Nature is Never Spent

Maybe it's the unseasonably cool weather we keep having (I'm not complaining!) but the signs of spring keep catching me off guard. I wasn't prepared for the azaleas to bloom already, and I certainly didn't expect this blessed swallowtail. Hello, mid-Spring!

Yesterday started with a lovely fog, and it was a pretty good day for shifting dirt in the garden. Today's weather was what they would put in the dictionary next to "perfect." The jonquils are blooming in the pasture at the Farm. I love how different they look just because of the sky.

It's been less of a Southern spring this year: cooler, less humid, fewer early season storms. Blue, blue skies with ragged white clouds, the trees still mostly looking bare, though if you inspect them closely you can see that tiny buds are swelling.

There are many clusters of these violets up on a ridge where I sometimes hike. It's dry, mostly shale and grasses below the pines, but it's south-facing and I've seen some forest flowers there blooming earlier than down in the cooler, moister areas.

Continuing with the review of spring, in May the roadside wildflowers really started to get in gear, showy evening primrose in particular...



...including this adorable beetle. (Click to embiggen.)



By this time in May I had also observed a lot of honeysuckle, the first lance-leaved coreopsis, ladybugs, a hummingbird, and the cottonwood fluff flying like very soft shooting stars across a field of dark green.

Apr 20: ( Blossoms above my head )

April 21: Around this time, most of the fields are yellow with buttercups.

Another long absence, lots to catch up on! I'm going to take a few posts to review our Spring since my last post. It has continued to be an odd season, with more cold spells than warm ones much later than usual. Gardening has been a challenge! Lots of covering things overnight and bringing pots under the porch to protect them from cold and possible frost.

But back to March 28:
Spring Beauty is still blooming profusely.




April 2: Mayapple is spreading across the forest floor and a few blossoms have appeared under the "umbrella" leaves.

Hello, nature journal! I didn't mean to leave you for so long. Last year almost beat the light out of me, but I didn't stop observing. Here are my Springwatch dates for 2013.

January
12 - very warm weather, then tornadoes
15 - 1/2" sleet, schools closed
16 - spotted my first blooming daffodil of the year
25 - cedar waxwings migrating through
28 - spotted first Spring Beauty blooming
29 - tornado warnings
30 - lots of bluets blooming
31 - alder trees blooming (male catkins)

February
2 - pruned the fruit trees at the farm
12 - first noticed morning birdsong
14 - heard spring peepers (frogs) singing in a river bottom
23 - spotted a flock of pelicans in the river (migrating -- they don't live here)
23 - saw a plum tree in full bloom
24 - spotted a butterfly during a hike in the woods

March
14 - field of daffodils at local flower festival in full bloom
15 - tree pollen noticeable on outdoor surfaces
16 - peach & pear trees in orchard blooming
18 - bees humming in flowering quince bush

I don't have photos of everything, but here's an album with some representative ones.

( Catkins, moss and blossoms )

I think one of my favorite things was the bee. I was lying on the ground to photograph the quince bush with the pear tree in the background, and I heard the telltale drone. They were everywhere, buzzing around so happily, legs encrusted with pollen. They know spring has been upon us for awhile.

Two years ago I planted wildflower seeds in one of my pots and got no flowers from them. I didn't pull up the greenery though, and last year I think I got one frilly-petaled coreopsis. This year there are two! They're almost as pretty before the buds open.

The roadside flowers have been riots the past few weeks: crimson clover, showy evening primrose, purple vetch, Queen Anne's lace, oxeye daisies, and most recently coreopsis.

The woodland flowers aren't quite as showy, but they're in their prime as well. I love the half-mile dirt road through the little woods by the farm. The high banks are mossy, the trees' branches arch out over the road touching each other, and some of the flowers are almost at eye level as I walk past. Here's a visual tour.

( Woodland spring )