April showers bring May flowers.
Things happen fast in spring. One day, the woodlands appear brown and bare. Then, in a blink of an eye, everything is green with activity occurring all around us. It’s during this brief transition period that spring wildflowers really put on a show.
April is spring wildflower month here at the Lower Lake Erie Region CSI. Have a favorite spot for viewing spring wildflowers? Even if you’ve posted observations from a locality in the past, documenting the timing of wildflower emergence from year to year provides valuable data for conservation biologists. The study of phenology helps us understand the influence of climate change and other factors on the natural community. This is where citizen science really shines. By documenting the things we encounter every day, we can provide a trove of information that makes a real difference.
What’s your favorite spring wildflower? Trout lily? Bloodroot? Spring beauty? Trillium? Let us know in the comment section below!
Comments
And in the next blink of an eye everything is covered in snow again!
toothwort is my favorite. I don't usually post repeats of past obs. Is it important that I do?
Julbar - Repeat records can be very useful, especially when those records relate to the timing of important events such as mating, molting, migration, budding, blooming, etc. Just as an example, repeated records of when dogwood trees bloom or spotted salamanders breed would allow researchers to study the long-term variation in the timing of these events, or they could study the timing of these events over a large geographic range within a single season.
Bloodroot, Trout Lily and Dutchman's Breeches are my favorites. But then there's Spring Beauty, Hepatica, Dwarf Ginseng, Wild Ginger, Violets, Trillium...............
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