TRILLIUM.

It's my day off, and the sky is an expanse of deep blue. Mmm mmm good. There's been this strange cold virus out and about - it nips your heels for a week or two, and then when you're not looking, it sucker punches you. Then, a few days later, when you're all "I'm on the mend, yay!" it kneecaps you. So the running has been a bit erratic lately. But today, I finally got a solid run in. I NEED to get a couple of half marathons on the schedule for this summer. Or...this fall, at the rate I'm going. 

I wasn't going to photograph the daffodils today - "it's just daffodils" - if you ever find yourself saying shit like that? "just daffodils"? You need your head examined. 

On the way to greeting the daffodils, I realized the playtex tampon applicator flowers were in full bloom. 

They're actually a heath.



I was heading out toward the mailbox to check out the pussy willow situation.

Huh. Somewhat worse for wear. Not sure what happened. 

Another kind of willow is just starting to pop.

This one's half in half out of its cloak.

The basswood down by the stream says "who are you lookin' at?"

AND BIG NEWS, because I knew to look for it and ONLY because I knew to look for it, TRILLIUM!!!!! I counted eight.

O Happy Day. 

mistakes and explosions

Bluets. Somehow I love this shot even more because it’s out of focus.

It’s amazing what pops up when you haven’t yet had to mow the lawn. No idea what this is.

We last saw the unidentified sapling I’ve been calling mystery witch on May 4th.  I am dismayed at what I missed over the past week, since I forgot to check in with it since the 6th.  

May 4th at left, and today at right. A riot of compound leaves. I swear, you miss just a few days around here and you'll be totally lost. Sheesh. Incidentally, I now realize that what I thought was an ash sapling yesterday is the same thing as this mystery witch – I only came across that guy when it had already leafed out, so I missed seeing it at the bud stage. But I thought to take pictures of mystery witch’s tinier buds today, and guess what?
 
The official mystery witch sample at left; the probably-not-actually-an-ash-from-yesterday at right. They look the same to me…
Onwards! Let’s break the rules and shoot into the sun.

I love doing this.

My current vote for Solomon’s Seal. The little pods are getting fatter. I don’t think they’ve flowered yet…stay tuned, I guess!
Another friend I neglected for a few days who’s suddenly all grown up – this is positively shameful, how I missed the day-by-day of this one:

At left, an ash sapling in the rain on April 5, and at right, that same sapling today.

Crazy explosive, huh? Here’s another example of crazy explosive, this time with the lilacs.

May 5th at left and today at right. Yowza. Another six inches of stalk and ancillary side bits have sprung up outta nowhere. In the meantime…

…the more established sprays of lilac flowers are just starting to show what they’ve been thinking about, color-wise.

and there is on last hold-out set of buds that are just now joining the party.

Remember her? It’s so easy, when the flowers start to fade, to forget about them. But they’re still quite busy! They’re developing seeds. So when I remember to, I like to check back in. I still don’t know what this is.
Onwards to the running report.
I did a simple half-hour run today – I’m in tapering mode for the half-marathon, which is happening THIS SUNDAY. Gulp. Today’s run was slower than what I’m used to, and painful – also something I’m not used to. 
On the one hand, I should be in decent shape – I’ve followed my training plan religiously, a plan I know from experience works, and all of my long runs have been eminently doable – no thoughts of quitting or throwing in the towel.
But on the other hand, the recent combination of a lot of ‘gardening’ (by which I mean killing innocent saplings and not-so-innocent raspberry canes) has made me sore in places I didn’t know I had. I overdid it with yoga last week. And then I did that 5K at quite a clip – maybe not such a good idea so close to race day. I don’t feel up to it right this second. I will by Sunday and I expect and hope it will be fine, but right this second? I repeat, “gulp”.
Happy International Monty Python Day!

the first day for canada mayflower, sugar maple, chokecherry, primrose

Since yesterday’s post had zero pictures, I’m giving you a double dose today.

ALL the lilac buds seem to have popped – even the laggards.

Sea o’ myrtle (Vinca minor). That’s a forsythia in the background.

The primrose (Primula vulgaris) just bloomed today.

Cheerful little bugger, innit?

The unidentified-pretty-in-pink Playtex tampon applicator flowers are still lovely…

…unlike the wild ginger flower (Asarum canadense), which by the way, is not related to the tasty ginger we eat.

Remember how I thought it looked a little carnivorous? See the insect on the right side? Heh heh! If anything, that guy’s a pollinator.

Ferns continue to open up…

Onwards to the trees. Today, sugar maple (Acer saccharum) buds started to open up.

Isn’t this wild? That’s a leaf, all neatly folded up. Surely some of the buds will have flowers – today, I only noticed leaves.

Beech buds are not yet opening, but they are HUGE. Don’t believe me?

This one’s the size of my thumb.

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) buds – boom, open, bam. Some buds are for leaves…

…and some are for flowers.

Witchhazel buds don’t so much open, as unfold. Their buds are naked, meaning, there are no protective scales. You can see those are leaves, right? They just need to fluff out a little. Today, they look green for the first time. And yeah, those are flowers, but not new ones. They flower in the winter.
And now for the gray birch (Betula populifolia) report. Oh, by the way, the reason I stick the scientific names in here is for the hordes of people who find this blog via searches for these species names. It really does happen – I get hits on this blog from all over. Most folks don’t stick around for long – as wonderful as I am, all they want is my flower and bud porn (insert heavy sigh here). Jeez, stick to the topic, Sarah. OK, first up, here’s a bud opening up today – see the wee little leaves?


Those are definitely leaves. I STILL don’t understand what that fuscia red stuff is for. Maybe…maybe it was just an exuberant “get ready, world!”

A wildflower called Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) JUST came up this morning. How do I know? See the specks of soil on the leaf? It was raining yesterday. If this leaf had been here yesterday, it would be clean. You can see a few more of them in the background, on the left.
Remember the blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)? How the other day, it was blue, stem to leaf to flower? Yesterday, I noticed the leaves were greenish-blue – today, they’re green. And all the flowers are open!



Somebody’s nibbling on the trillium (Trillium erectum). See the top center? Chomp chomp, nom, nom.



And now for a different kind of fern…the fuzzy ones… I’m lousy at fern ID, maybe that can be a summer project…

This is a willow (Salix something) that I just had to capture, because it just looks all blown to hell – almost like a fistful of clover sprouts. Huh.

And now…

Daffodils! Don’t they look like spectators at an event!