Crocus in the Snow
Whether March came in like a lion or like a lamb depended, as usual, on your location. Donna Unruh Hoberecht says that early spring ephemera in her backyard garden are up right on time, while Marilyn Tompkins Bellert noted that Great Blue Herons returned nearly one month earlier this year than they have for the past 15 years. Jane Thompson Olson reported that the weather has been “unusually cold for these parts, as Gulf Coast natives would say,” where she and her husband have been RV-ing since New Year’s. No photographic evidence is available, but Glenna Stearman Park claims that 1,000 daffodils are opening in her yard.
Donna Unruh Hoberecht I have been checking my woodland area often and have been taking a few pictures of the native perennials that are coming to life above ground. The first photo (below left) shows the large giant purple wake-robins (a variety of trillium), and they are coming up on time. I am always wondering how many flowers they will produce each year. There are just two rhizomes and each sends up one or two new sprouts each spring. Apparently, that one little second sprout got a late start this year. The second photo (below right) is from an earlier year, showing the same two trillium plants adorned with the blossoms we will be seeing later this month.
Marilyn Tompkins Bellert Every year, I watch for the Great Blue Herons to return to the neighborhood pond, which has been around March 16. The first one back is usually a very large male. That was true this year, but he showed up on February 16, just two days after the first robin, a month early. I’m not sure where he went during the past few days, when temperatures fell to 15 degrees at night, but in today’s 65 degrees, he has spread his wings out to enjoy the
sunshine. In this erratic weather, what will happen to the many bulbs and rhizomes that have sent their green shoots up a good 6″? And to the apple trees, already budding? A retired person like myself, out walking every day, has the luxury of observing casually or closely the changes in the environment and in myself over the seasons and the years. Being an observer, not a philosopher, I am content to enjoy the signs of new life as they appear.
Glenna Stearman Park After yet another 23-hour observation in the hospital, Glenna texted on March 2 that she needed to get home, “as I have over 1,000 daffodils opening up.” She may have “lost the battle with the heart monitor and the hospital gown,” but she did not lose her feisty disposition. As she said, “When I get testy and ask them where the trampolines are, they show me the door!” Joel said he was picking her up before noon. He did and today Glenna sent photos from her yard.
Glenna says, “This is about half the daffodil population. Each clump has 50 or 60 bulbs, many on top of each other. I was planning to separate the bulbs, but just can’t keep up with the gardening. The homeowners before us were amazing with flowers!”
Editor’s Note: Two weeks later, Glenna’s thousands of daffodils look glorious.
Glenna has chronicled her cardiac events in “May-day! May-day!!”
What does early spring look like in your part of the country? Send us a photo and we will add it to this story. (mbellert@niu.edu or ddzinn@aol.com)
