An Illustrated Guide to New England Wildflowers

When I lived deep in the Connecticut woods I loved to see the many wildflowers each spring. While never as showy as the flowering perennials in my garden, there is something so charming and graceful about these little gems.

Round-lobed Hepatica - Hepatica americana

ABOVE: Round-lobed Hepatica or Hepatica americana

This was a really tough plant to photograph. This is in part because it tends to spread out, making it hard to get many blossoms in one photo. It also has an unusual pink - blue color that never really came back quite right on film. I'm not sure how that color would work with digital photography.

ABOVE: Foamflower or Tiarella cordifolia

Foamflower is another plant that tends to spread out over an area, and never really show up in photos as pretty as it is in person.

ABOVE: Sweet White Violet or Violet Blanda

The name says it all, this is just an extremely sweet little flower.

ABOVE: Purple Trillium or Trillium erectum

The trilliums I saw in the wild were white, purple, or painted - which is white with a red pinstripe around the edge.

Pink Lady's Slipper - Cypripedium acaule

ABOVE: Pink Lady's Slipper or Cypripedium acaule

As many wildflowers as I had in my own woods, I never had Pink Lady's Slipper. They were all around me, but never in my own woods. You can not move one of these plants from the wild - it is illegal and very unlikely to survive.

ABOVE: Indian Pipes or Monotropa uniflora

When I first saw these in the woods I felt that I had discovered a new plant, and that it was probably extraterrestrial in origin. This plant is pure white because it has no chlorophyll, and relies on fungi and trees for nutrients.

Here is a comprehensive list of Connecticut Wildflowers from the Connecticut Botanical Society, which I did use to research some of the Latin names of these flowers.

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An Illustrated Guide to New England Wildflowers

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