I love spring! There’s so much life filling the landscape. One of my favorite wildflowers though are Trillium. Driving by a hillside before the leaves have fully covered the trees and seeing a hillside full of white blooms is a very calming sight. Those large, white flowers sitting a top of three leaves are often Trillium grandiflorum in the upper Midwest. The most common of the Trilliums in this area. Unfortunately that spring display doesn’t last very long so the timing has to be just right. But if you come across an area filled with Trillium at just the right time, you’ll know what I’m saying. A beautiful display worth taking some time to enjoy.
At the end of May I joined another photographer to see what was in bloom at the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis. Having been there a few times before I knew they had Trillium and I was hoping I wasn’t too late to see their beautiful flowers. First walking in I saw a couple of these plants displaying flowers that had already turned mostly brown and was a little disappointed fearing I was already too late. Fortunately as we walked further into the gardens there were others in peak bloom allowing me to get a few nice photographs to begin the summer. Exploring further revealed other types of Trillium also in bloom such as the red flowered Trillium in the photo above.
A few other kinds of these beautiful flowered plants were also in bloom. The nodding Trillium seen above has the flowers bent towards the ground instead of displayed above its leaves and there’s a yellow blooming type also in flower. These yellow and red flowered Trillium have smaller blooms than the white ones but also have unique, mottled leaves for added interest. Often when first showing people Trillium plants they first step back. They think of the rule of three leaved plants – leaves of three, leave it be. That’s because Poison Ivy has three leaves and they don’t want to get near it for fear of an allergic reaction. When I explain the difference between Poison Ivy and Trillium (and if I’m lucky I can show the difference), they relax and begin to enjoy these beautiful mid-spring flowers. Maybe this would be a good plant to add into my own landscape at home?
