Sprung

 

Despite today's expected rain and cool temperatures might suggest, spring has sprung. Redbuds and buttercups never lie. :-)

Spring Chronicle

 

Continuing my spring chronicle . . .

Compton Oak

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday

Redbud

 

"Cheery"

 

A "cheery" sight for elementary school students.

Blooms

 

Linking again to Skywatch Friday

Cherry Blossoms

 

I understand that we're experiencing an early bloom this year. Afternoon temps had risen into the low 70s briefly last week, which I suppose is the reason. But we're back into the mid to upper 50s this week. 

Red Mulberry

 

Red mulberry, "is a species of mulberry native to eastern and central North America. It is found from Ontario, Minnesota, and Vermont south to southern Florida, and west as far as southeastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and central Texas. There have been reports of isolated populations (very likely naturalized) in New Mexico, Idaho, and British Columbia.

Common in the United States, it is listed as an endangered species in Canada, and is susceptible to hybridization with the invasive white mulberry (M. alba), introduced from Asia." -- Wikipedia

Leaf Colors

 

Harvard has produced an interesting abstract on the variations in leaf colors in the fall, the upshot being "In other plants, leaves vary between individuals (as sugar maples) or even dramatically within an individual (as red maples), or even within a single leaf (red maples)."

Fall Blend

 

A couple of scenes from the Virginia Capital Trail near Greensprings. No vibrant fall colors here for the most part, but still quite lovely with its blend of bronze, yellow, and green.

Riding the Hedge

Virginia Capital Trail

Layers

 

Virginia Capital Trail

Gold

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

— Robert Frost

 

Ginkgo

"Ginkgos adapt well to the urban environment, tolerating pollution and confined soil spaces. 

They rarely have disease problems, even in urban conditions, and are attacked by few insects." -- Wikipedia

Mostly Sunny

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Photoreceptors

 

I find red maple trees fascinating, especially around this time of year when they offer a whole range of colors. And I've heard that different people actually see different colors, depending upon the particular array of photoreceptors in their eyes. 

Red Maple

 

Limberlost

 

The real Limberlost Trail is in Indiana. But while researching the term, I came across this story in Wikipedia:

According to the History of Jay County by M.W. Montgomery, published in 1864, the name Limberlost came from the following event:

A man named James Miller, while hunting along the banks of the swamp, became lost. After various fruitless efforts to find his way home, in which he would always come around to the place of starting, he determined to go in a straight course, and so, every few rods he would blaze a tree. While doing this, he was found by friends. Being an agile man, he was known as 'limber Jim,' and, after this, the stream was called 'Limberlost.'

The Indiana State Museum contends, "The swamp received its name from the fate of 'Limber Jim' Corbus, who went hunting in the swamp and never returned. When the locals asked where Jim Corbus was, the familiar cry was 'Limber's lost!'"

Pallettes

 

Each season brings its own pallette to Greensprings Interpretive Trail.

Black Walnut

 

"Juglans nigra, the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees.

Black walnut is an important tree commercially, as the wood is a deep brown color and easily worked. Walnut seeds (nuts) are cultivated for their distinctive and desirable taste. Walnut trees are grown both for lumber and food, and many cultivars have been developed for improved quality wood or nuts." -- Wikipedia