native's plant safari

the trees filled with perfect new leaves, free of the later summer scars inflicted by sun and insects. the tree flowering blocked the satellite again. tv is a winter comfort only, and as it turns out, its a good thing. because i dont have any business wasting precious outdoor time or evenings that could be filled with good meals, friends, books, and art........watching tv. but enough broke through to allow me the heads up on the tornado watch. V called to say be sure and go into the crawlspace under the cabin should i hear the freightrain of wind. but it was only a storm, remarkable in that there was so much lightning -one after another flickering the sky like an old 8mm movie. the next day was perfect and fresh, sparkling with raindrops balanced on the tips of slim branches.

on my walk i spotted ladyslippers pink and tender like a human heart. carpets of creeping phlox. tiny bird's foot yellow violets. sweet shrub. bloodroot. chickweed. solomon's seal. wild ginger. tiny native southern blue flag iris. lily of the valley. and great stands of trillium. Here are some of the beauties i encountered on my own little patch of paradise:

white trillium. a frequently poached plant, only to die at the new location. it takes 7 years for a trillium to mature to the blooming stage you see above

the southern blue flag. a tiny native iris with spearlike leaves

lady slipper. you find it where dead trees have decayed to a soft loam on the forest floor

little white stars. dont know what these are

the one red trillium on the entire place

lily of the valley

a fiddle head fern

dovey in the creeping phlox

the new puppy. "Trout". a little brown hound of the mountains