April 4, 2015
Maryland Native Plant Society walk at Carderock
55 F at 9:00 am; mostly clear; very windy

Emerging foliage:

long-tube valerian (Valeriana pauciflora)

wild pink (Silene caroliniana)
smooth rockcress (Arabis lyrata) – in bud
Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) – a single clump, one bud
early saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis) – in bud
early meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
toadshade (Trillium sessile)
Coville’s phacelia (Phacelia covillei)
moss phlox (Phlox subulata)
big stands of ramps (Allium tricoccum)

Flowers:

a single trout lily (Erythronium americanum)

harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa) – full bloom
spring beauty (Claytonia virginica)
cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
leatherwood (Dirca palustris)
spicebush (Lindera benzoin) – full bllom
Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

April 6, 2015
Carderock, the Basin, and Billy Goat B
60 F at 10:00 am; 72 F at 1:00; sunny; light winds

Lots of large turtles sunning themselves; still can’t identify species, they’re too far away for clear photos

No new emerging foliage, but a lot more twinleaf
Fragile fern (Cystopteris species) and ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron)
Big fat buds on many trees, including leaf buds on beech (Fagus grandifolia):

and flower buds on paw paw (Asimina triloba)

Flowers are beginning to go crazy:

round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa)…

…two more , for a grand total of four plants – whoo-hoo!
spicebush now in full bloom
about a dozen trout lilies
harbinger-of-spring
spring beauties everywhere
a lot more leatherwood (several different plants)

twinleaf – a few buds, a few flowers

slender toothwort (Cardamine angustata)
early saxifrage – just a few
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)- just a few buds have opened
violets (Viola species)- only 2 blue ones, probably common blue
a dozen rich patches of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)