MAYFLOWERS: Joe Cucuzza called us from Lewis Run to tell us the mayflowers are blooming behind the old Valley Hunt Club.

His family has an annual tradition of walking around the Lewis Run area looking for signs of spring. This year, the trip had some different participants, his dog Pepper and his new grandson Auggie, who is 7 months old.

Auggie will be the fifth generation of mayflower gatherers in the Cucuzza family Joe’s grandfather, Barb Costanzo, would’ve been 125 on April 15. He started the beloved tradition.

SPRING: Speaking of heralding spring, we received a note from Marilyn Jestes about spring wildflowers that we featured last month.

We believed the internet — whoops.

‘I, too, gladly herald spring!’ she shared.

‘However, no one will be seeing witchhazel — it blooms in the fall unless it is an Asian cultivar — or camellias — too cold here outside a greenhouse. Snow trilliums are rare, never seen one in this area.

But the forested environs have plenty of red trilliums (T. erectum) and white trilliums (T. grandiflorum) which make a lovely display.

Thanks for acknowledging our lovely spring wildflowers!’

The flowers are such a wonderful part of the Pennsylvania Wilds and Allegheny National Forest.

‘From early spring, well into fall, the Allegheny offers visitors an array of plant viewing opportunities,’ the ANF’s website notes. ‘Starting early in the spring, as the trees begin to leaf, the forest floor is carpeted in trillium, spring beauty, hepatica, trout lily and many other early spring wildflowers.’

Violets, rue anemone and even lady slipper orchids might be seen on the forest floor, along with wild geranium, cinquefoil, and golden ragwort. There’s beauty to be seen all over the place.