Northern downy violets and common blue violets were very pretty for the last month. At our location in south-central Pennsylvania the common violet comes into full bloom about a week after the northern violets are peaking in their abundance.

Downy northern violet starts blooming here during the last week of April. As a community they bloom for at least a couple of weeks with new flowers springing up in between the long scalloped leaves of any given plant. Violet plants that receive only morning sun started blooming later than those in the open yard, so our entire blooming season for these pretty purple violets lasts about a month.

Downy leaves of the downy northern violet.

Common blue violet in the lawn.

The easiest way to tell the difference between downy northern violet and the common blue violet is to look at their leaves. The downy northern has elongated leaves with scalloped edges and spurs on each side at the base of each leaf. The first leaves of the season are shorter and somewhat rounded and they may be confused with the common blue violet leaves which are heart-shaped leaves with scalloped edges.

Elongated downy northern violet leaves.

Common blue violet with heart-shaped leaves.

We appeared to have lost the only two examples of arrow-leaved violets this winter. These plants were different than the much more plentiful common blue and downy northern violets. The leaves were large and the whole plant noticeable from a distance merely due to its size, as compared to the diminutive downy northern violets. The blooms weren’t much different as I remember, but the leaves were more wedge-shaped than the upright and narrow leaves of the downy northern violet.

Arrow-leaved violet.

We decided to hold off on making violet jelly this year. We still have one jar and plenty of other jellies in the pantry, so as Momma would say, “Waste not, want not!” We’ll save the sugar for making blackberry jelly or maybe elderberry jelly in 2 or 3 months.

The protective hoods are well camouflaged to blend in with their surroundings. The colorful skunk cabbage hoods are yellow to light green and streaked with slashes and spots of maroon and brown. Most hoods are variegated while a few are mostly one color. It’s surprising how well these bright colors blend into the leaves on the forest floor. Unless you know what you’re looking for they can easily be missed.

Maroon-streaked yellow hood of skunk cabbage.

Yellow hood of skunk cabbage with maroon blotches.

Yellow-green and maroon hood of skunk cabbage.

Purple or maroon hoods of skunk cabbage.

Camouflaged hoods of five skunk cabbage plants at the creek.

Flowers may be present for up to a few weeks before the leaves emerge from the wet ground like “rolled-up cigars”. As the leaves grow in size quickly they begin to uncurl and become these mammoth cabbage-like leaves, hence the name “skunk cabbage”.

Flowers inside the hood.

Purple sphere with flowers inside hood.

Yellow sphere with flowers inside hood.

As I was stooping down to take these pictures it did smell like a skunk had recently passed that way. Of course it was the scent of the flowers that I was detecting. Their skunky smell beckons the flies that pollinate them. A few were buzzing around the area when I stopped by.

If you haven’t seen skunk cabbage before, now is a good time to look for it. The flowers are all but gone and dwarfed by the enormous leaves, but that makes it easier to spot these plants from afar.

Skunk cabbage leaves appearing at the creek.

The leaves and colorful hood of skunk cabbage.

Look for skunk cabbage near water sources and in bottom lands. Skunk cabbage leaves grow out while the deciduous trees are still bare. The hooded flowers hide among leaves really well and they won’t be seen from a distance, so it’s much easier to find a patch of skunk cabbage once the leaves have appeared. The plants photographed here were growing next to or in a small stream or creek in the mountains in Central Pennsylvania.

After you’ve found a colony of these perennial plants, make a mental note of the location so you’ll be able to return there next year in early Spring to see the flowers.

Down in town, literally, there’s no snow to be found at the level of the Juniata River in Millerstown about 300-400 ft. in elevation. Mountain ridge tops in the area are typically 800-1200 ft. in elevation so they’re a few degrees colder at this time of year.

Flower blooming, which a lot of us use to judge that it really finally IS spring, may differ by some days when comparing sites with a few hundred feet difference in elevation. The only way to know what’s blooming out there is to go and look.

I was curious to see if skunk cabbage was blooming down near the river so I took a walk at the Millerstown Area Community Park. Photos were taken there on 15 March 2013. Up and down the park I walked but I didn’t spot one little hood poking its head out of the ground.

There’s been a lot of activity with respect to improving this area park, like asphalting walking paths, installing park benches, and erecting an amphitheater. I wondered if the land near the river was groomed because I swear that I saw skunk cabbage there years before. So, that will be a topic for another post.

Sycamore trees by the river.

The American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, is a have-to-be-near-water kind of tree. It’s tolerant of poorly draining soil, meaning it can have its roots stay wet. American sycamores are found in the eastern United States, especially near streams and rivers and their flood plains.

Why do I like sycamores? Their angular leaves are huge and immediately identifiable, their seed balls break open to release a whole bunch of seeds that travel on the wind, and they have really funky-looking, unique bark.

Looking up a sycamore tree with its light, smooth spotted bark.

The bark of the sycamore peels off in sheets and pieces to reveal white patches of the inner bark. The overall feel and look of this tree’s bark is smooth and it appears splotched with shades of grey. The light-colored bark helps to identify this tree from a distance. Note the half-dozen sycamores in the upper photo. Knowing this little factoid can help one find water because that’s where the sycamore grows – near water.

We’ve now passed Meteorological Spring, which was on March 1st. Meteorological spring is based on temperature and it follows Meteorological Winter, which is defined as the three coldest months or December, January and February. Meteorological spring is made up of the months March, April and May. Of course there are meteorological summer and meteorological autumn months, too.

The first day of spring that most of us recognize is known as the Vernal Equinox and it starts Astronomical Spring. The vernal equinox is one of two days of the year when the Earth’s axis points neither toward nor away from the sun – the other being the Autumnal Equinox. Both equinoxes produce days with equal minutes of light and dark. Days get longer in during Astronomical Spring, which lasts three months, until the third week in June when Astronomical Summer begins.

We see there are several ways to define Spring, but no matter what terms we use we have only to observe nature for a while to see what’s happening in the real world. Observing animal activity will verify Spring has sprung. Here are some of the activities we’ve seen and heard in central PA:

• We’ve seen the seagulls fly up the river and drift back down several times a day. Kind of a lazy way to fish or is it just plain fun? The seagulls can be seen in cornfields picking up seed instead of a Kmart parking lot hoping for popcorn. During winter we don’t see many seagulls, if any.
• Snow geese are flying north in big flocks. Sometimes you can hear them and never get a glimpse of them. Their muted honks tell who’s flying home.
  
• Owls can be seen during the dim light of day, perhaps on a cloudy day or in the shade of a mountain. We saw a Barred Owl a couple of weeks ago near the river in an old forest. Prime habitat for this hunter. He didn’t care that we stopped in the middle of the country road to gawk at him hunting for his owlets’ supper.
• Took a tick off the dog just yesterday. The first one this year. Sometimes he brings one home in winter, but now it’s definitely time for the tick guard.
• Topping off my list of spring animal sightings were a pair of squirrels caught doing the “twirl”. I wasn’t surprised to see these squirrels chasing each other up and down and all over a white oak tree, but I was surprised to see how they eventually hooked up. The female grabbed onto the tree trunk about halfway up the tree with her head pointed toward the ground and the male mounted her from behind. They did this twice that I saw with a lot of chasing and limb running in between attempts. Sorry, no photos!

At our location it’s a little early for much plant activity, so we’re looking and listening for signs of Spring by tuning in to the Animal Kingdom. So, what have you seen in the way of animal activities that show it’s Spring?

The weeds in the fields in early Spring are the same way. They seem to grow into huge colonies no matter what kind of weather they experienced. Sure, their fastest growth might be delayed or the blooming times might differ slightly from year to year, but in the main they’re strong growers.

Other plants, not so much. An example of finicky plants, which seem to do well only in periodic years, are members of the orchid family, Orchidaceae. To them, it seems that the conditions must be just right for them to grow really well and bloom beautifully.

For example, the colonies of moccasin flower or pink lady slippers that we enjoy each year had a paltry blooming season this year. We can’t blame it on the mild winter or lack of rain only because we can’t go back and test for that. But, in comparison to the average year we didn’t get to enjoy much of them.

We’re left wondering if the weather is to blame or if these plants just can’t manage blooming and growing really well every year. This year we saw 11 lady slippers with only 6 of them blooming in an area that more typically has a couple of dozen plants with about half of them flowering.

Another orchid that we have the pleasure of seeing on our rocky land is the whorled pogonia and they didn’t flower this year at all. Only 14 plants were counted in an area that has seen 4-5 times as many orchids in a good season.

I’m wondering whether other nature children see such a great difference in the presence of orchid plants from year to year. Has this been a poor orchid blooming year in your area?

yarrow
hawkweed
wild roses
peas, snow peas in the garden
mustards
day lily
poison hemlock
common mullein
ox-eye daisies
daisy fleabane
white clover
sweet yellow clover
yellow small clover
purple clover
spiderwort
thyme-leaved speedwell
false solomon’s seal
chamomile

Potted flowers from a nursery could include hundreds of kinds of bloomers. Our colorful annuals this year are yellow, orange and red marigolds and fruit-loop zinnias, as far as I can tell. Sometimes those little plant markers get tossed and then nobody can remember their names. They still make us smile, though!

What else is blooming in your neck of the woods?

Solomon’s Seal has one long arching stem that supports its linear and pointed leaves. Each leaf grasps the main stem at the base and graduates into a fine point at the end. Linear leaf veins that extend the length of the leaves show this plant to be of the monocot lineage.

Smooth Solomon's Seal blooming in a Pennsylvanian forest. Photo taken 11 May 2012.

Flowers of Solomon’s Seal usually dangle in pairs, but sometimes there is only one bloom at a leaf node or leaf axil. The cream-colored, bell-shaped flowers dangle from the main stem and sway with the breezes of Spring.

(Click any photo to see a larger image.)

Flowers of Smooth Solomon's Seal dangle in pairs from leaf axils. Photo taken 11 May 2012.

In the photo above note how the linear leaves sheath or grasp the main stem.

If you’re not sure what species of Solomon’s Seal you’re looking at, check out previous posts on wildeherb.com for a little help on the different types of Solomon’s Seal, late spring blooming Solomon’s Seal, and the blue berries of Solomon’s Seal.

The first two weeks in May we’ve seen the following wild flowers blooming:

• wild geraniums
• blackberries and brambles
• yellow irises
• white clover
• mayapples
• star-of-bethlehem
• blue false indigo
• bluets
• smooth solomon’s seal
• pink and yellow oxalis
• wild columbine

Perennial chamomile and chives were blooming in the garden at this time.

As serendipity would have it, a ton of native violets grow wild on our property. At the time I was reading about making jelly from violets our Northern Downy Violets were in full bloom, so we made a batch of violet jelly! Oddly, I thought it would taste like grapes, because of the cool colors I guess. The real taste is floral – like a violet and slightly fruity or berry-like with a faint hint of elderberry. Elderberry jelly has a much, much stronger flavor, but there were notes of it in our violet jelly.

Three of us went outside on a sunny and breezy day in April to pick two cups of violet flowers. Just the flower heads were needed so any stems that came off the plant were picked out of the bowl. Violet flowers were picked from our backyard on the mountain ridge top.

Violet pickers happily picking flowers for jelly. Photo taken 20 April 2012.

In about 15 minutes time we had the amount of violets we needed to make the jelly. Nearly three cups of violets were loosely tossed into a measuring bowl and the whole amount was firmly packed in a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Now, that’s not firmly packed like brown sugar measured out for a batch of cookies, but the flowers were pressed down lightly to fit in the measuring cup.

Three cups of loosely packed violet flowers.

Two cups of violet flowers in a glass measuring cup.

The violets appeared rather clean, but since the pollen has been very high lately they were given a quick rinse with water in a colander anyway.

Violets were rinsed with water running through a colander.

The next step for making the violet jelly was to pour two cups of boiling water on top of the flowers. We want two cups of liquid to make the jelly, so don’t rely on using the measuring cup scale for adding two cups of water. Since the violets already took up space in the measuring cup, boiling water was measured out in a separate measuring cup and then poured on top of the flowers.

Two cups of violet flowers after two cups of boiling water was poured on them.

After a couple of hours steeping the deep blue liquid could be decanted off the flowers. We let the measuring cup sit at room temperature for a couple of hours so we could see the color develop and then let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. After 24 hours of total steeping time, a double layer of cheesecloth was draped over a 2 quart bowl and the flower and water mixture was poured over the cheesecloth. The flowers were held back from the liquid and then taken to the compost pile.

Ingredients for making violet jelly, including from the top, clockwise: 3 oz. packet liquid pectin Certo brand, 2 cups violet juice, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 4 cups sugar.

At this point the violet liquid was a very deep blue color. Four cups of sugar were measured out into a separate bowl. A 3 oz. package of liquid pectin, Certo brand, was opened and sat upright in a glass. A quarter cup of lemon juice was measured out too so that all ingredients were ready when needed. Previously, about an hour before, glass jars were washed and sterilized in the dishwasher and the door kept closed so that the jars would stay hot until needed. Bands and lids were sterilized with a kettle of boiling water poured over them as laid out in a skillet and covered with a lid until needed.

Take caution! To cook up the jelly use a 4 quart pan. When we made this particular batch of jelly we used a 2 quart pan to cook the jelly and created one heck of a mess. As the jelly cooks to a boil foam is formed and that foam layer rises a couple of inches up from the liquid level in the pan. Needless to say there was a scorched mess on the stove top to clean up because the hot jelly ran over. I just knew that pan looked a little full at the time, but I neglected my own thoughts and decided to follow the recipe to a T. Wish I had listened to myself, but since I didn’t, maybe you won’t make the same mistake.

At this point in making the jelly we should have transferred the blue liquid to a 4 quart pan before turning on the heat. The heat was set to high and the mixture was constantly stirred. The lemon juice was added and the color changed immediately from deep blue to a light lavender or pink color.

Lemon juice added to the violet juice turned the deep blue color to pink.

Sugar was added to the pan and the heating continued. It didn’t take too long to bring the mixture to a boil and it was constantly stirred.

After sugar was added to the violet and lemon juices, the mixture was an opaque pink color that cleared upon boiling.

Once the boil was reached, the packet of liquid pectin was added and the mixture boiled for two minutes more. With the smaller pan we had to guess at how long the pectin-sugar-juice mixture was actually boiled because the pan was taken off the heat to stop the boiling over. We guessed ok because the jelly gelled just fine.

Jars of Violet Jelly made from Northern Downy Violets. 21 April 2012.

Evidently, the same jelly recipe could be used for other floral jellies, like rose or rose hips jelly, or herb jellies, like mint or lemon thyme jelly. It would be fun to try some other fine jellies like that, but if we find another big violet patch, we’ll be making some more violet jelly first.

The deep colors of this blue iris certainly were eye-catching. These flowers were beautifully displayed at the side of a country road. Perhaps someone planted them there years ago. They appear to be a form of the Bearded Iris, Iris germanica, which isn’t native to North America.

A different plant, called the Larger Blue Iris, Iris versicolor, is native to North America, and it can be found growing wild from Canada south to Ohio and Virginia. You’d be more likely to find this native iris in wet meadows, marshes and swampy places. Its upright petals and falling sepals are not as wide as the german bearded irises, which are represented in the photos below. The Larger Blue Iris has large petals that are held vertically but do not fold over the top of the center of the flower like many of the colorful irises available at garden centers. It also has veins of yellow among its striking colors of blue and white.

Bearded Blue Iris flowers beside a mountain road. Photo taken 28 April 2012.

Just as with its cousin, the Yellow Iris, I. pseudacorus, the growth habit is in clumps. Several sword-like leaves arranged in a fan-shape are at the base of the plant. The whole plant may reach 2-3 feet tall with the leaves being somewhat shorter than the flower stalk.

Flower stalks emerge from a clump of sword like leaves in the blue iris. Photo taken 28 April 2012.

Each flower stem is smooth and round and usually gives rise to more than one flower. Flowers emerge from a tightly rolled bud.

(Click on any photo to see a larger image.)

Looking down on an iris flower stalk. Notice the flower bud that will bloom tomorrow. Photo taken 28 April 2012.

Each iris flower looks great for one day and then fades to let another take its place the next day.

Side view of the bearded blue iris. Note the rounded flower stalk and flower buds yet to open. Photo taken 28 April 2012.

The bearded irises have a streak of fuzziness along the midline of the falling sepals. The photo above highlights the white beard on these particular flowers.

The day that these pretty blue iris flowers made me stop along the road, privet shrubs were blooming and giving off their sweet smell of Spring.