Finally, Sun! And flowers.

After over a week of relentless rain rain rain (and chill) we finally have some sun, and it looks like it's here to stay for a while.  

In the world of trees... some tiny leafies are starting to peak out -- especially on crabapples (pictured here) and lilacs.  

Also, red maples are flowering so brightly red, they're earning their name this week!

And some early magnolias have started flowering, but mostly they're just quite swollen.

In the prairie, not much happens this early, but prairie smoke is in that "almost" stage:

In the world of bulbs, quite a few daffodils are blooming, but most are still not there yet.

I also noticed some early hyacinths flowering. Oh, and periwinkles, which are not bulbs but we'll group them here as cultivated non-native flowers.

This violet photo is actually from last week -- on 3/31 I noticed them flowering, but I was too lazy to do a post for just that.


Many, many interesting ducks migrating through this time of year.  I don't carry binoculars or a bird book or a good working memory of duck ID, so... you'll just have to trust me that they're interesting.

Weekend Updates

We'll start with the Evil: Garlic Mustard is flowering....

Now we can move on to some of the good.   So much is happening it'd be impossible to note it all!

Virginia Bluebells blooming:

Jacob's Ladder blooming:

Redbud not blooming, but the buds are very red:

SO many things are leafing out... silver maples, some red maples, and this buckeye...

Anenomes blooming:

Troutlilies are carpeting the forest floors, and their flowers are in full bloom:

Magnolias are blooming:

Trillium blooming:

State of the World

I've been failing in the end game for the last few days... I've been taking pictures and notes, but haven't managed to dedicate the computer time to getting blog entries actually published.  So here's the state of the world right now.  

The state of the world is lovely.  Warm and sunny and only lightly breezy.  This is the third day of perfect weather (and Friday was only a slight bit cooler) and I love it.  I can run and run and never think about the weather.  I can work in the garden -- and did I ever this weekend.  It's just... just... I can't even express.  Marvelous spring weather for the past few days. Here's just a bit of what I've been seeing...

• The first tick was found (not my me) on 4/14.  YEA!  Now we get to feel false (and real) creepy crawlies whenever we're out in the prairie or woods for the next 2 months!
• Pasqueflowers also reached their peak bloom on or around 4/14, when I took this photo. 

• Dandelions have been blooming for a little over a week now, but I didn't photograph one until Friday. 

• Crabapples leafed out -- this picture is from Friday, and by today they're even greener and leafier.  With them, the honeysuckles, the boxelder, and the lilacs (photo from today) leafing out, not to mention other shrubs like spirea, my blackcurrants... the understory has a definite green tinge to it. 

 

• The Norway maples are flowering -- their green-ish flowers fool people into thinking they've leafed out, but it's flowers first.  Red maples are also flowering (have been for a while, actually).  Sugar maples haven't started yet.  

• While we're on the subject of tree flowers, cherries have just started, and magnolias... they're in full and fragrant bloom, a full spectrum from whites and pinks to purples.  Really just a lovely treat. 

 

• Less pretty, but cottonwoods are catkining and actually the catkins are already falling like rain when you stand under the trees.  Soon they'll be sending off seeds like snow! 

• Celandine poppies started flowering this weekend...

• In the world of bulbs... daffodils are at or just past peak bloom.  Tulips are just starting, only a few varieties open.  Hyacinths are in full bloom, too. 

• In the insect world, I started seeing white butterflies all over this weekend.  Also ants, and those big fuzzy bumble bees.  And...
• I saw my first green darner!  It's dragonfly season!
• In the bird world, so much, and I'm not a good birder.  Wood ducks and yellow-rumped warblers.  Bob o'links.  Killdeer.  Buffleheads.  So much more...

OK, I think that'll be it for now... if that's not enough to process!

Happy Earth Week! (One day is not enough!)

Catching Up With Home

Anemones blooming, and magnolias almost open.

Our yard is colorful with daffodils and Violet's and scilla all over; the weather's variable but it feels like spring!

Magnolias

Nuff said.

D-Day!

I have been waiting for this day for months!  As I ran through the newly flooded back loop of Rollins Savannah... clad, I might add, in shorts and a tank top... a dragonfly swooped past my head.  YEA!  It wasn't the only thing that the strong wind carried my way... the cloyingly sweet perfume of blooming magnolias.  The aroma of outdoor grilling.  When the mercury first tops 80, everything comes out to play.

Also seen:  trout lilies blooming.  Baby geese (on 4/28).  Pasqueflower blooming.  First prairie smoke blooming.  Dandelions in full bloom.

Mag-Nificent

We say goodbye to winter with another 80 degree day.  I heard on NPR, we've broken a record for the most consecutive days in March over 70, today being the 7th... and tomorrow and Wednesday look like they'll be then 8th and 9th.

Magnificent Magnolia

Today:  Magnolias of all sorts bloomed where yesterday there were only seriously swollen buds.

Ephemerals

Ephemeral. Fleeting. Our spring weather has been ephemeral this. Thursday, after snow and rain, we had a lovely spring day... to be followed by a cold and wet Friday. Today was, again, lovely, but by Monday we're supposed to be back to three days of chilly rain.

Today we walked at the gardens. The spring ephemerals were in full bloom. (Being 20 miles south, they are a couple of days ahead of us. Being professional horticulturists, they are probably another couple of days ahead of us.) As proof of point, I can't even get Dutchman's breeches (sketched above) to grow at my house. There it grows in huge clumps of feathery leaves.

Their bloodroot was actually on it's way out...

Trout lily.

Anenome.

Spring beauty.

Trillium.

Bluebells, just starting to bloom.

Marsh marigold.

This magnolia is from the exact tree I sketched last year on April 1 last year. It is, perhaps, a little further along in its lifecycle. But not much.

Prairie smoke. (OK, those last aren't ephemerals, but whatever.)

More April Fools

We happened on a magnolia tree today that was flowering -- some blossoms fully open, most in process, and some still tightly encased in their large furry buds. Above is my sketch study of some of them. It was very windy, which meant both that the flowers would not hold still for sketching and that their floral scent surrounded me. (Actually, a mother with small children came up to me and said that she liked to sketch but she couldn't get her kids to sit still so she didn't do it any more -- I responded that I couldn't get the plant to be still, either!)

Here are some other tree flowers I saw today:

(In order, a red maple, a variety of cherry not native to this continent, a pussy willow -- look at those colors -- and a cottonwood.)

These tulips must be an early-blooming variety, because most are not close to flowering, even in the city.

These little dwarf irises are a beautiful spring treat... as are the Dutchman's breeches, but I am a little sad because mine aren't even emerging yet, which means they're probably not coming back. I mean, this was a little south of my house, but not that far. Sadness. (But I still have some hope, I'll keep you posted.)

And my last bit of plant news -- after I posted this morning, I went into the front yard and saw the above daffodil. I have no idea why the shaded front yard daffodils flowered before the back yard ones, but today is the first day I've seen the full-sized ones blooming around here.

In animal news, I also sketched this pair of geese that was both nestling their heads in their backs and resting, if not sleeping. I also saw a mink. It ran right past me while I was sketching, and at first I didn't know what the brown thing was, but I ended up getting a good and pretty long view of it. I was drawing, so there was no hope of getting a photo, but it was still pretty cool.

And a last bit of news, I heard on NPR today -- and I assume it was serious, although they were doing all sorts of April Fool's broadcasts, but this one wouldn't be very funny -- that we had record-breaking high temperatures. It hit 83 degrees F. And it was warmer than many southern cities like L.A. (that's the only one I remember). Funny, if people went on trips for spring break and it ended up being warmer here than there! Ha! That's like nature's April Fool.