I love this time of year in Peirce's Woods, even though it means the time for extreme humidity and lugging heavy hoses is just around the corner. The beauty of the woods in bloom makes me forget all that. With the 90-degree weather we had over the weekend, suddenly all the flowers in Peirce’s Woods have opened all at once. Thankfully the weather has cooled off, so the flowers should remain at their peak longer.
Peirce’s Woods is an art form garden, composed with native plants. The central design theme is large horizontal sweeps of groundcovers balancing the strong vertical lines of the mature tree trunks. Most of our native woodland flowers take advantage of the brief period in early spring before the trees fully leaf out to grow, flower and set seed. The two main groundcovers currently stealing the show are sweeps of white foamflowers (Tiarella) and ‘Sherwood Purple’ creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera).
The purple and white sweeping groundcovers are echoed by the small flowering trees: purple flowering redbud (Cercis canadensis) and white flowering silverbells (Halesia) with flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida). Other flowers blooming in Peirce’s Woods right now are Virginia bluebells (Mertensia), dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata), rue-anemone (Thalictrum thalictrodies), and Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum). Right now is the best time to see Peirce’s Woods in bloom.
