The emergence of spring wildflowers is getting a lot of attention now, but insects are getting active too. I’ve seen several butterflies and moths flitting around (unfortunately I was not able to get IDs). When we see spring beauties (Claytonia virginica), we also notice bees on them. Likely these are spring beauty mining bees (Andrena…
Tag: looking
Spring Wildflowers and our State Nature Preserves
Not only are most native plants pushing their way up, the spring ephemerals are starting to bloom! Every Friday from March through mid-May, ODNR publishes the Wildflower Bloom Report. The report is an open invitation to visit a state nature preserve and see some of these fleeting blooms in their forest homes. While the trees…
Look Down!
A couple of weeks ago we had 8-10” of snow. A concrete block on the concrete patio outside the kitchen window was covered with 10” of snow. Snow in the yard looked to be closer to 5”. The reason is that the ground had warmed up considerably before the snow fell and was holding its…
Things Seem Early This Year – Phenology
People routinely speculate about whether plants are leafing out and blooming earlier or later than usual. When leaves and blooms emerge varies a lot relative to our human calendar. However, plants and insects mark time differently than we do. To understand this, we need to consider “phenology” and “growing degree days” (GDD). Phenology The USA…
Thankfully, Still in Eden
In her last post “Stop What You’re Doing”, Terri referenced Margaret Renkl’s book, The Comfort of Crows. Renkl ends the book’s introduction with these words: We were never cast out of Eden. We merely turned from it and shut our eyes. To return and be welcomed, cleansed, and redeemed, we are only obliged to look….
Catchfly Commons 