The old adage, “April showers bring May flowers,” is an easy one to remember and based on the amount of rain that we’ve had lately it should have produced a million flowers. There are all sorts of places to go looking for Nature’s little jewels, but one of my absolute favorite destinations is the High Ledges Wildlife Sanctuary in Shelburne. Remote and peaceful, High Ledges is both a relaxing and thrilling place to visit, but especially when the flowers are in bloom.
May is the perfect time of year to get out and see all sorts of flowers that bloom on the forest floor. On past visits to the sanctuary, I have seen flowers of all sorts almost anywhere I looked. The real trick is to be willing to slow down and peer into the underbrush along the road that leads to the ledges themselves. If you do this you will start to amass an impressive list of the small plants that live their unobtrusive lives in broad daylight, but almost invisibly.
One such species is the Solomon’s seal. This gorgeous plant has long stems that grow in graceful arches with parallel rows of lance-shaped flowers that droop somewhat from the stems. This creates something of a little “tunnel of leaves” under which the plants’ exquisite flowers hang like the bells of a cathedral. Again, the flowers are in pairs and they start out a subtle green color before they open up. Once open, they adopt a ghostly yellow-green color. Later in the year, those same flowers will be replaced with dark blue berries, so Solomon’s seal is beautiful throughout its life.
Another species of impeccable beauty is the pink Lady’s slipper, which grows in greater abundance at High Ledges. These members of the Lady’s slipper group are perhaps the most beautiful and when you get down at ground level to look at one up close they are amazing. Their hollow blossoms appear to be like soft bubbles of pink marshmallow and when backlit by the sun they truly glow with an intoxicating light.
Finally, to wrap things up, I want to mention the violets. Wild violets come in many different shades of purple and blue. There are also a few species that have white flowers and there are even a couple of species that have yellow flowers. Since I like the idea of a plant called a violet (which is a shade of purple) that has yellow flowers, I present to you a species called the downy yellow violet. Another small flower that grows low to the ground, you’ll have to keep your eyes open and be willing to stop and investigate if you see one.
After all of this rain and all of this waiting, I thought I would send a belated bouquet of wildflowers to all of the mothers we hold so dear to our hearts. I hope you all have a chance to get outside and enjoy nature in the coming weeks and let’s all cross our fingers for sun and blue skies for a change.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 21 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and Massachusetts State Parks, and currently teaches high school biology and physics. Visit speakingofnature.com for more information, or go to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.