Category Archives: mayflowers

Mayflowers are blooming!

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One of my very favorite signs of spring is finding the first blooms of our state flower, the mayflower, also known as trailing arbutus….

The bristly tough leaves can be found along the sides of many trails on the Cape but I especially find them in Barnstable. They like the early spring sun, do well with acidic soil and hug the ground so often go unnoticed except by those who look for them.

Often you have to look under the leaves to see the buds and I knew that this patch of plants had buds last week so was hoping to see blossoms on our morning walk.

Some blossoms look white while others have a pinkish cast. They all smell delicious. They are not in full bloom everywhere yet but if you are out and about this week, take a look for them. They are well worth the effort.

More Mayflowers

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Mayflowers, also called trailing arbutus are so close to the ground and so early in the spring that many people never see or notice them. They can often be found along wooded paths where the leaves haven’t come out on the trees yet and where the ground is sort of hilly, dry and maybe even a bit poor or rough. Here you can see a little patch of them along a path. If you weren’t looking for them you might not see them.Here’s a close up view. You can see they barely peek out of the leaves on the forest floor.
These blossoms had a nice pink color. They can range in color from pure white to pinkish to these almost pink flowers.
Mayflowers are in bloom all over Cape Cod right now so if you’re out and around, go see if you can find some. The top two photos were from the Hathaway’s Pond trails in Hyannis the bottom was from the Skunknett Audubon Sanctuary in Osterville.

Watching for blooms….

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One of the earliest, sweetest wildflowers to bloom on Cape Cod is our state flower, the trailing arbutus or mayflower. If you look at the picture below there are two green plants (not counting the moss) The smaller, shinier leaves are of teaberry, also known as common wintergreen. The larger, lighter green leaves are of the mayflower. They feel quite tough and leathery, not smooth like the teaberry.You can find mayflowers in many of our woodland areas and often along side a path as they seem to like sunny locations on a bank. Even my dog wanted to check them out to see if they were blooming yet….
Not quite! But maybe they will be ready when the sun comes back out later this week. If you are headed out for a woodland walk this weekend keep your eyes open. The blooms often hide just under the leaves. If you can get down on the ground to smell them they have a most wonderful, heavenly scent….

New Life

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Everywhere you look there is new life growing. Leaves are popping out all over. Some are on the branches of trees and some are on the forest floor.

Early in the spring is the best time to find a concentration of flowering plants on the forest floor. They need the sun and once all the trees have their leaves the forest floor will be shaded. There will still be flowers later in the season but for me there is a certain sweetness in the early spring flowers.

Mayflower or trailing arbutus is still flowering in most Cape locations. I also found this little wild violet on the side of the trail and thousands of leaves of the Canada mayflower or false lily of the valley, that will be in bloom over the next few weeks. These pictures were taken at Hathaway’s Pond in Hyannis.

Spring is Springing all over!

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Just came back from a fabulous walk in one of Barnstable’s many lovely conservation areas. This one was the Otis Atwood area in Marstons Mills and on a lovely sunny spring afternoon the mayflower was in bloom all over, the chickadees were phoebe-phoebe-ing like crazy and we got a great look at a Cooper’s hawk that tried to stare us down but gave up and flew off. My favorite part of the walk was seeing my very first spring azures, the tiny little blue butterflies that seem to arrive just in time for the blooming of the mayflowers!