“Oh, the joy, the joy of Spring, a joy so grand, so absolute, so lavish and engaging, dipping my humble soul in magic, uplifting and exhilarating, instilling beauty and virtue into my days.”
― Amelia Dashwood

Here’s another one of my region’s ‘early bloomers’, Hepatica or Sharp Lobed Liver-Leaf. It seems to manage well in the cool spring temperatures because of the long hairs on the stem. As you may be able to see from this image, the leaves are just starting to develop.

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with my mother-in-law who’s approaching her 90th birthday and grew up in this area. She told me they called these May Flowers and that they were plentiful and sought after by the young girls for bouquets because of their long stems. And, of course, they were one of the first blooming flowers available in the spring.

These are quite a bit ahead this year and are just a few days ahead of their companion trout lilies, trilliums, and wild ginger, though I did spot an early Wake-Robin, which I will post tomorrow.

I had to shot at a slightly higher ISO than I prefer, since there was a bit of a breeze in the forest, forcing me into a higher shutter speed.

Can you tell, I love spring flowers?

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm
1/100 sec, f/40.0 ISO 400

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