Joyful Easter -- ETA New Pictures of the Mature Bloom!

Wakerobin, Trillium ovatum, is a joy in the spring.  In the forests, it grows in little colonies and is as much a harbenger of spring as the daffodills in our gardens

Virginal Trillium ovatum

Trillium ovatum

after being pollenized, see the blush?

In the wild, it it best not to pick Trillium flowers.  Picking Trillium flowers sets the plant back, the green bracts are the only source of chlorophyl for the roots.  By picking the flower, there is no food for the roots that year and it takes several years for the plant to make up the loss of food.
When the local Soil and Water Conservation District holds it's plant sale, I am always in the front of the line.  Love to pick up wild plants for a reasonable price; while supporting a great resource.

ETA:

Fully blushed trillium

When we get our retirement house, I plan on using trillium like daffodils!  Think of it, white blooms followed by the lovely pink blush!

ETA:  about four weeks old, the trillium is truely a one-flower show!