It was in the 80s (!!) yesterday, and we packed in a lot.  First we visited E’s son in the cemetery on his birthday.

Then we tried out a new-to-us garden center, Robin’s, which had an amazing quantity of nice perennials.  We got Dicentra (bleeding heart) and a hollyhock (“Zebrina”).

Next we hiked around Indian Mound Reserve (home of my favorite mossy stone “fortress”), and were overwhelmed with the incredible sheer masses of all the early spring ephemeral natives!  I’ve never seen so many of them en masse like that.  Just when we thought we’d seen it all, more appeared, blanketing the ground and rocks.  Something about the crazy winter/spring weather roller coaster must have supercharged them.  The following is a list of just the highlights (by common name for simplicity):

Spring beauty, phlox, mayapple, bellwort, dutchman’s breeches, twin leaf, white trillium, trout lily, foamflower, jack-in-the-pulpit, violets, solomon’s seal, hepatica, bloodroot, ferns, and many more I’m not sure of!  (Not all are pictured.)  This totally made my day.

Naturally after all that excitement, we adjourned to HQ, where I had a very refreshing Flying Dog Hop Electric.  Then we pre-bought tickets to the new Downton Abbey movie coming soon to the Little Art Theatre, which we are looking forward to.

Last but definitely not least, we went to the Midwest Native Plant Society’s spring plant sale in YS, which turned out to be the highlight of my day, because I was finally able to find my elusive favorite native flower, VA bluebells (Mertensia), plus serviceberry and elderberry (tree/bush) plants, and bellwort and jack-in-the pulpit seedlings.  Oh, and a bonus cedar sapling.  All in all, a very productive day.