Spring Wildflowers are in full bloom around Kalamazoo.
Two sunny weekends in a row made it easy to enjoy them. Last weekend, Russ Forest in Cass County was full of people walking, wading in the stream, and riding horses. There were more flowers than human. The Spring Beauty were so prolific, I could see their tiny flowers from the highway without slowing down.
Dowagaic Woods had fewer people but more flowers. We saw everything from hepatica to bloodroot to trillium in bloom. It felt like the season for ephemeral wildflowers had been compressed by the previous week's snow and that weekend's unseasonable warmth.
The Kalamazoo Nature Center had their Earth Day celebration this
Saturday and their timing was perfect. Dutchman's Breeches, Blue-eyed
Mary, Marsh Marigold, Squirrel Corn, and Spring Beauty were all in
flower.
Ghost forest at Silver Lake Dunes
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Perched on a plateau and rising more than 100 feet high above Silver Lake,
the heart of these dunes are totally devoid of any vegetation, even dune
grass.
20 hours ago