Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Little greenery around the cabin

All the new greenery around the cabin right now is tiny stuff. This fern, which has grown out of the rock for years now, is the largest of the lot. The fern is a common polypody, which can make a living and can grow where virtually nothing else can.

The second photo is some of the greenery from trout lilies (or yellow dog-toothed violet) that grows just outside the cabin door. I have to be careful not to step on it when I'm loading or unloading the car. Although there's always a lot of leaves, I don't usually get many flowers from the plants. I will likely see 2-3-4 violets, never all at once. With this many leaves, though, you'd likely guess there should be 20 flowers at once. Don't I wish. Maybe some year.

The last photo, which includes the rusty iron stake that holds my wind chimes, is of wild purple violets. I always have a group of them at this spot, which I really have to be careful not to step on as they are within 3 inches of the last step out of the cabin door. They always grow in this spot too. I have other wild violets here and there around the property, but I've always wondered if the original plants that grow in this spot were transplanted here or not. It just seems amazing to me that I'd have wild violets right at the foot of the steps appearing here of their own accord. Regardless, they have been here ever since I've lived in the cabin.Every evening when I get home, I wander through the driveway, checking to see what's sprung up since the morning. I see a little more progress every day. Seedlings that were unidentifiable in the morning are now taller and are somewhat more identifiable. Every evening I come home and see more tiny spots of greenery that weren't there 12 hours before.

I look forward to this twice daily ritual. For me, one of the amazing things about spring is how quickly things change. Partly, it's because winter seems unchanging through much of it. But equally important is an erroneous perception that I used to have. My perception was that plants grow so slowly it takes days to see change and even then you had to really pay attention to see the difference. That's not true. At all. When I pay attention, I can see the change between morning and evening. I still find that amazing.

3 comments:

Grizz………… said...

Yesterday here it was cold and gray, a bit of drizzle in the morning. Today it is colder still, in the upper 20s so far, with snowflakes whirling about. But oddly—or perhaps not oddly at all—more of my daffodils have bloomed since yesterday.

I haven't yet been to the spot I know nearby where the trout lilies bloom. But you're right about how quick things often happen in spring…sometimes almost minute-by-minute.

Loved the rock and fern shot.

Carolyn H said...

Griz: Didn't have any precip. overnight, though if I'd had it would have been snowflurries. The wind woke me up. I could hear it rise and move through the trees, saw the trees roll with it, but even the wind didn't last but a few minutes.

Carolyn H.

Anonymous said...

Same here on the Isle of Wight with the pace of spring growth - one day nothing, the next everything at once and just not enough time to appreciate it all.