Daffodils,dandelions, clovers then cherry blossoms

It has been Spring here for over a month now, signs are Tulip Magnolias, Japanese maples leafing out, Photinia pushing new growth.

P.S. We have snow blowers here, none needed this past year.

Besides Dirca, the only flowering woody plants are Leonard Messell Magnolia and Forsythia. Spring is short and volatile around here. The spring peepers will go back to their frozen state this weekend.

Haven’t any of you with snowblowers ever changed out too early from blower to mower? A few years back we had almost nine inches of snow in early May. Yeah, that caught me off guard.

This week I planted a variegated Japanes Red Pine, which was the first of the season. Where would I be without spring?

I know spring is coming when I see the Maple trees in bloom. When everything else is still in the throws of winter, it is good to see the flowers on the maple tree.

When I see twice as many Grackles as there were during the winter. ;-)

Near mid 20's this weekend but that should be the end of it.

Red maples are flowering and the Red Charms have been remarkably frost tolerant.

Spring peepers and a sore back!

Probably should add one of my maples here from last week. One morning early as my tree has started flushing out, the sun had nailed it like a spot light...

Ahhh the sights of spring!

Many of the plants & animals already mentioned would be included in my list of spring harbingers. Spring definitely arrived early this year, the witch-hazel was in full bloom and the chorus frogs were singing almost 2 months ago. Grackles and redwings started arriving about the same time. Egrets have returned to the lakes and ponds. I noticed the "trill" of toads just the other day (before the current cold front moved in). Trilliums in the backyard are in full bloom at the moment (4/20/24). The new growth on my Homestead buckeye also tells me spring is here.

Wait, trilliums in the back yard? Dave, you’re killing me. Is this part of the garden or a natural area? My spouse and I tried Trullium and it was an utter failure. I’ve resigned myself to enjoying them in a public area a few miles north, which is a moist woods. Beautiful!

Here’s my $10 Magnolia ’Leonard Messell’. The flowers on this Magnolia are amazingly frost resistant. We’ve had back to back freezes, and they hang right in there. In the world of Magnolias, mine is nothing to crow about, but after our winters, it’s enough.

It's somehow too early and already late to start seeds.

Maybe I shouldn't show my pot of trilliums :-) They have a long back story but this particular clump (part of the original plant I acquired going on 20 years ago) has not been in the ground for 5 years.

If I wasn't already convinced it's spring, the pollen this last week has been incredible!! Everything has a thick dusting of gold powder, you see clouds of it lifting when the wind blows and I have been sneezing my head off!! I don't remember it being this bad before.

I see GG is swinging the 'Zone Envy' club again. lol j/k ;-)

One indication of spring here is when the frost is out, and I can take the sunshades off the Hemlocks and Hicksii. (I'll take the wire off too). 4-21-24:

Robins are often the harbingers of spring where I live, but it seems like I always see red-tailed hawks return before I see robins.

On May 10 - 20 is a Tulip Festival in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Admission to the more than 300,000 tulips in bloom is free.

The festival started with the Dutch sending tulips right after WW2 in gratitude for the role of Canada in the liberation of their country. Also, a Dutch princess was born in Ottawa during WW2, the only royalty ever born in Canada. The Dutch still send tulips :-)

Well, still haven’t swapped out my snowblower, but my blooming serviceberry is a good sign.

tj

Eyes up - Blackthorn and almond blossom.

Eyes down - violets

Eyes closed - lilacs

Nose closed - to prevent sneezing

When I see Harbinger of Spring peeking up through a carpet of leaves I know spring has arrived. Erigenia bulbosa

Sam, that’s beautiful!

I spent the day in the Pisgah National Forest of western North Carolina and found these beauties. The first is trillium, and I think the second might be an orchid, but that’s a guess. In any case, they were shouting spring to me!

My trillium demand equal time. I'll wager I'm the only one who grew these FROM SEED!. That's right, 7 years waiting for the first bloom. Deer cannot resist them so these are fenced.

sam_md, you're a patient man, very nice!

maackia, Any idea which trillium species that is? Looks close to "sweet white trillium" (Trillium simile) in which case it is an uncommon species with a narrow native range. Nice find. I believe your 2nd photo is Galearis spectabilis, Showy Orchid.

One of my favorite spring ephemerals is Red Trillium

Trillium grandiflorum (White Trillium) from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillium_grandiflorum

Interesting factoids:

The White Trillium is the official floral emblem of Ontario Canada where I am :-)

If trilliums are available deer will seek these plants, with a preference for Trillium grandiflorum to the exclusion of others. In the course of normal browsing, deer consume larger individuals, leaving shorter ones behind. This information can be used to assess deer density and its effect on understory growth in general.

The latter factoid is from the Wikipedia article which has lots and lots of very interesting info on this extensively researched plant.

My grandiflorums and sessile trilliums are about done. This was last week, they are fading now.

Trillium flore pleno, being swallowed by narcissus foliage. I will move it once it goes dormant.

Still waiting on luteum to grace me with it’s presence. Here it is last year.

The only Trillium I’m familiar with is grandiflorum. I’m not sure either one of these is that. Anyone know their Western NC Trillium? Here’s another one.

Here is my trillium, Trillium chloropetalum var. giganteum 'Volcano', a cultivated form of a west coast native species. It's been looking like this for the past month to 6 weeks and is now just starting to go over.

Trillium luteum has appeared, as well as the Dodecatheon. This is the last of my spring harbingers. I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread, and hope those of you with a more northerly latitude will keep posting!

Trillium! Such unusual flowers. Mine must be over 15 yrs old and still quite healthy. Flowers not fully open yet, but close. I just recently thought, why not plant a few more....

Edit: Below is 15+ yr old trillium in rather deep shade w/hostas.

maackia, I believe the trillium in your most recent post is a Painted Trillium (T. undulatum), a species that is state endangered in Michigan.

I know spring has arrived, because I just bought my first two conifers for the season :-) :-)

Dave, T. undulatum looks right. Thanks!

No protective structure needed. ;)

Columbines on each side of emerging Joe Pie weeds (just recently transplanted that from the border stream edge, so relatively late).

Spring was like over two months ago here, now, in coastal areas, it is May-June GLOOM. I know they have this yearly in Cali, but there seems to be an East Coast version here in the Northeast. I see nothing but clouds, and rain for the foreseeable future. Once it clears, it will be freakishly HOT! Just my 2 cents.

The sights of spring are still very evident here. A few of the wildflowers seen on a couple walks in the woods this past weekend:

Horseradish.

Cranberry viburnum

So much for a week of rain and clouds, it was crystal clear and 80-85 so far this week, then it cools down some, but it has been a very nice Spring.

There’s a chance of frost early Friday morning. It has been a nice spring, but I take nothing for granted. This Daphne has been wafting of late. Ahhh!!

My CBS is waking up and doing well (outside of Colorado :-)) 7 years in the ground

Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Butterball' 7 days in the ground, wish me luck, it is a half zone pusher for me

I was out of town for a week, and our crabapple tree waited to bloom until I got home!

"Dwarf" rhododendrons about 18 yrs old. Flamboyant, maybe even approaching garish.

In BillMN's theme of first-seen cones on young conifers, 15 yr old southwestern white pine presents male cones for the first time, and by the hundreds.

5-17-2024:

Some of the Red pine are loaded with male cones.

The White spruce are coning, again some are some aren't.

lilacs:

A few of the tulips came back for a third year:

;-)

Continuation of the First cone's theme: ;-)

My Pinus cembra started to cone last year, right after it was planted in early May.

Documentation says, 'Seed cones appear after 40-60 years'. Wazwidat? My tree is only ~5-7 years old from what I can tell but is a grafted variety if that matters.

They are 2 years to maturity cones btw.

I don't know how it got pollinated but it could've been from another type of pine via hybridization.

This year there're still those same seed cones that should be ripe by this Fall.

No cones yet on the ponderosa var. scopulorum pine. They can cone at 10-20 years and mine is at 7 years old so any year now.

It did try to make a cone in June 2022, but fizzled out and didn't mature.

Immature cone P. p. scopulorum 2022.

A graft may come from a more mature tree, so a graft might very well "cone" early.

Interesting how the cone "spikes", which vary species-wise with the final length, show up so prominently in the nascent cones. The spikes end up really prominent in Table Mnt pine (among others).

I thought the same, when determining what species of my ponderosa pine. One difference between the jeffrey and ponderosa cones was ''Gentle Jeffrey vs Prickly Ponderosa". Mine definitely showed signs of being 'Prickly' even when undeveloped.

I've never seen Table Mnt. pinecones 'In the flesh'.

Thanks!

Another first time cone this season:

Started this tree from seed the last few days of December 2020 (3 yo 'BroomStruck').

Pinus Banksiana first cones:

Several of them:

:^)

This is relatively late spring, but 60 ft Millwood x thornless honeylocust at 20 yrs old has so many pollinators in it, I could hear a 'buzz' from it at this distance. Form is somewhat American elm-like, tho my Chinese elm does it even better.

Pinus cembra cones are changing to purple. ;-)

Pine cones! Bill, you’ll soon be harvesting cembra seeds for consumption.