The Chronology of Spring Flowers

[w7xman]

Wood anemone

Northern whites are still very slow and grey/white. I did find some wood anemonies popping up in Southern areas yesterday...

I was hoping to find more flowers, but my dog found a porky, so the trip was cut short.

Am going on a hike (sans puppy) either near squam or chocurua today, hope to have better report and more flowers!

 

[jn316]

On lower parts Moose Mtn today only a couple trout lilies and a few spring beauties; the South Peak should be in bloom with both next week.

 

[J&J]

Flowers seen on the SRK Greenway Saturday 5/5/07

Northern White Violet

Round Leaved Yellow Violet

Coltsfoot

Bluets

 

[gaiagirl]

We had a Tin Mountain Spring Ephemeral trip yesterday, and it was not disappointing. We saw a lot of stuff at the base of Humphrey's Ledge. I don't have my list right here with me but it included: Hepatica, Trout Lily, Various violets including Canada and Round-leaved yellow, Wild Oats, Red Trillium, Wood Anemone, Dutchman's Britches, Blue Cohosh, etc.
Not everything is in flower yet, but it should be soon. The trillium, violets, and trout lily were in bloom, at least in this cove forest location.

 

[w7xman]

This thread is proving very helpful!

Drove through Pinkham Notch today, the trilliums were in various states of unbloom. Went to some trails in Tamworth today, and found what I was after!

Red Trilliums, sessile bellwort, Trout Lily all beginning to bloom, and the ferns are popping up too...

Some Pictures:

 

[gaiagirl]

Wow, nice pics Jim! I spent the day yesterday watching other people take photos and feeling jealous. Seeing your photos, now I'm really jealous! Another Tin Mountains Conservation Center Wildflower walk is coming up on June 2 meeting at the Dunkin' Donuts in Glen at 8AM. The walk itself is at Weeks State Park and some of the usuals up there are pretty rare in these parts --- wild calla lily, yellow lady slippers, etc. Should be a good day. I'll post it formally as the day gets closer.

 

[Jack Waldron]

Ossipee Flowers

Hiked the Larcoms on Saturday, saw Trailing Arbutus and Red Trillium in bloom, saw Wild Oats onthe verge of blooming.

 

[TJ aka Teej]

Really great pics!

Great thread!

 

[w7xman]

Red Trilliums and Wild Oats now in bloom at the lower reaches and elevations in Pinkham Notch...

Also saw trailing arbitus in the woods around North Conway...

The hobble bush is getting ready to pop as well. Should be getting near prime wildflowers in the Notches for the next two weekends!

Here's a trillium from lower Rt 16 just inside the forest boundary...

 

[dvbl]

Since you all like those flower pix, I'll pass along something the teacher told us in a photography class. When he goes out to take flower pix, he brings along one of those cheap green felt rugs used to wrap around the base of a Christmas tree. He uses this to create a fuzzy out-of-focus (minimum depth of field for flower close ups, right?) background. He simply lays it on the ground wherever his background for the shot will be. Yes, it's "cheating", but so is Adobe PS . Obviously, not a good idea if you're shooting green plants, but you get the idea. He said many an award winning flower pic has been ruined by a loud background. Not a panacea but it works in many cases.

 

[forestgnome]

he brings along one of those cheap green felt rugs used to wrap around the base of a Christmas tree. Yes, it's "cheating", but so is Adobe PS .

Thanks for the suggestion. I wouldn't consider that cheating, but rather ruining the scene with a foreign piece of synthetic material. I think most VFTTers interested in photographing wildflowers are trying to best capture a real scene for sharing, rather than create an award winner or a commercially viable stock photo. However, if that's the case, than the suggestion sounds like it would work well.

Also, Adobe PS is not neccessarily "cheating". I use PS to do simple adjustments that film photographers would do in the darkroom, such as brightness and contrast adjustments. The subject of "cheating" is very complex and controversial, and we could have very legnthy discussions about it.

Happy Trails

 

[dvbl]

...Also, Adobe PS is not neccessarily "cheating". I use PS to do simple adjustments that film photographers would do in the darkroom, such as brightness and contrast adjustments. The subject of "cheating" is very complex and controversial, and we could have very legnthy discussions about it.

Happy Trails

You use PS for brightness and contrast. But many others use it to remove power-lines or insert a blue sky with nice white puffy clouds. So, artificially creating a fuzzy green grass background for them could be just be another tool to use, and certainly no worse than using computer tricks to create fake clouds. I was just throwing the idea out there. I agree with you that the "cheating" topic is a no-win discussion that can go on and on and on. I further agree with you that I would much rather look at natural pictures like the majority posted here, rather than the "plastic" touched-up-to-death stuff in magazines. I'll take a real 8 over a fake 10.

 

[w7xman]

Thanks for the tips on shooting flowers.

I'm glad so many pictures are getting posted, but it need not be a picture thread, as I started it to get a handle on simple reports of what's blooming where and when this spring. Pictures are merely a bonus.

Great reports so far, thanks all!
~w7x

 

[audrey]

I imagine that the green background would also make focusing simpler, but sometimes (if you're not after a "scientific" example of the species) the background gives wonderful context, such as a bright red paintbrush against vivid pink Utah rock, or striped wintergreen leaves on an Oriental carpet of fallen fall leaves. I must admit that often the background outshines the subject!

 

[forestgnome]

Saw my first open trilliums (white) and hobblebush blossoms along the Kancamagus. I think this coming weekend will be excellent for those two.



Happy Trails.

 

[arghman]

Tons of trail karma to the first person to post a pic of diapensia in bloom from this year (probably won't be me) (technicality: it should be from one of the alpine areas in the northeast, not from its arctic range or in someone's rock garden.)

how are the S. Presis at this point? one of the trail conditions mentioned that the Crawford path alternated between bare sections & snow in the trees. much of the area around Eisenhower is so wind-swept that I imagine there wouldn't be much snow.

 

[w7xman]

I can't believe how much the flowers and general green in the whites has changed in the past 8 days since I last walked through the woods. Abundant trillums right up through Pinkham notch, with a bit of hobblebush starting to go as well.

Here's my first painted trillium of the season:

 

[forestgnome]

Jim, really nice!

I'm excited for this weekend. Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring!

Happy Trails

 

[J&J]

Jack-in-the-pulpit seen Saturday 5-12-07 on the Wapack Trail in southern NH.

Spring Beauties also seen on the Wapack Trail

 

[w7xman]

I took a number of short walks around appalachia yesterday. Lots of Painted trillium now, purple trillium are past their prime. Also saw trout lillies, white and yellow violets, wood anemones, and wild oats. A few hobblebush is in bloom, but not as many as I remembered. Perhaps I missed it this year, or maybe it just didn't bloom as heavy...

No Lady slippers of Rhodora yet...looking forward to the first alerts to that in the whites...