That didn't take long

Dog-toothed violet

I didn’t expect the dog-toothed violets would bloom so quickly. Yesterday morning the bloom stalks were closed tight, but by evening I had 9 blooms in my violet patch.  I thought it would take a few more days for the blooms to open. I counted a total of 14 bloom stalks, though some hadn't opened yet. That sounds like a lot, except this patch is dense with leaves and measures about 5 feet by 3 feet. All told, I would guess there are a few hundred leaves in that patch, which is just three steps off my front porch.


With that many leaves wouldn’t you expect 50 or so blooms? I never have anywhere near that many, and 14 blooms stalks at once is actually a rather high number for this patch. After this initial burst of blooms is done, I will get another few blooms cropping up here and there over the next week or so but not very many more.  The first day of blooming always is the most blooms at once, too.

For the record, the blooms are appearing at the typical time, considering that I’ve only recorded the day of their appearance over the past six years of writing this blog. The earliest appearance was last year on March 20 after the non-winter; that was a good three weeks ahead of schedule. The latest I’ve recorded was April 25 in 2007. That was a year when 12-13 inches of snow fell in mid-March, after a winter with a lot of snow cover, and that last snow stayed on the ground until nearly the end of the month. Other dates for the blooms were April 8, 12 and 14, to which I now add this year’s April 10.