Tri, tri, trillium

Trillium grandiflorum

I've been photographing these beautiful trillium flowers ever since I first started hiking in these woods more than a decade ago. They are so pretty and different from any wildflower I had seen before in Colorado, or other places I used to hike. Then I learned a lot of stories and information about these beauties from my hiking companions. 

First of all, I didn't realize that they take around seven years from when they are planted before they get big enough to produce a flower, and that only one emerges out of each three-leafed whorl, once a year. Here's some information:

Trillium grandiflorum is most common in rich, mixed upland forests. It is easily recognized by its attractive three-petalled white flowers, opening from late spring to early summer, that rise above a whorl of three leaf-like bracts. It is an example of a spring ephemeral, a plant whose life-cycle is synchronized with that of the deciduous woodland which it favours. (Wikipedia)

Melanie and I would be out in the woods every spring, looking for these flowers. They are also called "wakerobin" because they come out at the same time that the first robins return for the new season.  I took so many pictures, and my newest version of the photo albums on my Mac can now search for such things as "trillium" and give me a whole lot of options for pictures. I especially like this one because it shows the stamens (which there are six of, twice the number of the petals and the leaves) very large and prominent. Apparently this means they are fruiting. I know so little about plant taxonomy, but I sure do love my pretty trilliums I see in the forests.

A very happy crop of lush trilliums

I also learned there are a few different varieties of trillium, but these are the ones that grow wild in this area. There is a red variety, which apparently smells a little like rotted meat, or like (it says) a wet dog. Mostly the trillium I see, when they get a pinkish cast to them, are past their peak and on their way out.

This is the first year I actually haven't seen any, because since I fell and injured my right hip, I still cannot go very far without pain. It is gradually getting better, though. I had my first yoga class in the new Senior Center building yesterday, and other than the room being huge, almost cavernous, it was a very good class. I had to take a second bus to get there, but one of the other attendees gave me a ride home. It's been raining for days now, so I was glad I didn't have to walk home in the rain. Today it started out raining but has now been sunny and bright for awhile.

Tomorrow I will have the three-month checkup and cleaning for my hearing aids. If it's not one thing, it's another. And I won't even venture into the political world, it's so depressing. I'm doing fine, hubby is doing fine, and that's all that matter, right? As they say in Canada, elbows up!

:-)