have been doing some of this,
while nearby, this2 was found:
Toothwort3 mania began in earnest.
We had visitors4.
This
gave way to this5.
There was also this6, which is not the same.
And neither is this7.
Some excavation8 was going on.
But was apparently not satisfactory.
Ahhh it's almost trillium time9.
Tiny snails were observed, and also something else10 that I'm still pondering.
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1Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica
2See this earlier post if you're curious about the redrock fossils.
3Dentaria spp. Or is it all Cardamine now? I get confused.
4Canada Geese, Branta canadensis. I would say, "I know that you knew that already, I'm just trying to be consistent," but since there was a woman on a game show last night who did not know that the northern neighbor of the US is CANADA, for crying out loud, I'm not taking any chances.
5Hepatica or Liverleaf
6Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides
7Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium reptans) with Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) flower
8I'm guessing Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), but I'm not sure.
9Trailing Trillium, Trillium decumbens
10Little groups of tiny, tiny rocks are held together and to the larger rock surface like glue. Is something alive in there?
16 comments:
The fossils are really cool. The mountain where I live now in NW Georgia is mainly sandstone, but I have seen no trace of fossils. A fellow drove up one day and told me that someone else had said the area was very good for fossil hunting.
Haha! I'm filled with a springtime feeling. Time for the yearly rejuvenation!
Wow, you have a lot of things up already! Very nice. Nary a trace of our Virginia bluebells yet and no sign of the hepaticas I planted last year. I do hope they will appear as well as the bloodroots I planted. You certainly have many things that I don't see around here. A naturalist's paradise.
Cool stuff.
I thought Georgia was the country to our north.
Thank you for the wonderful springtime photos!
It's snowing here (and we already have a foot of snow on the ground from two different storms two weeks ago).
*Sigh*
Please send spring north.
You really don't need to start a proper garden as you mentioned on my bloom post, you know... all of these natives are gorgeous!
Lovely pictures!! Seeing the first signs of spring flowers is so neat!
3 - "Cardamine concatenata" now as opposed to "Dentaria laciniata" in former times. Cut-leaved toothwort is the English name used here in Ontario.
I found our first spring flower today: Skunk cabbage or "Symplocarpus foetidus."
The last one is probably a caddisfly larvae, which build cases of small stones and can attach to rocks. Checking for benthic macroinvertebrates is one way to judge the health of a watershed. Check out this link:
http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/caddisflies.html
Love your VA Bluebells! Kinda funny that here I am in VA and they haven't even broken ground yet! And, trilliums! Lucky you!
Beautiful pictures as always and I love your Wood Pecker Hotel- I miss mine; it fell several years ago. Don't you just love Spring!
Your beautiful pictures will have to do (sigh). We're soooo far away from Hepatica bloom. Pileated Woodpeckers close by?! Wow.
That's a very cool link - the paleontology lab.
Very cool post! Love seeing all your pictures and the way you laid all this out! Bravo!
Thanks everybody.
Mark, my grandmother lived on a mountain in NW GA too (Chattooga county). I never found any fossils there, but there were a lot of arrowheads!
JC, Yep -- I feel the need for a spring tonic.
Ki, we were really lucky to find a place with so many wildflowers, especially since we bought the place in the fall and had no clue what might pop up the next year.
FC, hey don't forget about the panhandle! There's a whole better country north of that. :)
Thanks Rose.
Nio, will do! I am sad that it STILL has not snowed since we moved here. Well not that it stuck, anyway.
BG, that's kind of what I'm counting on! :)
Thanks Rachel, I'm dying to get back out there but haven't had a chance lately.
Thanks OW! Wish we had the skunk cabbage here. I've only seen it at the B'ham Botanical garden.
Earthgirl, I wondered about that after seeing someone else's post on it. But these were so small that I got that idea that it was something else.
GG, yep I especially love the trilliums. I think they're my favorite wildflowers.
KF, I hadn't thought that this tree was dead but I guess it is.
Cathy there was a pileated just in the yard the other day. I watched it go round and round the base of a dying tree. Unfortunately I was on the phone and couldn't get a pic.
Thanks Monarch!
now this is a post good for winter-weary eyes.. I recognize many of your wildflowers, and like with birds I can never pick a favorite. (Maybe the hepaticas because they're first to emerge). Lovely photos Karen and thanks for sharing a breath of spring!
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