Finally. It doesn’t matter how cloudy, cool, or rainy it is, because the plants are back. It’s spring. There are places to go and plants to see. As a transplant to SE Wisconsin, many of these plants are firsts for me.

I posted earlier on the state of a snow trillium population. Well, I found another one, and I observed 363 plants there. The fragment of woods these plants are found in is astonishingly small. They’ve won the lottery, as far as human footprint is concerned.

Snow trillium in full bloom at a newly discovered site in SE WI.

Pasque flowers are among the most beautiful of the entire season. What a happy hill. The bees thought so too. Pasque flowers are most often encountered in dry-mesic prairie near the crests of rocky hills, particularly where the soil pH is 7-8ish.

Pasque flower

Not-so-solitary bees–please comment with ID.

The hepatica have also been in full swing.

Round-lobed hepatica near the S. Kettle Moraine State Forest HQ

Blood root is stunning when in flower, but the flowers are easy to miss, because the flowers only last a few days, unless the weather is cool.

Blood root at Lulu Lake SNA

Sedges are beautiful too.

Carex umbellata (parasol sedge) is an important, but easily overlooked, plant on hill prairies.

Pennsylvania sedge flowers remind me of truffula trees.

Kittentails are friendlier than cats, in my opinion.

Kittentails growing in dry prairie

Willows make my head explode, but I’m quite certain this is prairie willow. A large clone may be found on a particular sand prairie in the S. Kettle Moraine.

Prairie willow (Salix humilis)

Spring beauties are shy.

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) in a mesic woods

I think the Euphoria beetles were enjoying this view as much as I was.

My new favorite spot

These bumble flower beetles (Euphoria inda) were buzzing around in the thousands, but not one bumped into me.