Bloodroot

The walk home took two hours. I took wildflower pictures: blue cress, pink storksbill hiding in the grass, tiny speedwell the size of a newborn's fingernail, the so-called common violet, and a magnificent patch of marsh marigold the size of a baseball diamond.

But the best were these bloodroots, out again under my powerline, a marshy steep hill, too overgrown even for the kids with their bottles and cans. The soil smells acidic. I found the fox's den, too. The spotted leaves of troutlily, and one lone one in bloom. But the bloodroot -- so many. They cover the slope.

They are one of my favourite flowers ... so early and delicate. If you've never gone looking for them, you may never have seen them. They bloom only for a few weeks, and and like overgrown, damp places: shady, mossy slopes. But where they thrive, they are thick.

More pictures of bloodroot: