Mt. Cuba Center, Hockessin, Delaware in late April.  Legacy of the Lammot du Pont Copelands

 

 

The trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is, to my  knowledge, the first of our native lilies to flower. 

 

 

 

Much smaller and less theatrical than its two native cousins, the Turks Cap lily and the Day lily, it is in bloom now.

 

 

Not that easy to see among the profusion of pinks, reds and greens at eye-level and above our heads in our woodlands at this time of year.

 

 

 

What a pleasure when your eye picks up the pale yellow with pale brown-puce stripes

 

and the leaves: splotchy crimson-brown on green.  Or the other way round.