First flower

Dog-toothed violet

 

Ah, the first flower of spring has appeared.

Just past my front steps is an area that’s filled with dog-toothed violet plants. The first flower bloomed on Sunday, the first of many in this patch, which is covered with the pretty grey and green mottled leaves. The patch itself is about 4 feet by 5 feet and contains hundreds of leaves. The blooms are small and delicate, and the leaves far outnumber the blooms. In a good year, I might have 20 blooms, but the size of the patch and denseness of the leaves might lead you to expect 50 or more.

I hope the flowers make it through the snow predicted for tomorrow. Yes, you read that right.

Yesterday the temperature flirted with 80 (and no doubt passed that in some suburban areas). But Tuesday brings cooler weather, rain and sometime after dark, snow. It’s just that kind of year. One morning the heat is still on, but the air conditioner is needed in the afternoon. And then the heat is needed the next day.

No, I didn’t lug my air conditioner out from underneath the kitchen table where it spends the winter. Nor, did I place it in my kitchen window, but I did use the AC in my car after a trip to the pet food store with Skye.

Other spring flowers, like forsythia at my family’s farm, late to start this year, are blooming one morning and withering by the afternoon heat. The yellow violets are blooming the latest I’ve ever recorded, though only by 3 days. The earliest I’ve ever had them was March 21, which was still snow-bound here this winter. Usually, a blooming this late translates into a bloom that doesn’t last very long. The forsythia are certainly following that pattern. I have to look fast this spring, so I don’t miss anything.