Whoop Whoop, Wildflowers!!!!

Yay, I saw my first wildflowers of the season on Sunday (3/13/2011)!!!!!! Can you guess what they were? They are often one of the first flowers I see every year--what, you can't handle the suspense anymore?!?!--okay, okay I'll tell you, they were Beckwith's Violets (Viola beckwithii). Colorful little beauties. With all the snow we've had the last few weeks I was thinking it would be a bit longer before I saw any wildflowers. However, I was pleasantly surprised when Dan shouted "hey, hey look at these" and there in front of us, a slope sparsely covered with gorgeous little violas. Last year I saw my first wildflowers in late February, so I suppose the late snow did keep them at bay for a little while

Also, on Sunday I noticed a lot of lomatium plants, but none of them were blooming, then of coarse the next day I saw a couple plants with blooms on them. It always seems like violas and lomatiums like to come out around the same time of year, early spring/late winter. It is always soooooo exciting to see the first flowers of the season, it means spring is rapidly approaching and more flowers will soon be on their way. Yippy!

Viola Beckwithii

Gorgeous Viola beckwithii thank you Dan (I forgot my camera).