trillium unfolding, blue cohosh (!), willow time lapse, frog eggs

Last year I didn’t happen across trillium until they were well and away up and running. This year, I’ve found them earlier. Apparently how it works is, all-three-leaves go up together, the flower bud still tucked tightly inside…

…like so. And then the leaves spread out in classic trillium fashion.

See the flower bud waiting in there?
Today’s revelations included blue cohosh, pant pant pant.

Definitely space alien material, n’est-ce pas? Eventually this will all turn green, but early on, blue cohosh earns its name. If you aren’t familiar with this wildflower, have a look at the leaves – those scary alien digits. There is a lot of real estate packed into those folds.
Plus, I found a single trout lily leaf.

Last year I found a lot of these, but only one spit up a flower. I wondered at the time if they have a two year cycle (the way Canada mayflower do – a leaf one year, and a leaf plus flower the next). Note to self: pay attention to the trout lily leaves I find this year.

Oooh, who is this…toothwort, I think.

Hello again, coltsfoot!
Time for a time lapse progression on willow buds. Prepare to have your face melted.


Last but certainly not least: Frog eggs. Or maybe salamander eggs. Stay tuned – I have to do my homework on this.

I think, frog.

Possibly salamander

a 5K, two new flowers, and a spider

First up: the incredible athletic prowess around here. Yesterday, we ran in a 5K fundraiser benefitting the non-profit that Best Beloved is the executive director of  executively directs. (Apparently I’ll do anything to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.)

Third, baby. I came in third in my age group, tenth overall. Actually, I did the same thing two years ago, she said modestly. Well, I was third in my age group then, but 23rd overall – this year was much faster.
But that’s nothing. Guess who came in first in his age group? Sweetpea. He won a prize, and I made him give it to me. A sweet CamelBak hydration system water bottle. C’mon! It was hot pink! That’s clearly mine!

I’m just awful to him.

We had a good time at the race. It was a gorgeous day – just enough clouds to make it interesting, and the apple blossoms are just about to open.

A lot of people worked hard to put it together, and there was a great turnout. The T-shirts are cool, too. Lime green! Love it.  We had fun hanging out at our table o’ brochures. Well, I was naughty and played in the adjacent woods a lot.

There wasn’t a whole lot going on wildflower-wise, but there was this:

shagbark hickory!

On the forest floor, squat-all for flowers, except for what I’m currently thinking is Solomon’s Seal.

CHECK OUT THAT SPIDER! I didn’t see it until I got the shot up on the computer.

…and I learned that baby pinecones look like raspberries.

And now for today’s report. Strap in, it’s a long one.

A violet. There’s that bearded thing going on…

One of these red ferns I’ve been seeing around…

Canada mayflower. (Maianthemum canadense). A queen on her throne.

Bluets! (Houstonia caerulea). It was hard to get a shot that doesn’t include Maggie’s paw, stepping on them.

Foreground: the informant. Background: the lookout. I’m not just making this stuff up, am I?

Back to another batch of bluets. Doesn’t this look like it’s floating in space?

yeah, ditto.

Here’s a flower ID project. I use Newcomb’s Guide. (Got it cheap years ago in grad school; for some reason this edition costs – on Amazon – a ton. Maybe something better’s come along, but some folks are still hanging on to this one. Who knows.) There’s a simple methodology for looking at a flower to figure out what it is.
1. how many petals?

four.

.

how are the flowers arranged? on a single stalk, arranged in terminal cluster

what about the leaves? two of them – opposite one another – each of them subdivided into three leaflets, each of which is toothed.

we have white toothwort.
You may recall we’ve been waiting for beech buds to open. We’re using our patented time-lapse technique to show the process in slow motion. (Um, the technique is where you just look for a bunch of different buds, occasionally on different trees, at different stages in the process. I tell you, I am made of magic.)

The end sets of bud scales finally can’t hold it in any longer…

A pair of leaves make their escape.

The rest of the scales give up any hope of stopping the explosion.

ta-dah! whew.

Can it be? another flower ID project?

Wow. Um. Never seen that before, up close. Thank you, macro lens! Tiny, bell-shaped? Five petals, each a trippy snowflake.

arranged along a stalk…

two leaves, partway up, opposite, each toothy.

ladies and gentlemen, we have miterwort (Mitella dyphilla).

Another violet. This picture is upside-down, since I held the camera upside down to get it (we’re pretty low to the ground here). I love the blurriness of it. usually blurriness bugs me, but I think this one’s cool. I know it’s just blurry, but I like to think my camera’s capable of capturing auras. Wouldn’t that be something?

happy mother’s day!

you have eight minutes. go.

Pizza’s in the oven. I have eight minutes to goof off in the yard. Let’s see what I can cook up other than whole wheat crust pizza with homemade pesto, an extra fistful of chopped garlic, broccoli, and hot cherry peppers. Oh, and pepperoni and garlic for Sweetpea.

Lilac flowers, otherwise known as the space aliens in their spaceship pod, continue to ripen.

Good news! We have violets in the lawn. A crappy lawn is so much more interesting than one with actual grass.

Let’s get all porno and zoom in on the naughty bits. And yes, I’ve just guaranteed myself more hits on this blog by using the “p” word there. I’m such a whore. Whoa, more blog hits. I think this is a win for all of us today!

Everybody always looks at the daffodils. Few stop to wonder what they’re looking at themselves.

The reclaimed mystery woodland. That’s the GINORMOUS stump of a black cherry tree. I’m not talking the pretty-blossoms-delicate-little-ornamental kind of cherry. I’m talking a freakin’ CHERRY tree, the kind you try to turn into your kitchen cabinets if you have money to burn. No idea when it was taken down – before our watch.

squashed by the rain.

Who keeps EATING these poor things? (Trillium erectum)

I wish that I could tell you that I deliberately created these two differently-focused shots, but really, it was the camera having its own fun. This is that azalea-type shrub. 

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) flower – the one I think looks carnivorous. Are those squiggly things in there worms? Probably not, huh.

I still have no clue what this is. It is one of many kinds of flowers growing at the base of a huge yellow birch on the edge of the lawn. The flowers have yet to open up.

Here’s where I go all magical and announce that I’ve found the discarded bridal veil of a faery princess.

White walnut, aka butternut (Juglans cinerea) aka monkey-face (see the little monkey-face in the leaf scar?) – anyhoo, it’s just starting to leaf out. This young tree is right in the shadow of the yellow birch and I probably “should” kill it off as part of my Mystery Woodland Maintenance Program, but I don’t have the heart to.

In other news, I heard the thrush (I forget if it’s a hermit, or a wood, thrush – I certainly have never seen it, so that’s not helpful) in the woods for the first time today. A song to bring a smile!