Wild Whatcom

Greetings! Spring is here, all pell-mell and everywhere!

The month of May is the Moon of the Flowers, say the Lummi People. So many blossoms right now, especially with our early spring weather. Flowers are an open invitation to birds, wind, and humans to appreciate beauty, breathe deep, practice patience, and ponder potential. The beautiful trilliums (aka wakerobin or birthroot) are blooming white in the woods, unless they have been pollinated - then they turn pink! Magic.

Flowers and pollinators are linked in an ancient dance of reciprocity. They seem like they are made for each other, and they are. But that relationship has formed over millions of lifetimes as survival dictated how the blossom and the pollinator worked together. And it’s not just bees doing the important work of pollinating. Flies, bats, mosquitos (mosquitos!), butterflies, moths…with this much variety it may seem difficult to narrow down your relationship choices, but the structures have to match for this relationship to work. For example, bumblebees need a flower with petals that form a sturdy landing pad and short tubes to the nectar source. A nice reminder to leave your dandelions as restaurants for bees, if you can.
 
Look for an array of native spring flowers on the trails at three different levels. Pacific dogwood is a tall tree with large white blossoms, the shrub layer has our native pink rhododendron, the white conical flower clusters of Red elderberry, yellow tube-shaped flowers of twinberry honeysuckle, white bundles of serviceberry and the bright pink blossoms of salmonberry. Carpeting the forest floor and growing next to trails you might find the pink and white Western starflower, yellow wood violets, tiny frilly fringecup, pink bleeding hearts, and the magical white trillium, but many other plants are unfolding blossoms right now. Look for honeysuckle vining up a tree. What have you seen lately? Check our Facebook page for photos of what we are finding during our explorations, and feel free to send us yours!