets of 3. I bought a pack just to see if they would live in this area. Wildflowers are quite particular about their habitats and I was quite surprised after two years I finally saw a single white flower popping up from the leaves. 20 years later I have been able to transplant little groups of these wonderful flowers around my path. I just love how they popup with the single leaf wrapped around the stem and then slowly open up as the flower blooms. Bloodroot has gorgeous white petatls and  received its name for the red juice within its rhizome. It grows 6-9" and will usually go dormant in the summer on my path when there is not enough rain.

Another interesting fact about this plant is when the seed pod splits open to release the seeds they are often collected by ants and carried away for them to eat the nutrituious outer area of the seed. That helps the bloodroot spread to other areas.

  I hope to share more awesome flowers next week. I love this time of year. Each day there is something new to be delighted by! Now is a wonderful time to go hiking in your local woods. Grab your wildflower guide and let me know what you discovered. Just to remind you, wildflowers should never be dug up from public lands unless you have permission! Many local garden clubs or wildflower sanctuaries have annual sales. I live about an hour away from Bowman's Hill Wildflower Sanctuary in PA , over the years I have purchased many of my wildflowers at their annual plant sale. It's first come, first served, so if anyone decides to go to one of these plant sales, go early for the best selection!

Have a great day!

 

Woodland Walk Wednesdays - Early Spring Hepaticas

There is nothing more wonderful than taking a walk in the woods and discovering a beautiful wildflower blooming along the path! These gorgeous blue Hepaticas (hepatica americana) with their dainty creamy white stamens are such a treat to see blooming just as the snowdrops are beginning to fade.

There are two common species of hepaticas that are distinguished by the shape of their three-lobed leaves. On my woodland path, I have both the sharp-lobed hepaticas and the round-lobed hepaticas. They bloom in a range of whites, pinks, purples and blues. The pictures show the round lobed hepaticas, which in my garden, bloom a little earlier than the sharp lobed hepaticas.

When we moved into our home many years ago, it was a far cry from the house we dreamed of, but, it was our little slice of heaven on a pretty wooded 3/4 acre lot.  Being avid hikers, we decided to carve out several paths through our woods so we could enjoy hiking through our property everyday if we wanted!  With a little thought as to where we wanted to enter into the woods and exit, we began clearing a path with a machete. We let several interesting areas like the large rock we could sit on, the two mature black walnut trees that grow within a few feet of each other, and the wild raspberry patch guide the direction of where the path would go.

We had one of our local tree services come and deliver wood chips for the path. Many times they are happy to deliver it for free if they are working in the area. It isn't aged mulch or finely shredded, it's the chipped trees that they just cut down. Not great for garden beds near the house or foundation, but perfect for a woodland path or beds where you don't mind looking at it until it ages to a nice grey or brown.

It was a lot of work moving 16 cubic yds. of woodchips from the driveway, up a steep hill, across the lawn, and into the woods, one wheel barrel at a time! But it was so worth it!  We enjoy our woodland path almost every day and all our dogs have loved it too! 

My goal was to keep the beautiful natural woods we had, but enhance them with more of our native wildflowers, trees and shrubs.  I had been collecting wildflowers for several years in a little garden I had at the cottage we rented. When we moved, I dug them up and brought them all with me!

This is when my adventure began!

I really learned a tremendous amount about wildflower gardening and would love to share some of this with you. If you're interested, join me each wednesday to learn more about how I developed our woodland path, tips on how to garden with native wildflowers, and see what's blooming along our path! 

 I would love to hear from you! Feel free to jump in and share any tips, ideas or questions you may have!

Happy Gardening!
Tracey

  

Wonderful Signs of Spring!!

  I spotted my first butterfly of the season!

This weekend was filled with the wonders of spring! As I worked in the yard enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sound of the birds, a fluttering of orange caught my eye! When I took a closer look, there was my first butterfly of the season happily flittering  from snowdrop to snowdrop!

'Peek-a-Boo' is a red earred slider.

I brought our little turtle outside to soak up some sun too! This upside down cheese cake container works perfect for his outdoor spa! His poor shell needs some sunshine after hiding under a stone all winter. It will look good after a few good days

 in the sun.:-)

When I finished raking some of our plant beds, I decided to clean out the filters in our backyard pond. With all the rain we had, quite a bit of debris had fallen into the pond that needed to be fished out. As I reached for a stick, I was startled by a little frog!

I guess our hibernating pond frogs were coming out to enjoy the sun too, because I spotted another one sitting between the stones underneath the waterfall! It was a long cold winter and I was so happy to see them again!

We have a family of gray squirrels that have made a home in the large tulip tree outside our kitchen window. Each spring they chase each other all over our yard, and before we know it, we have alot of little squirrels to watch! Finished with cleaning the pond, I turned around to see a tail sticking out of our birdfeeder! Hmmm, he almost got away with filling up on my gourmet birdseed! He was too cute! I almost felt bad chasing him out of there!

After a long weekend of working in the yard and driving my son back and forth to hockey practice I was ready to relax and wait for my husband and daughter to arrive home from their weekend in Maryland at a soccer tournament! Just as they arrived I saw my second butterfly of the season!

I'm so happy spring has arrived!!

Time To Start Planning Your Vegetable Garden!

Gardener's Supply Company

Spring is finally here, and it's that time to start planning your vegetable garden! Each year I like to start some of my vegetables by seed. It's so satisfying to see that first little sprout come up!

 Most of my vegetables and herbs have been incorporated into my plant beds. I like to do this because it doesn't scream vegetable garden! However, the downfall of this strategy for me, has been forgetting about them!! I may try a raised bed veggie garden this year if I can find a spot in the sun.

While browsing around the web for this years plants, I found that the Garden Supply Company has a new Kitchen Garden Planning Tool that helps you design your own vegetable and herb garden. It's easy and fun to use!

For those of you who don't want to custom design your garden, they

 also provide eight pre-planned gardens. They are all designed for a 3ft. x 6ft. raised bed  like the above picture of the All American Garden or the Fun Children's Garden below.

Gardener's Supply Company

It's great to get the kids involved in growing their own vegetables. This garden looks perfect for children. I've always liked to get my children involved in helping me plant our vegetables.   They loved being able to go out and munch on the lettuce or whatever was ready to be harvested.  They even began to like spinach!

So, if you are thinking about starting a garden, take a peek at this site and see if you can find a garden that fits your taste. I thought the Salad bar Garden  and the Salsa and Tomato Sauce Garden, sounds like fun too!
All you have to do is print out the plan that's right for you, the planting guide, and you're ready to go!

If you have a favorite site for purchasing your seeds or vegetables, share it with us!
White Flower Farm is also another favorite of mine!

Happy Planning!:-)

Lucky Finds For the Irish!! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' by bekahjennings on etsy.

 I have always loved being part Irish! And it's fun to shout it out once a year on St. Patrick's Day! 

Here are a few cute items that have St. Patricks Day written all over them!!

Luck' O the Irish St Patrick's Day Lucky Stars by Deliverance05 at Etsy.

They say Acorns don't fall far from the tree!! These are adorable!

They must have fallen from an Irish Family Tree!

Saint Patrick's Day Wool Acorn Decorations by greenbaboondesigns on Etsy.

I love Shamrocks! This picture looks so lush and refreshing. It makes me want to lie down in them and dream of finding that pot of Gold!!

The Shamrock....Ireland Print by IrelandsEye on Etsy.

During my College years I worked during the summers at an Irish Pub on Cape Cod, Mass. They always had live Irish Bands and we would dance all night while we waitressed. Its amazing I never dropped my tray full of drinks! Its also where I learned to love Guiness Stout and all the other great beers!  When I saw this art print, it brought back all those wonderful summertime memories!!

St. Patrick's Day 'Yummy Cold Froth/Beer and Hops' Art Print by Studio3ten on Etsy.

Cheers Everyone!!

 Have a wonderful St. Patricks Day!

Snowdrops! First Signs of Spring!

After a long snowy winter, I am so happy to see my lovely snowdrops beginning to bloom! The past five days of rain, washed away the piles of snow that covered our yard, and exposed these beautiful little plants. They are always the first flowers to bloom in my yard and are always a welcomed site! When I see them blooming, I know that spring is just around the corner!

The botanical name for these beautiful spring flowers is Galanthus nivalis, the common name is Snowdrops. I received a handfull of these little 4" flowers from a friend many years ago. When we bought our current house I dug my little patch of bulbs up and brought them with me.  Through the years, they have spread everywhere in my yard! I love them! When big groups of them are in bloom, they look like drifts of snow!

One of my favorite things to do each year is share a small pot of them with family, special friends, and neighbors! I have introduced many gardens across the east coast with these friendly little flowers!

This gorgeous photo was taken by André Karwath aka Aka.

 Hopefully the rain will stop soon so I can get a few photos of my own!

A Lucky Win!

Bird watching has always been a passion of mine! While browsing around the internet, I happened to stumble upon Dave Ingram's wonderful blog that had a contest to win this newest edition of NWF Field Guide to Birds of North America. I am quite excited because my current field guide, looks like its been well loved (and it has!!). It's been time to get a new one for some time, but with all my sitings written near its pictures, it was hard to think of replacing it.

So thank you Dave for helping me get over this hurdle!! I'm excited to get a fresh start, I just needed a little push!

Book Review – Field Guide to Birds of North America

Dave's Natural History Blog is a must to visit if you love nature photography. He captures the nature of British Columbia and beyond with his beautiful photographs and well written articles. Both are interesting and informative. It has quickly become one of my favorite blogs to visit!  

 http://daveingram.ca/

Bringing Home The Silver!

USA vs. Canada

Today is the last day of the 2010 Winter Olympics!

Both my sons play Club Hockey, so it was only fitting for our family to be gathered around the TV rooting our USA Hockey Team as they rivaled Canada for the Gold! 

It was a great game and although USA is bringing home the Silver, they did a Golden job on the ice and should be proud! 

 

For more information on today's game go to http://www.usahockey.com/

Both great pictures are Getty Images and more can be found on the above site.

Snow Dog!

 An afternoon of fun in the snow!

  Sniffing for Chipmunks!

Patiently waiting with a snow covered nose for anything to move in the woods!

 

Chasing birds from the feeder!

 Hearing the words "Do you want a treat"