If you want to see Crane-fly orchids, consider searching for those leaves in late winter, and then marking the spot. The orchids can come up in dense colonies (ours usually show up in August), but are very easy to overlook because they're mostly in shades of brown or tan and look like some kind of dead grass at a glance.

Dodecatheon Sp. I believe. HTH Chris

Here's a few more that I like....... Spring Beauty - Claytonia virginica, C. caroliniana Columbine - Aquilegia canadensis, A. chrysantha, A. vulgaris (Introduced) Twin leaf - Jeffersonia diphylla May Apple - Podophyllum peltatum Atanasco lily - Zephyranthes atamasca Moss phlox - Phlox subulata Lady-slipper Orchids And the Iris..... Iris cristata - Dwarf crested verna - Dwarf violet versicolor - Harlequin blue flag hexagona - Dixie (wish mine would bloom, just once!) pseudacorus - Pale yellow (Introduced, but I still like it!) Rb

Most of a natives 1st year growth is within the root structure. Im not saying they wont bloom this year, but blooming is not a high priority for the plant at this stage of its young life. Most restorations require 2 years of mowing to control weeds. I'm in my 2nd year of a 5a restoration, and mowed every 21 days last year. Some forbs stil bloomed, despite my mowing, but there were very few. THis is my project last spring. It was sowed in Mar, 08. Here is a picture from this spring. I did quite a bit of damage to my restoration last year, getting anxious and pulling large annual weeds. What happens, is that you pull up a large root clump, which disturbs the surrounding soil, disrupts the natives that you planted, and the dirt that you expose has a whole new set of weed bank seeds that werent going to germinate, prior to pulling but will now that you exposed them to daylight. Native flowers require a large amount of patience and hard work for the first 2 or 3 years. I know, I failed miserably on my first attempt 10 years ago on a small forb patch, but have learned so much more since my first attempt. I'm not there yet and its hard, because you have this great vision of what you want it to look like, and it s just not happening fast enough. Patience, Grasshoper. Good luck.