More From The Babes In The Woods

[alpines]

Once again, the terrible two have been out in the woods to see what Kentucky lovelies we can share with you this week.
Would you believe we've been to Anglin Falls again...four weeks running but we knew the trilliums would be out this week so we just HAD to. We also visited a new haunt. The Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve in Garrard Co. about 30 miles from home but well worth the 'trip'. More about the 'trip' later...so make sure you follow this thread!!!!
We had two days of torrential rain so we weren't quite sure what to expect but once again the flora came up trumps for us. So sit back and relax.
We'll start with AF and after last week's incredible display of Erythronium americanum, we were surprised to see that they had all but disappeared from view.
We promised you trilliums so here goes
1.  A colony of Trillium erectum
2.  Trillium erectum - Red
3.  Trillium erectum - White
4.  Trillium erectum - intermediate
5.  Trillium erectum with Viola rostrata
6.  Viola rostrata growing on moss on a big rock
7.  Viola rostrata long spur. This spur distinguishes this violet from V.conspersa which has a much shorter     spur.
8.  Viola sororia - the common wood violet
9.  Viola canadensis
10. Viola canadensis showing the pink bud. There are numerous white violets in the Eastern woodlands but you can tell canadensis by the pink coloring on the reverse of the petals.

[alpines]

A few more from Anglin Falls
1. Uvularia grandiflora
2. Bishops' Cap - Mitella diphylla
3. Dicentra cuccularia flowers
4. Dicentra cuccularia foliage

[alpines]

....and finally for this week, plants from the Tom Dorman SNP...........and the 'trip'.

Well it wasn't so much a trip as a near disaster.

The first photograph shows you a stone pavement which cuts through the preserve and which presumably fills up with water and flows down the valley. Well today it was actually pretty dry so I stood looking up the valley and took this photograph. Just as I was taking the shot, I heard a scream, turned and saw Sherba lying on her back on the pavement. Obviously, my first reaction was to run to her and WHAM!!!! Yours truly was on his back lying next to her. Fortunately, and thank God, we were both relatively unharmed, although Sherba has damaged a rib and I have pulled my neck muscles, but apart from being really shaken and aching from head to toe, we are both OK. There are obviously lessons to be learned from this and the first one is NEVER take anything for granted when walking in wild terrain. This is something we will look back on and have a chuckle about but it could have been a tragedy if we had both broken a limb. The second lesson to be learned is NEVER walk alone. These places are remote and the chance of someone passing by is unlikely. So while this won't deter us from heading into the woods again, it will stop us from being complacent.
Once we had dusted ourselves off and accepted the fact that nothing was requiring medical treatment, we carried on our journey in search of more flowers.....and here they are
1. The slippery slope of hell
2. The Wood Poppy - Stylophorum diphyllum
3. The Wood Poppy in bud
4. Sherba photographing the wood poppies. Note the mud on her trousers!!!!
5. Anemonella thalictroides
6. ..and was it all worth it? You betcha. The very first time either of us has seen a double form in the wild. And Sherba spotted it AFTER the fall.

There were lots of other delicious things in this area but nothing we haven't shown you before. It is a two mile loop trail, moderate to strenuous (you can say that again!!) but well worth the effort.
Incidentally, Sherba lost her cell phone and didn't realize till we got back to the car. So guess what? Off we went again.....and found it....on those slippery steps.
Next week we're going to the Mall....it's safer !!!!
Hope you enjoy this selection.
Alan & Sherba....shaken but not stirred

[ranunculus]

Hi you little babes in the woods,
It sounds like it could have been a hospital drama in the making.....you may have got a ride in a helicopter or a lift out clinging to a stretcher?
Hope the aches and bruises are significantly less than those being endured by all the East Lancashire Group members who helped to put up, run and dismantle the show tables yesterday....you were both sorely missed! 
Super images again and thanks a million to you both for posting....now, have a hot bath and a dose of mother's ruin.....
Love and little red stickers to you both from all your friends here in (was snowy) sunny Lancashire.

By the way, I got constant enquiries at the show as to the wellbeing and current situation of you two....perhaps a page in the Daily Telegraph might satisfy SOME of the interest?   

[Gerdk]

Thank you for all the pics you showed - it must be great to live near these natural beauties.
Most of the plants which are shown here do well in my conditions except
Viola rostrata (both, the American and Japanese ones).
Until now I haven't any idea why.
Do they experience a really cold winter there?

Gerd

[alpines]

Hello Gerd (I've spoken with Cliff this morning so I won't post a reply here),
So glad you enjoyed the pics.
You are correct.....living so close to these plants is a blessing and so inspiring. The truth is, so few people in Kentucky appreciate their natural beauty. In a way, that too is a blessing otherwise the SNPs would be full of people and we wouldn't get the same opportunities to photograph the flowers.

I have no idea why you can't grow rostrata where you live. It appears to be a most amenable plant and although not common, it is by no means rare either. It doesn't seem too fussy about habitat. It grows, as you saw, with trilliums, anemonellas, erythroniums.....and even on moss on the rocks. Maybe if you tried growing it with sphagnum moss in the compost it might respond to this.
Although winters can be cold here, this past winter has by no means been cold. We have had a few days below freezing but nothing severe.
I think it is one of the most precious violets (this and its near relative V.conspersa) but I haven't tried growing it myself yet. Maybe this year I will.
Alan

[Blue-bellied Frog]

Bonjour Alan & Sherba,

You have beautiful photos.
We still have 3 feet of snow on the ground today.
I Think your trillum white and pink, is the Trillium grandiflora.
It begin white and turn pink after few days.

[mark smyth]

Babes in the Wood reminds me of a radio show I did during the height of the rave scene. The boys in a young offenders centre werent allowed to listen to the radio after lights out. My show was 11pm to 2am. The YOC was in Hydebank Wood. I called them 'Babes in the Wood' so no-one would know they were listening

[David Nicholson]

Babes in the Wood reminds me of a radio show I did during the height of the rave scene. The boys in a young offenders centre werent allowed to listen to the radio after lights out. My show was 11pm to 2am. The YOC was in Hydebank Wood. I called them 'Babes in the Wood' so no-one would know they were listening

Didn't know you were a 'shockjock'!!

[mark smyth]

Not quite shock jock. Our show had the largest audience the radio station had. They panicked and got rid of us after about a year. They didnt want the station to be known as a rave station even thought our show was once a week. We then went pirate in a derelict house above west Belfast

[Maggi Young]

Bonjour Alan & Sherba,

You have beautiful photos.
We still have 3 feet of snow on the ground today.
I Think your trillum white and pink, is the Trillium grandiflora.
It begin white and turn pink after few days.

Bernard, you are correct that Trillium grandiflorum turns pink as it ages but the plant shown by Alan and Sherba is certainly a pink form of Trillium erectum

[Blue-bellied Frog]

I think you are right, Maggi.
The flowers are different.

[Maggi Young]

Yes, lovely grandiflorum pix, Bernard.

[alpines]

Bernard, Maggi,
Thanks for your comments.
I can understand your initial perception Bernard, Trilliums are such a difficult set of plants to identify, but Maggi is correct, it is definitely a variant of T.erectum. In the area these are growing, T.erectum is the dominant species. I'm not even sure if T.grandiflorum grows in Anglin Falls. I have never seen it in flower there but it does grow later here than T.sessile and T.erectum.
I have posted a composite picture to illustrate the differences.
And yes, I agree with Maggi....lovely pics of grandiflorum

[alpines]

Sorry, I should have said.
From left to right
Erectum/True Pink Grandiflorum/White Grandiflorum going pink