I'd love to see what you have developed for peek viewing of different wild flowers. We bought 12 acres in mid Michigan 4 years ago, and am enjoying the wildflowers that mark the mini-seasons on our property. Since I don't live there full time yet, there are many blooms I don't see every year and still have surprises every season. Last year I saw my first pink lady's slipper and picked my first morel mushroom - both thrilling "firsts" for me.

Howdy ...

You have Pink Ladys-slippers and morels on your property? I'm movin' in with you!!!!

The list is still new, I'm still tryin' to encourage folks from around the country to join. So far it's mostly Ohio folks (thanks to my Planet Ohio list), with someone from Ill. and someone from TX. Not much diversity where peek blooms are concerned, secpet for TX., but since I've traveled so much, I guess I'll be the one to share some of that ... such as the desert SW peeking now, and the upswing of the bluebonnets on Texas...

My real goal is to create the kind of passionate community that we see amnong bird watchers with wildflower alerts and life lists Big Years, etc...

Is it okay if I add ya to the list? Once you are a member you can choose to receive a daily digest of the day's messages or read messages only at the web site rather than receiving indivdiual emails...

Hope to have ya join us!

Gregg

I also write a weekly wildflower article at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/wildflowers_north_america

Gregg, I'm laughing because I am a passionate bird watcher/lister and wildflower seeker/lister! I think the idea of a life list, Big Day, etc is great. I've been keeping a journal for several years of when the woodland wildflowers begin to bloom.

Howdy vegangirl...

...yeah, wildflowers are a natural for life lists and Big Years, don't ya think? They're so much easier than birds, too!

I also have a life list of birds. I got to experience many springs of migration on Lake Erie, which is one of the best places in the U.S. for warblers. And now I've gotten to travel these past five years and see all these wildflowers. I had no idea...

And before that ... the birds and the wildflowers, it was meteor showers. I was once declared the premier Perseid meteor shower observer in the U.S.

But now ... wildflowers ... can I talk ya into checkin' out or small but slowly growing group?

Gregg,
restless to get back on the road next month...

Gregg, I've never joined an online group due to the spam problem (except Garden Web, of course). Can you tell me more about joining?

Speaking of traveling, my family and I traveled around the country planting trees for more than 15 years. We worked and camped from Mississippi to Maine and Minnesota. Living in the woods, we had wonderful opportunities to see birds and wildflowers, and all sorts of wildlife. We homeschooled our 3 children all the way through high school. We started in the south in December and worked our way north, ending up in ME or MN in May. We spent 10 summers in the backwoods of Maine and I loved every minute of it!!!! It was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything:-) Our kids are grown now and we've settled back in VA where we grew up and lived for the first 14 years of our marriage.

I understand yer trepidation, vegangirl.

I have another list, Planet Ohio, which I started back in 1998. It eventually fell prey to spam so I now approve or deny all new memberships, and anyone you sneaks through and tries to spam us, I kick 'em off. I can also make it so that I have final approval of all messages before they are posted.

We're still small at the wildflower list; the spammers haven't found us yet, but take my word for it, once one shows his or her ugly face, I'll nip it in the bud... In other words, spamming may happen once, but then never again...

I'd really like to have ya join; you clearly have a love and knowledge of wildflowers to share with others, and I think the most important thing of all is that ol' sense o' kindred spirit...

If too many daily emails concerns ya ... in addition to that spam ... you can choose to receive a daily digest of the day's messages, or to not receive email, but read all the messages at the web site. no spam'll get at ya that way!

I'd love to hear more of your life story. It sounds fascinating ... book material. My wife and I have been to Maine/New England a few times, and up to Grand Marais, MN and Superior National Forest, all beautiful, beautiful places... I have a friend who has PhD in entomolgy who lives up in Maine, he works with the apple growers... Last time we drove up to Maine, in late Sept 1999, the Monarchs were migrating ... we were driving into Vermont, I think it was, and they were flying by at a rate of one every minute or so. It was great...

And I do hope ya consider joinin' in ... you'll have so many spring widflowers to share with us. I'm postin' a few of my wildflower articles on the list to stir things up a little, and tryin' to find some wildflower news from out west to pass on as well...

Happy spring!!!!

Greetings Innkeeper! I'm very interesting in joining your group. I'm located in the Eastern Part of North carolina but travel to Iowa yearly to see family. This year I will also be visiting St Paul, MO, El Paco, TX and Las Cruces, NM. I hope that I find wildflowers in those areas.-- Thanks-- Donna

Gregg, I'm giving joining some serious thought:-)

Funny you should say..."book material"...During the years we were on the road, I wrote hundreds of pages of letters to my best friend back in VA and when we settled down, she presented me with all those letters. She said she saved them because I needed to write a book and she knew I would need them! After several false starts, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't write..but I wrote the letters! Funny how that works:-) Oh well...maybe someday...!

Howdy MrsG.!

Would ya like me to sign ya up, email ya an invitation to join, or would ya like to go to the group - nawildflowers - at yahoo and siign yerself up?

My wife and I lived in Asheville, NC for about 9 months back in 2000/2001. Got to watch spring unfold its petals along the Blue ridge Parkway ... it was magnificent.

When do ya get to take all yer trips? Timing is everything ... I'm probably gonna get to TX too late for the peak of this year's bloom...

Lookin' forward to havin' ya join in at the list...

Gregg

...maybe a book of the letters!

...hope to see ya at the list. I know you have a lot to share...

Gregg
plannin' an excursion to see my first Snow Trillium