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Two days ago the first violet was seen opening its purple blossoms. Between the rain and the wind that come along with the Spring rains, it’s been hard to get decent photos of them.

The Northern Downy Violet, Viola fimbriatula (V. sagittata var. ovata) is characterized by its elongated lance-shaped leaves with short stems. It is always one of the first violets to bloom in south-central PA.

The light violet to purple flowers are only slightly taller than the leaves and sit about 2-3 inches above the ground. The spur is small in this species of viola.

The two lateral lower petals are bearded with fine hairs. The lower middle petal has lines of deep purple. Stems of both flower and leaf are softly hairy, or downy.

Younger individuals of the northern downy violet have smaller oval-shaped leaves without lobes.

A similar violet is the arrow-leaved violet, Viola sagittata. Leaves are lance shaped with notches at the base, but the leaves are not downy. Flowers are about 4-5 inches off the ground.

A great resource for aiding indentification of New England violets is the Connecticut Botanical Society, where you can browse wildflowers by color, look up ferns and rare plants, and learn about gardening with native plants.

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Thanks to the very warm weather we are experiencing, there’s more activity in the way of what’s blooming this week! Quite a swing to be 15-20 degrees warmer than usual after the very late snows we had in central Pennsylvania and upstate New York.

The spiderwort leaves are at least 6 inches out of the ground now. The wild ginger leaves are just out of the surface and rising up from their shallow-rooted rhizomes.

Sassafras trees are enlarging their bright yellow-green buds. The buds in sunny areas are starting to open.

Cherry trees are blooming now in earnest. As you drive along the country roads no other trees are showing green leaves, except for the evergreens of course. The view is mostly gray and brown but here and there you see the white, dotted outline of Prunus trees in bloom. With the exceptionally warm weather the cherry blooms will not last long.

Pin cherry, Prunus pensylvanica, grows at the edge of the woods or in disturbed or opened areas of the forest. Blossoms overhead are in clusters of four or five.

Also this week I was surprised by the grape hyacinth that had doubled in size from last year. I had forgotten about it until I saw the deep purple blooms. What a terrific scent, too! Crocuses are history for 2007, and the star magnolia will be too very soon. Greenery of the lily-of-the-valley is coming up and there are others to look forward to…so stay tuned!

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Hepatica was in full bloom this past week. It is so refreshing - and surprising! - to see a beautiful cluster of dainty, pale blue to violet flowers on the otherwise dull forest floor of tan. Oak leaves rustle everywhere you step except the places where animals have worn them down to flakes along their paths.

Round-lobed hepatica growing out of the end of an old fallen tree.

Hepatica americana is quite variable in its growth habit. Sometimes the tri-lobed leaves are not present at the time of flowering. Sometimes the leaves are just as tan as the dead oak leaves. Others have green leaves that apparently survived winter just fine.

Hepatica blooming with no apparent leaves.

Four tan and quite dead-looking leaves are present on this woodland hepatica plant.

I saw a new leaf variety this year that I have not noted before nor read about in my trusty field guide books. Usually, the tri-lobed leaves are at ground level and may even be hidden under last year’s old tree leaves.

In the two images below you can see two types of leaves. The larger tri-lobed leaves are the norm. The smaller and erect leaves are taller than the blossoms and much smaller than the typical basal leaves. The small leaves are also somewhat tri-lobed, yet definitely have a more scalloped edge compared to the smooth edge of the typical leaves.

Small, erect leaves on this woodland plant are not typical of round-lobed hepatica.

Larger, tri-lobed leaves at ground level and small, erect leaves of hepatica.

Hepatica is also variable with respect to its blossom colors. Today’s images show the blooms to be white, light blue to violet, or shades of purple.

White blossoms of hepatica showing large sepal-like bracts and wide white petal-like sepals as compared to the purple flowered plants.

It is so pleasing to have one of my favorite woodland plants on our property. When everyone is itching to get outside after a long winter and those nice warmer days come along, a simple walk in the woods is easy entertainment. It can be so invigorating when you spot a new or even familiar plant showing off its Spring colors.

Makes me want to say, “Oh, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home!”

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