Wild for Wonderful Wildflowers at The Woods

If you haven't seen your share of wildflowers, you absolutely must take walk along our Wildflower Trail and visit the Faust Garden here are Baltimore Woods. I guarantee you it will make your day.

Unlike garden flowers and floral arrangements you can buy in the store, wildflowers have a unique appeal that will surprise you. Many wildflowers you see around Central New York are not that large, but boy are they gorgeous. A familiar flower you may have seen already - just take a look at a white trillium...

Trillium grandiflorum

 and the red trillium!

Trillium erectum

Ah trillium. It’s smooth leaves and picturesque flower. It can blanket the ground here at the woods or it can stand solo in the leaf litter under the beech and maple trees.

White trillium on forest floor at Baltimore Woods

Their 3 large, showy petals will catch any hiker’s eye. Petals, sepals, and leaves all in perfect symmetry make the trillium a symbol for so much in our culture. Often used as a logo  like Wake Robin, the province of Ontario, heck even us.

Find trilliums in partial shade – in the forest or maybe under a forsythia in your garden. They require moist, rich soil and will flower year after year once they’ve taken their time to establish.

Among the trillium, especially at Baltimore Woods, right now you may find an assortment of other beautiful wildflowers. Including but not limited to:

Trout Lily

Twin Leaf

Double bloodroot

Bloodroot

and my personal favorite...

Podophyllum peltatum

Mayapples! Right now they look like the picture shown above but just a few days ago they looked like this:

With a reddish hue to their leaves, the "umbrella" had not quite opened up yet and was still unfurling. The plant shoot can grow over a foot tall and soon a single large flower will bloom between the two umbrellas.

The apple part of the plant's name comes in after the flower blooms, of course. This plant produces a lemon-like fruit that is said to be edible. But beware! The fruit is only safe to eat when it is fully ripe and then only in small amounts. The unripe fruit and the rest of the plant are very toxic! I haven't tasted one of these fruits yet, finding a ripe one is tough when you're competing with squirrels.

We are lucky to have such a grand assortment of naturally growing flowers on our property. But you have to get out today! A flower on a twin leaf will bloom for only one day! So get out there - you've been waiting all winter for this!

Speaking of flowers, another once a year opportunity is upon us with our Mother's Day Garden Tour. You will get the unique opportunity of visiting the gardens at Sycamore Hill all while benefiting Baltimore Woods and its precious flowers.