Central Ohio NatureSpring “Wild” Flowers
Maybe it’s just out of desperation but the last few days I’ve been looking in earnest for that first spring wildflower.
.
Walking along the river below Griggs Dam, eyes intently focused on the ground, checking an area that in past years had been home to spring wildflowers, it seemed as thought someone or something was watching me.
click on images for a better view
Song Sparrow watching, along the Scioto River below Griggs Dam
Then I spotted it, usually “it’s” a Dutchman’s Breeches or Marsh Marigold, but yesterday I got really excited when I spotted a new wildflower right next to some Snow Drops. The Snow Drops are a flower we’ve already seen in a few locations this spring. but this other guy, let’s see, yellow with six petals, not one I’ve seen before, and it’s just popped up through the leaf litter!
Winter-aconite, along the Scioto River below Griggs Dam.
Winter Aconite, study 2
Soon after returning home, I was on the internet in an effort to identify this new flower. Hum . . . , it appears to be Winter Aconite, and it’s in a number of locations all the way north to Hudson Bay! How cool is that! But what what’s this . . . , “A garden plant that occasionally escapes into the wild and naturalizes.” My heart sank, but just a little bit, as this wasn’t the first time we’d found a beautiful “wild” flower only to discover that it wasn’t originally wild. A few years ago it was a Star of Bethlehem. And besides this little guy had managed to pop up through the leaf litter. That’s got to be worth something.
The Snow Drops that were paling around with my newly discovered “wild” flower.
Snow Drops, along the Scioto River below Griggs Dam
Another “wild” flower from a few years back.
Star of Bethlehem, O’Shaughnessy Nature Preserve
Winter aconites are jolly hard to get established in a garden so a ‘wild’ one is a bonus.
That’s interesting. There are a lot of plants escaping into the wild and that’s usually not a good thing. Still, a flower is a flower and I would have welcomed seeing it.
All flowers were wild at one time before they were domesticated, so I’d say this counts as a wild flower.