Cincinnati Nature Center

Spring is here (still hard to tell) but the flowers think it is, so who am I to argue.  Off to CNC for a look.  I'm not the best at flower ID, so, if you know the names of some that I don't, please make a comment and let me know.

It was pretty bare looking, with no leaves on the trees and just a hint of green buds, a lot of fallen limbs and trees, but the ground was showing signs of life.  Here are all we found on our four hour hike around the GEO trail and the lake.

We were greeted by this gal, who put on quite a show for a few minutes.

 

I was beginning to think the only thing growing were these little yellow flowers.  They were abundant.

Lesser Celandine

But, as we continued into the woods, numerous other types began to be evident.  We found a lot of these White Trout Lillies.  It was not immediately evident that there was a abundance of these as they are not easy to see.  Once you notice them and look for them they become more visible.  I was then surprised to notice them in bunches.  In certain areas, they abound.  They seem to have little neighborhoods all along the trail.

White Trout Lilly

We also found these little guys poking up through the dead leaves.  Noone seemed to know the name.

Unknown variety.

Salt and Pepper

A little further down the trail, we ran across this nice little waterfall.

 The daffodil is the subject of much conversation as pertains to this nature center, and no small wonder.  The forest floor is covered with seas of these plants, just on the verge of blooming.  There is going to be a wonderful show in about a week.  For the time being, though, there were just a few early bloomers.

Daffodil

Further on down the trail, blue seemed to be the order of the day.  Aside from the Celandine, which were everywhere, there were a lot of these.

Glory of the Snow

Sky Blue Aster

Siberian Squill

Periwinkle (I think)

Lots of little white flowers as well, though I had to look hard to find a Snow Drop that was still blooming, I got lucky at the top of the trail and there was a large patch which were still blooming.

Snow Drop

Snowflake

Spring Beauty

This was one of the last things I saw and it was the only one that I saw all day.  It was tucked in beside a rotting log, just growing quietly by itself.

Winter Aconite

I also ran across a couple of other things.  This odd blue fungus was growing on a decaying log.  Very funky looking stuff.  Almost looks like a piece of coral.  And then there was this dead leaf looking like it had some sort of disease.

Funky Blue Fungus

That's all for now.  I'll be heading back next weekend for what's sure to be a bit more spectacular.  Looking forward to seeing a sea of daffodils.  That should be amazing.