Wednesday, April 9,

I had forgotten the spring flower names.  I've been so busy with work for the last 20 or more years, I've had little energy for casual walks in the woods. Timing is critical to viewing the woodland's bounty. The names of the flowers used to pop into my mind quickly and surely.  I couldn't believe that I had forgotten.  A wise woman helped me remember.

Bloodroot is a small, white daisy like flower that grows in the woods in the spring.  Bloodroot blooms before the leaves provide a shady canopy.  I was told that the Native Americans used the sap accumulating in the "root" of the plant as a dye.  These tiny, delicate flowers are very rare.  I do not advocate picking or collecting any part of them. 

To me, they signify "family."  The life blood that reaches from the past into the future.  It connects many generations.  This meaning comes from my own heart and does not represent any lore from any religion or philosophy.

Mom, Smokey and I took a walk at Vermilion Reservation.  We walked the Bacon Woods Trail out to the Bluebird Trail. We saw bloodroot, marsh marigolds, and a single spring beauty in bloom.  Dappled foliage of adder's tounge, trout lily, are up almost everywhere.  I saw a delicate new stalk hiding tiny purple buds, Virginia Bluebelle?