Bloodroot in Virginia

About 20 minutes ago, I posted a shot similar to this one (below) but this time around I am showing a later shot from the same series. If you compare this shot with the one in the previous post, you can see that I moved a small piece of twig that had been lying against the stem. I also moved a small branch on the right edge of the frame that ran through the background and behind the petal of the flower. When working with the flower, at first I did not notice the distractins, but then I checked my depth of field preview and could see that the little scraps would interfere with my shot. So I brushed them away gently with my finger. I will NOT pick a plant to move it, but I will sometimes move a dead leaf or a branch or a stick. Perhaps it seems picky to worry about such small little sticks in the photo, but when photographing wildflowers, I want to do my best.
And I got out the trusty chapstick to help show the size of this tiny flower. Bloodroots at this same stage CAN be 6 inches high, but this one flowered before its stem got very long. There can be great variation in bloodroot development depending on the temperature and rainfall. Warmer temperatures trigger the opening of the flower, and lots of rainfall tends to make the stem grow long. Here we had warmth, without much rain.