In our second attempt to reach Bluebell Island, we walked south on the Seneca Bluffs Trail from the parking area on Montevideo Road. Looking at the map, this comes close to the creek just below the island. We found, unfortunately, that when you get to that point, you’re on the top of the eponymous bluffs. We could have worked our way down to the creek but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. We could see that on the far bank of the creek the bluebells (Mertensia virginica) were blooming in great profusion. We saw other wildflowers and the hike was a success, in spite of the fact that we didn’t get to our planned destination. This yellow trout-lily (Erythronium americanum) is one of our prettiest spring flowers, photographed under some large Canadian hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis).
Tagged With: Erythronium
Erythronium americanum (Yellow Trout-Lily)
Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)
On our bluebell walk, we also saw a few trout lilies (Erythronium americanum). They are easy to miss but once you start seeing them, you see them everywhere. The leaves are a sort of mottled green and it’s common to find large patches of them. The flowers are, as you can see here, bright yellow. However, they look downward and the backs of the petals are not so bright, which camouflage them a bit. To get good pictures of them you have to be willing to get down on the ground, which has never been a problem for me.
Erythronium americanum (Trout Lily)
After the sunrise and morning worship service, we stopped at home and then took brunch to Cathy’s mom. By ‘we’ I mean Cathy and Dorothy. Dorothy came down for the weekend and we were glad to have her here. Brunch was relatively simple, with quiche Lorraine, fruit salad, Kings Hawaiian rolls, orange juice, and sparkling cider. We also brought a lamb cake that Cathy made yesterday and Dorothy decorated this morning.
From there we went to Berryville Road where it touches Seneca Creek. We walked upstream along the creek and enjoyed the Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and yellow trout-lilies (Erythronium americanum). It was perhaps a week or two before the real peak but it was still pretty amazing.