MATCHLESS WILDFLOWERS
I can never get so crabby that wildflowers won't bring me around. All winter I compile the mean, grumpy, fed-up, burned out, snippy list. Every time it snows or rain, I review that list and get mad all over again. But let one yellow violet push aside a wet, brown leaf, and I wonder what the heck got me so peeved. A world that carpets the woods with Virginia Bluebells does not care for my stupid irritations. It goes right on blooming and finally, I will give in. Woods, you had me at Anemone.
I don't care how many guidebooks you own or how nimbly your fingers fly through Google-land, you cannot identify some of those wildflowers that appear in the spring. It's maddening. You find the picture of the specimen you hold in your hand, your heart races, and then the book says, no, that flower has green sepals and they are always in pairs. Your flower has yellow sepals. Of course you can always walk with your friend, Robert, who teaches you that when in doubt, call it a Spring Beauty.
I pity those of you who have flowers all year round. It's like you get all the birthday presents you will ever get all at once. There's no more anticipation, surprise, discovery. From the bleak mid-winter come the indomitable and delicate blossoms of spring. Try your hand at matching these flowers with their name. There may be multiple pictures for each name.
Virginia Bluebells Waterleaf Wild Rose
Bloodroot Wild Orchis Multiflora Rose
Blue Vervain Phlox Wintercress
Chicory Rue Anemone Yellow Sweet Clover
Wild Columbine Spring Beauty Arrowhead
Daisy Canada Thistle Bellwort
Dutchman's Breeches Turk's Cap Buttercup
Forkleaf Toothwort Violets
Jack-in-the-Pulpit Dog Tooth Violet
May Apple Gooseberry Blossoms
Wild Geranium Clover
Lobelia
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