After a prolonged encore of winter weather, spring finally returned to west Michigan this week. And so Friday I headed out to see how the wildflowers are faring.

The prolonged clod snap certainly put the brakes on things. A few weeks ago the Trillium were budding and preparing to bloom, and they seem to have stopped for the time being. They seem to have just picked up where they left off, with just the beginnings of flowers starting to emerge.

The hepatica are well past their peak – they certainly seemed to have been frozen out (literally) this year. The blue hepatica, which seem to come and go the first, are almost completely gone. The spring beauty and the anemone – both false rue anemone and wood anemone are out in force, as are the marsh marigolds. The Occasional buttercup also appears here and there, and of course the wild garlic is also rampant.

Yesterday was warm and sunny – a pleasant day to be out in the spring woods. All photos were taken using the Pentax K10D, A* 200mm f4 macro, and diffusers / reflectors. More photos of Spring Beauty, Trilliums, and other wildflowers: