May 3: Pink Trillium! and Wild Garlic

This blog is about something very rare and something very common.

The rare thing is Pink Trillium! I have been walking through the same set of woods for over 20 years and have never seen these before.

Pink Trillium

I read somewhere that White Trillium sometimes turns pink as it ages. I have a little trouble believing this but who knows. Anyway, I think it's lovely.

Later when I got home, I saw our yard inundated by these flowers -- Wild Garlic, also called Ramsons, Bear's Garlic, Broadleaved Garlic, and Wood Garlic.

Wild Garlic (with Common Blue Violet in the background)

As usual with something that is widely considered a weed, I couldn't find this in any book on Michigan wildflowers. So I finally got wise and googled "weed flowers white" and found a lovely website on weed flowers, and that's where I found information on this plant.

It's said that bears eat this plant after hibernation to cleanse their systems, so that is why this is also called "Bear's Garlic" All parts of the plant are edible and there are supposed to be many benefits to this plant -- the aforementioned website talks about this. Before the flowers open you can chop the leaves into pesto or used as a garnish in salads, soups or mashed potatoes. The leaves fade quickly once the flowers bloom. I tried chewing on the flower stalk and found it to be rather bitter, though the flowers themselves taste OK and are quite tender, with a very small peppery bite in the aftertaste.