Spring Rain

Spring is here! I have been so excited wanting to run outside and take a photograph of every single flower and leaf that unfurls, unfolds or pops open.  I love the rain, but with a toddler and camera in tow I have to dodge the raindrops, and there has been a lot of rain.  So sitting here playing around with a few images that I have gotten over the past week.... Here is an ode to rain. :) 

At the base of a grand tree are lovely Spring Beauty flowers and May Apples (I prefer to think of them as fairy and gnome umbrellas) 

The First Fern I Have Seen

This is the first fern I have seen this year in the marsh. I am so excited to go find more very soon. 

A flowering tree in the Indiana Dunes State Park. These little buds are just starting to open and appear to be waiting for the rain to stop.  I need to look this up to be sure of what it is, maybe someone could give a suggestion. :)

Hepatica

At Last

I love wildflowers. Every spring I get to know them a little bit more. The very first flowers of our season are just starting to rise from the ground in the forest. Here are photographs I have taken this week of the Hepatica flower. The first is titled "At Last" and can be found in my photography shop www.jenniferaitchison.etsy.com

In case you were wondering ...

Hepatica - genus of spring wildflowers of buttercup family Ranunculaceae; leaves three-lobed (in shape of human liver) and remain green all winter; delicate blue, purple, pink, or white flowers on short, hairy stems; grow to 3 in. tall; native to woods of eastern North America; also grown in Europe and Asia. Hepatica is named from its leaves, which, like the human liver (Greek hepar), have three lobes. It was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was thought an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, demulcent for slow-healing injuries and as a diuretic.