Can’t get enough of those Spring wildflowers
Strong April sunshine combined with a few nice spring rains has Mother Nature busy transforming the winter landscape into a spring wonderland.
The forest floor has a new carpet of spring green and colorful wild flowers. It happens so quickly that one can pass the same place a few hours later and the scene is completely different. Each week sees a different show in the woods, and over the past several days, wildflower enthusiasts have been treated to the emerging of the wild geranium and the wild columbine.
The geraniums are a beautiful purple flower that graces lower portions of our hillsides and along our wooded trails. Combined with the white trillium, it is quite the show.
The wild columbine is a bit more elusive usually found dangling from wet rocky outcroppings. They are a mixture of red, orange and white flowers and would be easy to miss if you were not looking for them. There are a number of patches of these beauties along the bike trail in Ohiopyle State Park.
Mother Nature is ready for the second act of the spring show as she transfers energy from the warming ground to the trees above. Green buds and colorful blossoms are emerging and it鈥檚 amazing to watch the green line creep it鈥檚 way up the mountain. If you are fortunate to have a view of the mountains, you can see the line of green move further up each day. Driving along Route 119 from Connellsville to the West Virginia state line offers a great view of the green We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place.
Spring comes to the lower elevations about two weeks earlier than the mountains. In the fall, nature reverses the process as the annual autumn spectacular begins about two weeks before the show hits the road and spreads down the mountains and into the lower elevations. All of this happens because the higher elevations are colder than the lower areas. For each 1,000 feet increase in elevation, there is a decrease in temperature of about 5 degrees.
Enjoy the show.