spring

Spring green

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And with the flip of a switch we’ve moved into spring, with it’s lovely shades of bright green. We’ve had heat and sun, cool and rain – everything needed to promote the trees to leaf out, the grass to grow, and the flowers to push up through the ground. It’s a time filled with birdsong, from before dawn to after dusk. The warblers are moving through, the Baltimore orioles have stopped at the oranges we’ve offered, the robins are building nests, the whippoorwills are singing at night, and we’ve even seen some fluffy goslings.

Before long the calendar pages will change, the heat and humidity of the long summer days will arrive, and just as quickly the days will once again start getting shorter. But I’m way ahead of myself now, and I try to remind myself to enjoy this spring – the shortest season of the year.

Signs of spring

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Spring has arrived in the north, and we are marveling in it’s colors and textures. It is all a great awakening from the cold and quiet of winter. Spring rains have brought green to our grasses, and caused the flowers to open and burst into bloom. The daffodils, magnolias, and crocus are all basking in the warm sunshine. The rains have brought gentle showers and also thunderstorms that roll through quickly and seem to clear in an instant. If we’re fast enough and the conditions are right, they also grace us with wondrous rainbows of color – sometimes even complete double rainbows!

Ripples

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Sometimes a photograph is a representation of the scene in front of us. And sometimes it’s something more. In this image I see a lovely sense of movement away from winter and the snow that is covering the bank and shoreline. The hints of a greening spring are evident and the trees’ reflection has a fluid and abstract look in the open water. There’s a blue sky overhead, dappled with abstract white clouds that shines down into the surface of the water. It’s all a movement and progression from one season to the next.

Hints of spring

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We are dancing between winter and spring. The calendar says mid-March which can mean any type of weather and conditions, especially since last year at this time we had over two feet of snow on the ground. This year is a much different story with record-breaking high temperatures and no snow, only brown grass and drought conditions. People are taking advantage of our early spring temperatures, and it seems everyone you see outside is smiling as though we’re getting away with something.

The lakes are loosing their ice, the birds are calling, the days are lengthening, and heavy coats, winter boots, gloves and hats are not necessary. I’ve marveled at daffodils and tulips that have pushed up through the ground, certainly a month earlier than usual. But I was stunned to see blooming crocus the other day while I was out walking in our neighborhood. Granted, they were near a wall that could capture the sun’s heat and keep it much warmer than the air temperature, but the crocus were a wonderful welcome to spring’s promise.

Deep down I know we have not turned the page completely as our forecast for the next few days shows a return of more seasonal temperatures and even some snow. But I’ll hold on to the crocus’s promise and know that spring will be here soon.

The fleeting time of peonies

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Here in Minnesota we have experienced an unusually short spring season and have quickly moved into the summer season. Our temperatures jumped from temperate to “just plain hot” quickly, and with that it seems everything has bloomed and blossomed at the same time. The lilacs came and went. Daffodils, tulips, poppies, iris, and peonies all burst into bloom together. It’s been beautiful and yet it’s also been overwhelming, and it seems that it’s now all gone.

But the peonies have always had a fleeting time of bloom. Their greenery grows rapidly once the snow is gone and the sun warms the ground. The tight buds form, then start to show color, and then the ants are seen all over the buds. Peonies provide sugar and compounds that the ants need, and the ants benefit the peonies by keeping other potential invaders away from the blooms. This year the early heat with temperatures in the upper 80’s and even 90’s seemed to shorten the already fleeting peony bloom. I felt like I needed to harvest as many flowers as I could to bring inside and out of the intense heat, hoping to give them a chance of lingering a bit longer. The benefit to me is it allowed me to savor their beauty and their scent so much more.