Fawn Lilies, Erythronium Oregonum

Day 194: As much as we all love close-ups of lovely wildflowers, sometimes you just have to step back and take in the broader view. The Giant White Fawn Lilies (Erythronium oregonum) are out, and coming on a cluster of them in the deep shade of tall evergreens, one might feel that the faeries were lighting the path with candles, so brightly do their petals shine with the barest touch of sun. Their mottled leaves keep close to the ground, patterned to star as both light and shadow in the springtime play. The population here (a location I will not reveal) is growing. Today, there were hundreds, scattered over an acre or two of woodland knolls. Some set watch on mossy balds, bravely daring human eye to fall upon them; others lurked behind logs, among leaves and ferns, timid and reclusive. Some danced surrounded by Snow Queens as others struggled to raise their heads above debris and thorns. For all this, they are happy here, as evidenced by the increase in their numbers, and I am happy too that I could make my pilgrimage among them in this secret, quite space.