What's new in the woodland restoration

Here and there in the woods I'm finding bloodroot blooming where I haven't seen it for years. I know I planted a few, but I'm pretty sure some of it has been dormant for a long time. I think I mentioned the first flowers came in March--a couple of snowdrops, followed by winter aconite. Then suddenly last week some pink Grecian windflowers I planted were blooming next to a little spring beauty I brought from my daughter's woods. Yesterday some grape hyacinths popped out in the same area. Elsewhere there are white striped violets, vinca minor, Siberian squill, celandine poppy, sharp-lobed hepatica, a few toothwort and false rue anemone (isopyrum). The Virginia bluebells will bloom soon. They've scattered here and there throughout the woods and in time will be a beautiful display, I think. I've posted a year of wildflowers in my woods on my web site. Most of them are blooming a little later this year.

It's so nice to be able to walk through the woods without getting snagged by broken honeysuckle invasives everywhere. I've only found one seedling so far this spring. The garlic mustard is widely scattered, so not much work has to be done to clear it except in the back corner, where I wore out last fall and let it go. Even that isn't too bad. Overall, my woodland restoration has been a success, especially since I decided last year not to make this a woodland garden, but to keep it natural. Instead of mulch, the path is covered with fallen leaves and roughly outlined with dead branches. I like to walk on the path so I don't endanger any delicate plants.