Leelanau’s spring treat

By Kristin Hurlin
Sun contributor

This year, Glen Arbor artist Kristin Hurlin will pen a series of naturalist pieces to go with her fine paintings of the nature around us.

Summer visitors miss the early flowers that bloom as the trees unfurl their leaves, so here is an illustration to give you a taste of that beauty. Leelanau County in May is a glorious experience. Wildflowers spring up on the hardwood forest floor, spreading a carpet of green and white over dead leaves of winter. Common flowers shown here are large flowered trillium, violet, false Solomon’s seal, Dutchman’s breeches, large flowered bellwort, and wild leek. May is also the month of morel mushrooms. Can you find them in the picture? The background view is from Inspiration Point, looking over Big Glen Lake towards Lake Michigan and North Manitou Island. Wildflowers prefer the “sweet” soil of these high hills because of the mix of trees. They prefer ash, maple, beech, cherry, basswood, birch and poplar, but avoid the oaks and conifers. By July these flowers will have faded back into the forest floor.