Life springs forth

 The hot weather of last week caused life to return to the earth with a force that nearly knocked me off my feet. Over the last several years, I have spent a small fortune buying native plants, both live and bare root, hoping that some would be aggressive enough to outgrow the numerous weeds we have there. The mayapples, as I mentioned previously, are finally starting to take off. The umbrella leaves have opened. Some even have buds this year. It remains to be seen if they will open and set fruit.

Mayapples

The Dutchman’s britches filled out and have since withered.

Peak blooms of Dutchman's britches

Violets are all over.

Violets

 I think of Hilda when I see them. Every time we walked to the creek while the violets were blooming, she would ask, “Do you want to see the king washing his feet?”

I hope I always smiled indulgently and said, “Sure,” even though she had been showing me the king washing his feet for 60 years. She never tired of it.

She would pick a flower, carefully peel off the center petal, and then, looking from the back, there is the king, wearing a crown, surrounded by velvet, with his two little legs ending in the cup at the base of the flower.

The king washing his feet

I once ordered an entire woodland garden to plant where we took out a big buckthorn four or five years ago. It was a struggle to keep it from being crowded out by reed canary grass and/or eaten by deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc. I thought the only plant to survive was Joe Pyeweed. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Virginia bluebells

Virginia bluebells, blooming at last

And shooting star, perhaps my favorite spring flower. (Bluebells are a close second.)

Shooting star

Jacob's ladder is blooming under the fifth oak.

Jacob's ladder

Up by the house, the magnolia is having a great year.

Magnolia

The ginger has leafed out

Wild ginger

And is flowering secretly underneath, making me wonder what pollinates it. Ants, perhaps.

Wild ginger flowers

The trillium I saved from Pokonokah Hills and moved from place to place for what?—20 years now?—is finally in a happy home and is well enough established that I may be able to separate it this year.

Trillium grandiflorum

The tulips around the first oak are blooming.

Tulips

So far it looks like we will be having a good year for grapes. These are the flower buds that will become grapes later, if pollination occurs and there is no late frost.

Grape buds

In the bird world, we see orioles all the time. I have not been able to get pictures of females or orchard orioles yet, but they are here. Hummingbirds are also around, but camera shy.

Baltimore oriole

The rose-breasted grosbeaks are not averse to eating jelly. Nothing seems to be, really, except goldfinches. We look forward to getting the seed feeders back up at the end of the month. We know there are at least two grosbeak males. This one has a pale bib. Perhaps he is in his first year. The other one has a bright red bib, which makes him the stud.

Not-very-rose-breasted grosbeak

The robin chicks under the deck hardly fit in the nest anymore. They will likely fledge before the week is out.

Robin chicks under the deck

The mourning dove nest I found next to the road failed, but Terry has been watching one near Nursery 1. He told me the chicks wouldn’t be there long. I went down Friday to take a picture. There were two chicks in the nest when I found it, but one flew away before I could take the picture. This chick might be a bit younger. It sat motionless for the photo. I think the chicks are prettier than the adults.

Mourning dove chick

We have kildeer in the field. I only had my close-up camera with me on my walk, so this is not a great picture. I’d love to see some babies, but I expect Terry’s mowing mania will prevent it.

Kildeer

From now on, things will happen at the speed of light. I love summer, and it goes by so quickly!