Author Archives: Brenda Clements Jones

About Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

An INCH!

Snow this morning. First a nice slow gentle falling. Then lots of graupel that made the ground look like it was covered by exploded bits of styrofoam coolers. Then snow, snow, snow. Lots of snow falling from the sky. It covered the ground with a serious, measurable, inch of snow. The most snow we’ve had all winter long.

And now, as I type this I realize there is more snow coming down. Could there be more than an inch on the ground in the morning? Haha! Wishful thinking.

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Time

Time, Tucson

Wikipedia says, “Daylight saving time, also referred to as daylight savings time or daylight time, or summer time, is the practice of advancing clocks during warmer months so that darkness falls at a later clock time.”

Oh dear, it’s going to happen again. Don’t forget. Tonight.

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Woods Awash With Soft Yellow-green

The woods are full of small, soft yellow-green blooms now. Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is showing off its flowers.

Spicebush, the larval host plant of the Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) is a perennial shrub that often reaches to 15 feet, sometimes 20 feet. It is dioecious, meaning there are only male or female flowers on a single bush. It also means that the beautiful crimson berries that appear in autumn are only on the female bushes.

A lovely shrub to have growing throughout my woods.

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Double Surprise Day

The delightful spring weather called to me today. Called me to come out. To walk around. Something that I love to do. And when I’m out I am always looking for something new, something that will reinforce my love of nature. Big or small, there is always something out there. Most of the time, that something is a surprise. Sure enough, I certainly wasn’t expecting to find blooming Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). But there it was shining, snow white, making its way through leaf litter.

Sometime later I walked past this same Bloodroot bloom and there was another surprise. The first Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) of the season, collecting pollen from the soft yellow anthers.

Nature never fails to surprise me. There is so much out there to take in.

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Another Early Spring Surprise

This wasn’t found until I was back to my cabin, checking on the photographs. Buds on the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).

Virginia Bluebells, a herbaceous perennial plant, generally blooms at the beginning of April.

A variety of bees, butterflies, skippers and hummingbird moths help to pollinate the flowers.

A spring ephemeral. By mid-summer the above ground portions of the plant, the stems and leaves, will fade and disappear. Leaving the tap root to prepare for the next spring.

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A Native Yellow

Bravely coming up out of the ground. Poking its nose from beneath the soil with no inhibitions. No concerns about the potential crazy weather we might have. Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum).

Fast forward from this early March to mid-April. Beautiful yellow. Native to the woods of eastern North America.

Its sunshine yellow, glowing in blooms from spring through early summer.

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Flowers Sprouting From The Bark

Wandering the mountain today, and a surprise. Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) within days of being in bloom.

And these blooms even show up on the trunk, and older stems of the tree. This is called cauliflory. There are estimated to be more than 100 species of plants, the world over, that are cauliflorous, scattered among a wide variety plant families.

No matter the location of those flowers on the trees. The woods will soon be pink, pink, and more pink!

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Prickly Pear Cactus

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia). Tucson, Arizona. Native only to the Americas, including a couple species that are native to the East Coast of the United States.

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