Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida) and with needles growing from its trunk, being photobombed by a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus).
Redbud (Cercis canadensis) with flower buds emerging from its trunk.
Who would have thought Redbud and Pitch Pine have something in common.
These are cauliflorous trees. They have flowers that emerge from their main trunk or larger branches. It is thought that this makes the flowers and fruit more easily accessed for pollination and dispersal of their seeds.
And the word cauliflorous has nothing to do with cauliflower.
The larval host of Zebra Swallowtail (Protographium marcellus) is any of the eight species of the genus PawPaw (Asimina). I’m in the process of replacing three PawPaw trees that I recently lost. An important quest for me.
Exquisite Zebra Swallowtails depend entirely on PawPaw trees for their very existence. No PawPaw trees, no Zebra Swallowtails.
They’re native to eastern United States and southeast Canada, the state butterfly of Tennessee.
As adults these butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers such as blueberry and blackberry blossoms, lilac, milkweed, redbud, verbena, and dogbane. They also get minerals from moist sand and soil. But they need those PawPaw trees to get started. I’ve got them ordered. Soon to be put in the ground here at the cabin, and OH! Those blooms. I love ’em!
The Flowering Dogwood trees (Cornus florida) here in my neck of the woods are just beginning to open as the Eastern Redbud blooms (Cercis canadensis) are on their way into decline. That’s the pattern every year. A slight overlapping of their big show. Like homemade vanilla ice cream with home grown strawberries on top.
In case you didn’t know, what are thought of as petals on a Flowering Dogwood bloom are not petals at all, but are modified leaves called bracts. The actual flowers of the Flowering Dogwood are those tiny yellow-green things in the very center.
No matter what the parts of a Dogwood flower are called they are a shout for glee in the mountains.
As the season continues and they’re no longer paired with their buddies, the Redbuds, they are still something that makes my heart light.
Something that calls to me to bring my camera for an outing.
As the light changes, another chance for an altered glimpse of those four white bracts with their yellow-green flowers.
Flowers on trees that intrigue me. Flowers that are just an added benefit.
And here a Blue Jay, an additional added benefit.
A Cardinal? What more could I want!
And once those flowers and bracts are gone, still pure delight as the seasons roll on. Be sure to watch those leaves. I kid you not, they begin ever so slowly to turn to red in late June. Slowly slowly slowly.
Autumn offers up berries for the critters of the forest. Berries that last what seems but a brief moment.
Hints of winter as the leaves fall. But look my beloved Flowering Dogwood trees are planning ahead. Those buds. That is spring on its way.
Spring indeed is planned for. Buds in the waiting. But the trees must go through winter. More delight!
That plan for spring the trees have made? They survive. They survive through snow, ice and cold. They survive through the wondrous winter and come into spring with blooms as their buddies, the Redbuds are blooming. Like homemade vanilla ice cream with home grown strawberries on top.
Many of you know that I love winter, my totally, over the top, favorite season. But I also delight in the seasons changing. If the seasons stayed the same, day after day after day after day I wouldn’t be content. I think the world of CHANGE.
Sometimes even Mother Nature just doesn’t want to let go. To let the seasons do their things. And she brings us surprises. These images are from April 15, 2020. I think this was one of those times when she felt, if nothing else, mischievous.
For the winter lover in me, I’m certainly at an advantage being at a slightly higher elevation than those in the lowlands of Virginia. Mountains have their benefits. That elevation helps create snow, when otherwise there might not be any. For sure it was the case on this day.
Blooms of Redbud (Cercis canadensis), and Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), and new unfurling fronds of Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) all got dumped on with a fair amount of wet snow. But they are native plants and can take what is dished out.
A few hours of sunshine and things were back to normal. And we all were quite content.
One week later, another native plant, Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata), was up and blooming as if it was a perfectly normal spring.
