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Virginia Springbeauty
I’ve got itty-bitty buds on my Virginia Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica). Buds that look very much like really teeny tiny jalapeño peppers. What looks to me like those jalapeño peppers are sepals. Sepals are leaf-like structures surrounding and protecting the maturing bud. The number of sepals varies in difference species of flower. In Virginia Springbeauty there…
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Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious
Seems winter has given up. Spring has won the battle of the seasons and is stepping through the woods. Right now, mid-April, Sassafras Trees (Sassafras albidum) are in bloom throughout the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Creating a soft watercolor wash of pale yellow. Sassafras is a dioecious tree, meaning any…
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Blueberries
I’m watching both the progress the blueberry blooms are making as well as the calendar. Watching the blossoms grow and mature. Watching the weeks go by on the calendar. Right now in early April there are only tight buds on the many bushes. And it’s hard to say since this is weather related and as…
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Sunflower
Sunflower (Helianthus). The happy flower. You bet. Today would have been my Dad’s 96th birthday. He LOVED sunflowers. He loved to grow huge sunflowers! This post is a salute to my Dad’s favorite flower. A flower that’s popular with many creatures including bees. A flower that brings on the butterflies. A flower that inspires artists.…
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Greenbrier, and Catbrier
Greenbriers and Catbriers are in the Smilax genus of plants in the family Smilacaceae. About 300 species of these vines live worldwide. Twenty of the species are native to North America north of Mexico. Eleven are native to Virginia. The small flowers of Greenbriers and Catbriers attract bees, beetles, and flies as pollinators, with their…
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Bloodroot
It’s hard for me to believe since I’ve still got snow on the ground, but spring is nearly here. At least meteorological spring. It arrives on March 1. The weather here is assuredly unpredictable. We’ll see what the month of March brings forth. Spring or more winter? But plants will be sprouting no matter. One…
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Yuccas
I love Yucca flowers. There are 2 different yucca species growing in my yard, each blooming in a different season. Yucca filamentosa, which is native to Virginia, blooms in early summer. And this one, Yucca gloriosa, native to extreme southeastern Virginia, blooms in early autumn. Remarkable that they both are native to this state, since…