April 8, 10 am.
Spring has truly begun even if the rain just keeps coming. The warmth and moisture is making all the green plants push up and up. Sometimes when I am out for a while in the dampness, it seems things are growing right in front of my eyes! The many different colors of green is astounding. I can count at least 6 to 8 shades between the different trees, herbaceous plants and lichens and mosses. It is soothing to my spirit though I recall that I have a friend who says this time of the year makes her a little crazy because of all the growing things competing for the light, aiming higher and higher, she says it is a bit chaotic. I just see life in all its exuberance.
It is the time of the early wildflowers and one of my favorites in the valley is the Giant white wake robin, Trillium albidum. This has been a particularly good year for this species of flowering plant that is endemic to the western United States, native from northern California through Oregon to Washington. It is a rhizomitous ( this has a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes) herbaceous perennial plant, which means it comes up year after year if the right conditions occur. A warm, wet spring seems to be the right condition for a good bloom of this exquisite plant. The triangular, large bright green leaves sometimes are mottled with reddish brown spots and the 3 extremely white to pink petals measuring up to 11 centimeters (4.3 in) long, are sessile in the middle of them, nestled like clasping hands. Each stem produces one flower, which is held on top of the bracts. The fragrant flower also has three lance-shaped green sepals under and between the petals. As I walk around this woodland each group has me on my knees in rapturous pleasure at the shapes and graceful form of these plants
Recently I learned that in the UK this flower is a well known and loved garden flower. It would be a welcome addition to my garden too. It is a spectacular sight to see hundreds of these in our local woodlands.
