Spring has sprung and we have an abundance of beautiful wildflowers at SHADOW to prove it! Along with the unpredictable showers and sun, this month you can find many different flowers appearing in all the diverse habitats that the Nature Preserve has to offer.

 

Among the first to bloom this year are the small, five-petaled, and bright pink flowers of the salmonberry plant. These flowers will soon give way to salmonberries and can be found all throughout our boardwalk in the wetland habitat. In the moist wooded areas of SHADOW, we have the unique Pacific bleeding heart flower, a purple colored, creeping perennial. Another flower you may stumble upon is the Western white trilium. This large, three-petaled flower actually starts white and turns different hues of red and pink as it ages and wilts. With a sharp eye, you might see the small, striped candyflower or the even smaller blue wood forget-me-not.

 

These are just some of the flowers making an appearance this spring. Throughout May, flowers and berries will continue to blossom. This is a great time to visit SHADOW and see how much our ecosystem can transform throughout the seasons!