It is a pleasure to go through the seasons with the wildflowers in the park. The earliest blooms in the woodlands include carpets of spring beauty followed by bouquets of hepatica with samples of bloodroot and soon the yellow of trout lily. One of the earliest in the pine/oak forest is the fragrant trailing arbutus, recumbent and protected from cold with thick, hairy leaves.
From under dead boughs, for whose loss the pines moaned ceaseless overhead, the blossoming vines lifted their glad surprise, while yet the bluebird smoothed in leafless trees his feathers ruffled by the chill sea breeze, and snow-drifts lingered under April skies. John Greenleaf Whittier
In wet areas one of the first and prominent flowers is the yellow cowslip or marsh marigold. In many places in the park, the forest floor is white with trillium. The green and brown flowers of the Jack-in-the-pulpit blend well with the green of the moist, shaded green of the beech /maple forest.
Later, toward the end of June the dunes are spotted in surprising colors of bright blue harebell, orange dune lily, yellow puccoon and false heather, purple beach pea, and rosy pink of wind anemone.
By midsummer the fields will have yellow St. Johnswort, purple cow vetch and milkweed, white pearly everlasting, and orange butterfly milkweed. In the fall, there will be purple asters and yellow goldenrod.
By October and into November, in the oak and pine we see the flowering shrub witch Hazel. These yellow blossoms may be seen with snow on them.
Yet through the gray and sombre wood, against the dusk of fir and pine, last of their floral sisterhood, the hazel’s yellow blossoms shine.
John Greenleaf Whittier
