I went for a nature walk on the weekend, and was delighted to see that our Provincial flower the Trillium has made its appearance. It is also much earlier this spring. They are so beautiful as they decorate the forest greenery with beautiful white flowers, sometimes you can find a real gem and spot a red trillium. April was a warmer month than normal so I am suspecting this is why the jump ahead on these beauties.

They say you cannot pick the trillium as it is the provincial flower , but contrary to popular belief, it is not illegal to pick this flower in Ontario. You can injure this plant and it can take years to recover from the damage. I know some people who have taken some and transplanted them as they learned of some construction taking place for new development so they saved many of them but digging them up and taking them into a forest near their home, and it took a few years but they now flower and they have multiplied.

The great white trillium have a wide spread of where you can see these beauties in bloom. They spread from southern Quebec and Ontario and even into the western part in the state of Maine. You can see them in bloom in northeastern Minnesota and through the central hardwoods to the Appalachian Mountains and south all the way to Georgia.

They do not make their appearance for very long, they start early spring and last only a few weeks, some turn pink as they age, sometimes you will see a red trillium it is a rare find but a true gem.

The trillium is a popular species in Ontario mainly because again it is known as the provincial flower.

The red trillium, also known as the wake robin, It has the traditional three petal design while instead of clean linen white petals it sports deep maroon red blooms. I have only seen maybe two of these in my lifetime.