Karen Wils photo A trillium shows off its bright white blossom.

ESCANABA — What kind of wild flower are you?

May is that marvelous month when the woodlands and meadows explode with colorful flowers. After many months of a drab white, gray or brown ground, the blossoms are such a welcomed sight.

Each type of wild flower fills its niche in the wetlands or the woodlands with its unique beauty.

People are a lot like wild flowers. Each person has unique beauty.

Some people follow the crowd. They thrive in groups situations just like the marsh-marigolds. Dozens and dozens of brilliant yellow marsh-marigolds crowd the creek bottoms. Just like a bunch of happy humans at a concert or a sporting event, marsh-marigolds stand up and cheer. There’s nothing shy about marsh-marigolds or their people.

Other folks are Jack-in-the-pulpit people. They preach fun and clean living. Just like the stripes on the Jack-in-the-pulpit flower bring joy, Jack-in-the-pulpit people are humorous. These little comedians brighten our days.

Some people are definitely trilliums. They are perfect, white perfectionists. You know these people. They look clean even if they’re working up a garden.

Trillium folks have that starched white look even on rainy, muddy days.

Tall and elegant, graceful and indigo, describes the blue flag flower or “wild iris,” as it is often called. Some people fit the mold and belong to the blue flag look a likes group.

These people are extremely pretty or handsome and they are creative or artsy.

Then there are the complicated columbines. The folks that favor this flower are intelligent and brainy. The perky pink columbine looks like he’s got his thinking cap on all the time.

If I had to be a wild flower, I’d be the pink lady slipper. Not the showy or yellow lady slipper, I’d be the plainer pink lady slipper that dwells in the hardwoods. This lovely orchid flower stands for peace and harmony amongst the mosses and the mushrooms. Pink lady slippers are friends of the wilderness who like the quiet camp settings.

Go for a hike in the woods this weekend and find out what kind of wild flower you are. Are you a shy little purple violet or are you a bold, blaze orange Michigan lily?

Don’t pick the posy people. Take lots of pictures of them instead.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.