In Morris Park, Philadelphia as well as all along the highways in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, we have been seeing red. Red trees, or just a hue of red in spots in the forests or whole swaths of a red hue across ponds and streambanks and along the rivers. While the rest of the forest is the usual mass of brownish -grey sticks, the red hue is omni-present and foreshadows spring in the forest while little else color exists.
The red is subtle from a distance, but upon closer inspection is bright and vivid, startlingly so, and the red flowers are intense!
After a pleasant afternoon hiking one mile down through the woods to a deserted beach along the Chesapeake Bay, Isabelle captured the mood of the blooming Acer rubrum pictured above with her I-Phone.
On our hike down the steep hills to the Chesapeake, we saw more of the red haze we had become ensconced with on our travels.
The red hinted at the last time such vivid colors graced this landscape, over  five months ago, when the leaves of these very same trees turned a brilliant fall red.
As we descended into the lower reaches of the hillside forest we were able to get a closer look at the blooms.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And to the blooms we got even closer.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And finally, we could see up close the vibrant male flower above and the female flower below.
ELK NECK STATE PARK, MARYLAND
And the female flower pictured below is fully matured.
These are considered botanically to be “perfect” flowers because individual flowers only display the one sex as opposed to a combination of sexual parts.
As Spring graces your area, be sure to appreciate those blooming Red Maples !
Isabelle Dijols, amidst Mountain Laurel, gazes at the red hue of blooming Red Maple off in the distance
It was hard to find a blooming one on this chilly spring afternoon.
This is the setting.
Claytonia virginica, the Spring Beauty, growing side-by -side with the Cut-leaved Toothwort, in abundance.
