If You Go Down In The Woods Today......in Kentucky

[alpines]

......well fortunately there were no Teddy bears having a picnic but Oh boy did we luck out today!

The Kentucky State Nature Preserve opened its doors to the Floracliff Nature Sanctuary in Fayette County, a 30 minute drive from our home, and originally the property of the late Mary E. Wharton, co-author of "Wildflowers & Ferns of Kentucky". Floracliff is approx 260 acres of woodland just outside Lexington, Kentucky, a city the size of Manchester, England, and is not open to the public.....for obvious reasons.
We spent about 3 hours there this afternoon and were enthralled by the abundance of wildflowers. We are sharing some photos with you all (or should that be y'all?) but for erythronium, read hundreds, for jeffersonias, read thousands. This is by far one of the most floriferous preserves we have visited and it's only the second week of Spring !!!
We hope you enjoy the wildflowers as much as we did.
Alan & Sherba

In order
1.  The creek and habitat at the Floracliff SNP
2.  Sessile trillium - Trillium sessile
3.  Trillium sessile close up
4.  Rue anemone - Anemonella thalictroides
5.  Anemonella thalictroides close up
6.  Pink form of Anemonella thalictroides
7.  Wild ginger - Asarum canadense
8.  Purple cress - Cardamine douglasii
9.  Purple cress - Cardamine douglasii - white form
10.Spring beauty - Claytonia virginica

[alpines]

Part 2
11. Corydalis flavula
12. Squirrel corn - Dicentra canadensis
13. Dutchman's breeches - Dicentra cucullaria
14. Yellow Trout Lily - Erythronium americanum
15. Erythronium flower in close up
16. Hepatica acutiloba
17. Hepatica habitat
18. Twinleaf - Jeffersonia diphylla in bud
19. Jeffersonia diphylla
20. Wild blue phlox - Phlox divaricata

[alpines]

...and finally...until our next walk in the woods

21. Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis
22. Sanguinaria habitat
23. Early saxifrage (who said we can't grow saxes in this humidity???) - Saxifraga virginiensis
......last but not least....and this should have been over weeks ago
24. Snow Trillium - Trillium nivale.....only known from two locations in Kentucky.

Hope you have enjoyed this 'walk' with us today.

[alpines]

Quoting Kristl Walek from 'Hepaticas of Kentucky' thread

I see the drifts of Trillium, Erythronium, Sanguinaria, Asarum, Ferns and I become homesick before I have even left...

Kristl......for your delectation

[ranunculus]

Beautiful......I really did ENJOY!!!!

Love and little blue scillas from Lancashire.

[Hans J]

Very interesting !!!

Best wishes from Germany
Hans

[Gerdk]

Thank you!
You are able to inspire an imagination as if walking in the woods myself.
Wonderful plants in a most beautiful landscape!

Gerd

[mark smyth]

Do wild Sanguinarias hold their petals longer than those in cultivation?

[alpines]

Thanks everyone for their kind comments.
Mark....the answer is a most definite  "NO'
They tend to come out very early in Spring while wind, rain and sometimes frost can appear out of the blue.
I have been photographing here in Spring for almost 8 years and this is the first time I've managed to see them in flower.
The same is true of the Jeffersonias. The flowers are also short lived on the plants, I guess it's a question of 'right place, right time' and a whole lot of luck to see them in the wild.....here in KY that is.
Alan

[art600]

Thanks for the wonderful photos.  Long may Nature be preserved.

[alpines]

I should have noted in my preamble that these plants are all growing in moist woods, on limestone, with a North West aspect.
Interestingly, the preserve is divided in two by the creek you see in the first photo. For two days prior to our visit, we had torrential rain and most of Kentucky was under a Flood Warning. The original plan was to walk on the other side of the creek, then cross over the creek and visit the NW side. However, the water was so high that it was deemed too dangerous to cross. The interesting point about this is that the yellow erythronim (E.americanum) only grows on the side we walked. On the other side of the creek, E.albidum is the sole representative. So on one side you have yellow erythroniums and on the other you have white !!!!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thank you Alan - marvelous pictures from the "Wild country" !
Don't hesitate if you have another walk .... 

[Armin]

Thank you for the spring impressions over the ocean!

[Maggi Young]

Alan, Sherba, how LOVELY! Can't tell you how much these walks mean to us here in Aberdeen.... we so admire these American beauties! Walk again... walk often! Thank you 

[ichristie]

I agree with Maggie, thank goodness I was able to look at your pictures as our weather here is most foul a wonderful sight all your pictures really made our day, cheers Ian the Christie kind