Welcome to Awesome Native Plants
Time to think SPRING
Time to plan your Spring hikes
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) blooms early in spring and is not a spring ephemeral. It has healthy leaves well into summer. Flowers last at most 4-5 days. Read about its life cycle Click here. In central Jersey, they generally start blooming early April. One year we did it right and saw lots of bloodroots and round leaf hepaticas too.
See our trip report.
See our Spring Plant Profiles & Photos
BLOOMING NOW
What is this?
These are flowers of the skunk cabbage with stamens and pistils and tepals. It is in bloom now. You have probably seen them a lot. Not beautiful but interesting.
Surely you will find something new if you : Click Here.
Also See 'Gardener News' on skunk cabbage
Start thinking spring, see our Spring Plant Profiles & Photos
SPRING is in the AIR
What is this?
This is the female flower of Corema conradii - Broom Crowberry that is a rare plant found down in the Pine Barrens and blooms mid March. It needs open, sandy areas to grow and has specialized wildfire needs. The NJ DEP is attempting to restore habitat for this plant in the East Plains Natural Area in Ocean County
See close-ups of the male & female flowers..
Start thinking spring, see our Spring Plant Profiles & Photos
NEW - Plant Profile & Photo Page
Winter in the Woods
Aplectrum hyemale - Puttyroot Orchid
Here is another orchid that has leaves in the winter and early spring that senesce by spring. Keep your eyes open for these green leaves with distinctive whitish parallel veins. They belong to the rare orchid: Aplectrum hyemale. Be sure to revisit the location in May to see the flowers.
Click here to see the flowers..
Start thinking spring Spring Plant Profiles & Photos
About AWESOME NATIVE PLANTS
This is the website of Millie & Hubert Ling. This site was created in September 2021 and is is dedicated to Native Plants mainly of New Jersey with a focus on the Plant Profiles & Photos pages. The goal here is to continue these. Also we will be adding trip reports of our many hikes in NJ. Hubert is a regular writer for the Gardener News and we will be republishing some of his articles. Continued in 'About Us': Click Here
WHY all the FUSS about NATIVE PLANTS?
What are they and why they are important?. Get the definitions and why they are important and how to find out if a plant is native or not: Click Here
in our 'Resources" section.
Looking around in NATURE: HIKES
Start planning where to hike for next year. NEW: Added: a list of conservation organizations that have preseves which are great places to see native plants. Click Here
BEAUTY and BEYOND
Get to know your native plants. Visit our Plant Profiles & Photos section for photos of not only the beautiful flowers but also their parts and what makes them work.
'GARDENERS NEWS' reprints
Hubert Ling as NPSNJ horticulture has been writing articles for 'Gardener News' since 2015. Some of his articles are being reprinted here. See them at Resources .
Last snowfall - short lasting
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
(Anglican hymn)
Study and photography unfolds a whole new dimension of intricacies and interdependencies that commands deference and awe.
"The Lord God made them all"