Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, April 10, 2006
Bluebells: Longer Version
I don't know how I missed this before. I've lived here 20 years, and this is the first year I've gone to see the Virginia Bluebells at Bull Run Regional Park. I only just learned of this natural wonder a couple of years ago. I was reading Seasonal Guide to the Natural Year by Scott Weidensaul - a sort of travel guide for naturalists - and I wasn't expecting to read about anything in my neighborhood worth traveling to, but surprise, surprise. In Chapter 16 - Bluebells and Early Spring Wildflowers - he first mentions Shenk's Ferry Glen Wildflower Reserve in Pennsylvania, and then goes on to say:
Bull Run Regional Park...has bluebells in numbers that exceed those at Shenk's Ferry...
This information percolated throught my mind a while, then about a year ago, it was in the news that VDOT might build a road through the bluebells. Still I didn't go to see them. They selected a different route for the road, by the way.
So yesterday was a beautiful day here after a full day of rain on Saturday. My two or three bluebell plants are in bloom, so I guess that it might be a good day to go take a look at Bull Run. Wow - was it ever! This is well worth seeing. It appears that peak bloom is right now.
The trail is a loop from one spot near the parking lot to another spot a bit further away from the parking lot. The part with the most bluebells is actually part of the Bull Run-Occoquan Trail. After Saturday's rain, this was a muddy rut, but there was enough dry ground on the sides that we could walk it without too much trouble. The trail is also used by horseback riders, and you can guess what that means. The Bull Run-Occoquan Trail connects with the official Bluebell Trail, but there are fewer bluebells on the official trail. Walking the loop in the direction we did, the first part of it went through a boggy-type area to Cub Run. On that part of the trail, there were everywhere Spring Beauties. These seemed much larger to me than the ones I normally see, but perhaps they were a different species - Claytonia caroliniana. As we approached Cub Run, the bluebells began to appear and then were more or less continuous along the length of the trail. It took us about an hour to walk the loop at a leisurely pace, with plenty of pauses for photography. Of the pictures I posted, no two were taken in the same spot along the trail. And there were other wildflowers in bloom too. I was intrigued by the yellow violets; I don't recall seeing them around here before.
Here at home, I'm now not nearly as happy with my few bluebells as I was the day before yesterday.
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