With the advent of spring the wildflowers in southeast Minnesota have been in full bloom. I’ve been hiking in various locations in the area recently in order to capture the beauty of nature awakening after a long winter, so I will share a few of those with you. The above photo is of Wild Blue Phlox taken at Lake Louise State Park.

Below is a shot of a Virginia Spring Beauty taken at Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park.

Below is a photo of a Common Blue Violet taken off the Shooting Star Trail.

Both images below were taken in the Wild Indigo Scientific and Natural Area. This is an area that’s been preserved with a primitive trail along an abanded railroad corridor between the city of Austin and the town of Dexter in Mower County. The first image is of a blooming Wild Strawberry plant. The second is called Yellow Star Grass.

These are just a few samples of the many photos I’ve been taking recently. More will be coming. The bottom line is that it’s a great time to get outside and enjoy nature wether you’re taking photos or not. There’s a lot of beauty out there if you are willing to go out and look for it.