I believe this is going to be a drawn-out wildflower season in the Potomac Gorge. In the past few years, I’ve observed that once the flowers start blooming, they bloom fast. The result is a spectacular mass of flowers all open at the same time, but then it ends quickly, too.

This year seems to be different, and I’m guessing it’s because of some early warm weather followed by many days of cool weather. I had a quick look ’round some favorite spots yesterday, and noticed that almost everything had closed up due to the overcast. A few more twinleaf had opened, but only a few.

Slow is not a bad thing. It means more time to find and photograph some favorites.

top: Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) enjoying a shaft of sunlight on Tuesday
bottom: Erythronium albidum (white trout lily) closed for the day on Thursday