Return Of The Trillium

A recent post by my photographer friend Mark Graf reminded me that several years back (2007 actually….where did 15 years go??) we had a friendly ‘Trillium Challenge’ that, in actuality, wasn’t a challenge at all. It was simply a way to celebrate the arrival of Spring, which for me always meant the emergence of trillium wildflowers. It has been quite a few years since we posted trillium images, but I was able to go out to my favorite trillium location last week, which is Hell’s Hollow in McConnell’s Mill State Park. Hell’s Hollow, despite its name, is a beautiful location and a great place to watch the successive blooms of early to late spring wildflowers. The trillium were in bloom and, along with Mark, it seemed a good time to reinstate our tradition!

While most of the trillium in Hell’s Hollow are the ‘more common’ white Trillium grandiflorum, there is one special patch of the less common Trillium erectum var. album that I know of. While I am sure that these grow in other Pennsylvania locations, this one spot is the only area I have ever seen them in. As opposed to being white, they are a very pale yellow and also have a red center with pale stamens. It was a bit windy on the day I was there, but by cranking up the ISO and then using noise reduction software I was able to get a nice macro photo of this variety.

Trillium erectum var. alba

Here is an older photo of Trillium grandiflorum, the more common variety, for comparison.

Trillium grandiflorum

It’s hard to believe that another trillium season has come and gone. But I hope that perhaps this will revive the showing of both our yearly Trillium photos.

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