Smashing COLOR!

Oh my. Color is SO important to me.

A smashing color combination here! Totally captivating. Crimson bell peppers, emerald green jalapeño peppers complete with seeds, cadmium orange carrot slices, and simply white cauliflower.

Yummy.

Spring Unfolding

Spring is unfolding with blossoms slowly opening, everywhere I look. Seem to be ubiquitous. I hunted today and managed to find Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla).

One seedpod had already developed, with its jolly smile. That smile seems to be on all of the seedpods of Twinleaf, as if each has a cheery attitude.

Twinleaf is an appropriate name. Each single leaf is divided into two lobes, appearing to be two leaves. Native to eastern North America, in moist woods, mostly in limestone soils.

Chipping Sparrow

A little sparrow that I don’t often see. Small and quite tame, I’m pleased when one shows up at my feeders. The Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) is a bird that will come to feeders, or eat scattered seeds on the ground. During the summer though, insects and spiders are a big part of their diet.

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Visitor

There is a visitor at the cabin. Betelgeuse. Named after the red supergiant, second brightest star in the constellation Orion. One of the largest stars one can see without the aid of binoculars or a telescope. And often the tenth-brightest star in the nighttime sky.

Pretty cool, huh? Well she certainly lives up to her reputation. The absolute perfect visitor. Sitting in the bath tub, calling until one turns on the water, so that she can get a drink. Mighty cool!

 

Nest Building

A female Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus), gathers fluff from last summer’s Tall Anemone (Anemone virginiana) to use to construct her nest.

Here you can get a better look at what she’s gathering, from a seed head of Tall Anemone.

Throughout the winter my gardens remain untouched just as they were at the end of autumn. I don’t clean them up because, as you can see, the birds gather what they can to eat, and to build nests.

Various Shades Of Red

The woods are getting soft hints, just whispers of various shades of red. The Red Maple trees (Acer rubrum) are in bloom. This happens quietly. It doesn’t get much attention. There is a subtlety as it happens. The flowers, quite small, just enough to only create a hint of the color.

As the flowers fade, a fruit develops. When I was little I called the fruit a helicopter. Magical to a child as they twirl down to the ground. They’re actually called a samara. Whether a helicopter or a samara, they are still magic.

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First Evening Of Spring

Along a trail, a ways up the mountain above my cabin, Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) rise up to greet the evening. The first evening of the new season, spring 2023.

There are 87 species of violets native to North America, or perhaps even more. Scientists are unsure of that number. Of those species, there are butterflies that depend on the plant as its larval host plant. These are Fritillary caterpillars. Fritillary butterflies are divided into two groups, the Greater and the Lesser Fritillaries. The Greater Fritillary butterflies are larger in size and depend totally on violets as their larval host. The Lesser Fritillary butterflies generally are smaller and also depend on the violets as a larval host plant though not exclusively.

Violets are welcome in my gardens. All the better for Fritillary butterflies.

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Ruby Slippers

A storefront in Roanoke and what do I see? A pair of RUBY SLIPPERS just waiting for me. (I can do it too, my dear amigo Gar-ee!)

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The Season Ahead

Flip the pages of the calendar ahead to June and this is what you’ll find in some of my gardens. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a wonderful flower to attract pollinators, and what better example to find than a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

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