Jim Salge Photography Blog

New Trillium, old Trilliums

There is so much beauty emerging in the spring landscape this time of year. Trees are slowly greening up, going through stages of red and emerald before settling on their summer colors. Lilacs are out after Mother’s day, and gardens are on full display. In the woods, things change quickly. By this point, all signs of the earliest wildflowers like the spring beauties and hepatica have disappeared. And the larger, showy flowers have taken over the forest floor.

Trillium are one of the wildflowers that catch the eye of everyone in the woods. They are big, showy, unique and beautiful. Three petals, three leaves and three local species…painted, large white and purple wake robin. Or so I thought…

For each of the past three years I’ve been walking past some trillium leaves on a local river bank that never seemed to bloom. I figured them too young, or in poor soil or any number of reasons why a group of plants wouldn’t flower. Something caught my eye this past week though, and I peered underneath to find a species I’d never seen before…the nodding trillium.

I’ve known of the existence of these flowers…I just didn’t know that their range extended up as far as southern New Hampshire. With a new wildflower opportunity, I spend a few hours trying to compose this difficult flower. The blooms liked to hide under the large leaves, and the depth of field also provided challenge. I was more than pleased with the results though.

So now I’m glad to report that we have four local trillium species in New Hampshire. They don’t all bloom at the same time, and they all don’t like the same habitat. Painted ones seem to like acid soils, large whites, more alkaline. Wake Robins bloom earliest, Nodding, the latest. All provide unique challenges to shoot, and all are great companions on any spring walk in the woods. Hope you find a few!

Here’s a few to inspire you…