Sunday, April 6, 2014

Yellow Spring Giving Way to Blue and Pink

 Yellow spring comes first around here-- forsythia, dandelions, daffodils and the shy trout lilies.  On its heels comes blue and pink spring.  Today up on the higher parts of Jones Mountain I saw palest pink spring beauties, some aging trout lilies, a few bloodroot--white, but with carmine sap so I group it with pink--, some crow's feet which have no blossoms. But did you know that trout lilies are pollinated by ants?  And that it takes seven years between the germination of the seed and the first flowering of a trout lily?  And that bloodroot is pollinated by small bees and flies?  (finally, a non-disgusting job for flies)
Then some blue-violet fleabane just beginning to bloom, some pinkish toothwort, and some fiddlehead ferns.   And maybe you already know that toothwort is edible and in fact belongs to the same plant family as radishes and cabbage. 

After hiking and then dinner we sat around with our friends and read children's books and poetry to each other. 

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