Retreat House

Black raspberries are one of my favorite  foods

Nice bush of Hardy cactus

Closeup of cactus flower

Went on my annual mens retreat this past weekend. The grounds are beautiful and i go walking quite a bit. here are some pics from there.

The other side of the river

On sunday we spotted what we thought was dogwood tree growing in the wild which are kinda rare around here but it was on a hill on the other side of the river. Today we went on a mission to check it out. The flowers we found on the way were nice. Big patches of Wild Lupines. We did have to traverse two swamps  with our tennis shoes. It was mucky and we were determined.  we had to walk down the train tracks too. The pics I got don't do justice to the tree. It was beautiful, full bloom in its glory.   

This is what we saw from across the river

The Dogwood

Im not much of a mushroom hunter but I think this was a Morel

Nice stand of wild Lupine

Daisy fleabane just starting to open

Nice tree

Blue eyed grass

A couple of new finds

Golden Alexanders

Jack in the pulpit

Star Flowered solomon seal

Swamp Buttercup

Wild Lupines

Went out wildflower hunting today after work. Found plants I never have seen before such as wild lupine. Never knew they were lupines in Michigan.

spring in the greenhouse

its looking nice at work.

Couple of my favorites

sweet smelling lily of the valley

Nice reflections on the river 

I hope i will be able to eat the wild strawberries from these

Todays Walk

Went to the same spot today. it must be a special place because I get to see all the flowers I normally dont see. still dont have an Id book so not all are named.

An unidentified white interesting flower

thought there were going to be purple flowers, i really like the centers

The puppy is admiring the pansies

Random large patch of lily of the valley growing on the river bank

the path

Some Trillium and geraniums

The river in all its beauty

An unidentified flower

Bursting out with flowers

I know this is a marsh marigold

This looked like a violet but its not violet!!!!

Black and white trillium

Started in my neighbors yard and the walked to the river through the woods and saw all sorts of flowers, most I dont know what they are cause I havent gone out and bought an identification book yet. Any recommendations?