Winter's Return

A dusting of light snow covered the ground early this morning.  Once again NOAA's forecast was accurate.  Sharply bitter winds coming at us from the Northwest meant that no outdoor work would happen here today.  This quick look at emerging plants was all that we did.

The slightly out of focus green blob is a newly emerging Trillium.   I had to perch on a curved rock to get this photo and my balance is far from what it was in the past causing the camera to shake.  So far four have pushed above the soil.  Trilliums take me back to my childhood home located in Newfield.  A section of woods contained a large patch of these flowers.  My habit was to snap off an armload for my Mother.  Unaware that I was killing plants by also removing their leaves, I now plant more here every year.  One simply must have a huge swath of these pure white flowers.

This may not look like much but three tips from a Yellow Lady's Slipper have made an appearance.  More will follow.  It is planted just across the path from the bench.  We will make many trips to sit and enjoy these unusual flowers.  The tiny red spheres are sumac seeds.  It seems that every seed germinates requiring a great deal of time to pull the newly emerging trees.  For now we leave this ground alone to prevent damage to the soon to appear Lady's Slippers.

Squirrel corn's pale yellow flowers are easy to miss.  This early native has a growth habit that seems to doom it to failure.  At the end of its growing season, a mass corms each of which resembles field corn kernels mark the location of the crown of the plant.  They appear to be an open invitation to small animals to dine there.  Somehow enough remain to present new growth the following year.  Having seen the remains of this plant, no imagination is required to see the origin of its name.

Last Fall Wild Ginger was transplanted near the Maidenhair Ferns. This Ginger is the first plant to appear here.  There is still no sign of growth from the ferns.   We have read that this combination of different plants will create a stunning picture.  A future picture is sure to follow.

Robin's Plantain was discovered growing in one of our meadows.  Also called Blue Spring Daisy, it has an  lavender and yellow composite flower similar to an aster. It has since disappeared from that spot but transplants continue to thrive in our gardens.  This one was moved adjacent to the developing shade garden where its location will receive generous amounts of morning sunshine.  It appears ready to grow.