Beautiful photos of bluebell flowers at peak bloom

Bluebells are blooming in moist, woodland areas throughout our region, but stay-at-home orders are preventing most of us from seeing them. So instead of packing my camera gear and heading to nearby parks like I usually do, I took a trip through my photo archives to find some beautiful scenes of past blooms.

I also asked Dennis Govoni, an avid wildlife and nature photographer, to share a few of his bluebell photos. And, like with my cherry blossom post last week, the purpose here is to share the splendor of the blooms while we stay safe at home.

The bluebell is a native perennial plant that can grow up to 2.5 feet tall and blooms in the spring before the canopy of leaves from the trees above blocks out the sunlight. The plant thrives in fertile, moist soil and colonizes large areas, often along floodplains of streams and rivers. After the spring bloom, the plant becomes dormant and disappears during the summer, fall and winter.

Our last winter was warmer than average, which sped up the timing of the bloom. This year, bluebells began to appear in late March, and in past years, the bloom often occurred in early-to-mid April.

When spring came early: Washington just completed its fifth-warmest March on record

Let’s hope next year is back to normal, and we can go to the parks and enjoy the bluebells in person.

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