Is there any season that is more enjoyed than the coming of spring?  The arrival of spring is a special season we all look forward to.  In the future, the arrival of spring could well be a festive ayne’s Wildflowers.   Spring woodland wildflowers grow all over the northeast woods,  but there is something special about the wildflowers of Wayne County.  With the rolling drumlins of Wayne County, and natural bays and bogs, we have been blessed by nature.  The Spring woodland flowers blossom with the arrival of the Spring Beauty in early April  to the Showy Lady Slipper in later June.  Wayne County is blessed with a diverse selection of wildflowers in our woods than anywhere else in the Northeast.  The diversity of an acid bog and the drumlin woods create this carpet of wildflowers.  Zurich Bog with its acid base gives us the wildflowers that are predominantly found in the Adirondacks.  The Beech/Maple drumlins give us a soil base that encourages woodland wildflowers that are breathtaking.  

 I have discovered Wayne’s Wildflowers through the lens of my camera.  I have enjoyed wildflowers since I was old enough to journey in the woods alone.   It was back on my Grandmother’s farm in Wolcott, that I saw my first Red Trillium in early April.   I continue to search for wildflowers and learn more about them.   Some of the riches I have found include “Golden Valley,” where a ˝  mile of Marsh Marigolds  bloom in early May.  “Hepatica Heaven” is a welcome sight after a long winter.

 It was best said by  Henry David Thoreau in 1856, “That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”  Nature has provided us with a wonderful treasure and best of all it is free. Nature provides the maintained, no cultivating, no planting, no fertilizing, the wildflowers come up every year for free.  All we need to do is to identify the woods where the public is welcome and to establish trails for the public.  These special woods or the bog would be identified by a “Wayne’s Wildflower Destination” sign.   If you sign it, they will come.   Flowers and a fascination with them have been predominant since the Greeks.  “Since Iris is the Greek goddess for the Messenger of Love, her sacred flower is considered the symbol of communication and messages.  Greek men would often plant an iris on the graves of their beloved women as a tribute to the goddess Iris, whose duty it was to take the souls of women to the Elysian fields”. -   Hana No Monogatari:  The Stories of Flowers.

 Nature has provided us with this incredible spring show that one must see.  Everyone is aware of the economic impact Rochester’s Lilac Festival has on the local economy.  Wayne’s Wildflowers can be the economic tourism boost this area desperately needs.  I foresee a day when a Wildflower Festival  will attract people from all over the world.  Just as the people journey to Holland, Michigan to see the Tulips every spring.  Everyone benefits, the lodging industry, restaurants, gift shops, and farm markets.   Wayne County is also  in the fruit belt.  Tourists  journey to see the Wildflowers and at the same time, they will be driving past orchards of cherries and apples in bloom.  When I dance, I dance, when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk alone in a beautiful orchard, if my thoughts drift to far-off matters for some part of the time, for some other part I lead them back again to the walk, the orchard, to the sweetness of this solitude, to myself.” -   Montaigne  
              Wayne County has an abundance of Wildflowers just waiting for you to experience!! Now come and find your special treasure before they disappear for another season.