The Blooms Keep on Coming

When beechen buds begin to swell,
and woods the blue-bird's warble know
the yellow violet's modest bell
Peeps from the last year's leaves below.

1st stanza of a poem

by William Cullen Bryant

Yesterday's trip into the woods found the downy yellow violets up.  They are just starting to bloom. the nearby white violets have not yet made an appearance but I will keep checking.

I know summer isn't far away when the redbuds blossom.  When I started out on this day's walk, I noticed none of the trees in bloom but when I returned, two hours later, there they were, pretty in pink, lining the gas line right-of-way.  I don't know if I had missed seeing both trees on my first pass or if they came out with the sun.

It could be that I was looking to intensely at the ground which has its own rewards.  That is how I found this brown beauty, nestled against a bunch of grass.  Mushrooms have found accommodating surroundings in the damp woods.

Spring beauties abound.  Those tiny bulbs Claytonia virginica are everywhere that the sun can reach.  The flowers I find in the woods have a hint of pink as does this one but in my yard, they are usually white, a result of our poor soil. Once, before I had children, I gathered up a small bowl of the tubers, cut them in two and sauteed them in butter. Not so great, but something I could eat if I needed to.  I could probably get used to them and might add onion if I ever cook Claytonia virginica again.

Backin my actual garden, Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, are making a nice showing with their mixture of pink and blue blossoms nodding over the flagstone path which they have temporarily overtaken

Another good day has begun.  The sun is up with the power of summer, beaming down with a heat that will build to almost ninety degrees by this afternoon. The heat is speeding up some blooming cycles urging me to pay attention so that I don't miss a thing.