Ephemeral Emeralds

Late March...some rain...a warm spell...I knew that ephemerals would be popping up!  Like the name suggests, ephemerals are woodland wildflowers that are here-and-gone.  In a brown landscape with not a lot of green growth, they are little gems scattered in the forest.  I love seeing their little faces every year!

Rue Anemone

Spring Beauties

Cutleaf Toothwort

Harbinger-of-Spring

Red Maples are budding out!

The woods are alive, finally!  This spring peeper is singing his heart out.

I've seen so many southern leopard frogs!

Turtles everywhere.  Todd, with his eagle eye, sounds a "turt alert" when he spots one from the trail.

Are these geese making a nest?

This freshwater snail is working his way through the debris on this submerged leaf.

Insects are stirring, too.  These water skippers are killing two birds with one stone, makin' babies and having a snack simultaneously.

A pair of predacious diving beetles, clasped in an embrace, dove for cover as I leaned in for a photo.

Interesting creatures.  They can't breathe underwater, so they bring air down with them, storing it within their bodies.  It has to be just the right amount.  Too much and they would be too buoyant, and not enough, they would drown.  They're called water tigers for their somewhat brutal hunting methods...floating limply in the water until prey (fish, tadpole, etc.) passes, and then, quick as lightning, biting.  They inject a digestive juice that partially liquifies their victims, making them easier to eat.  

I spotted another fascinating insect yesterday.  This is a violet oil beetle.  Not just a pretty face!

They're also known as blister beetles because they secrete a corrosive liquid from their joints if bothered, causing skin to blister.  Their life cycle is absolutely fascinating!  Any Creepshow 2 fans?

Young oil beetles have tiny grappling hooks on their legs, and after burrowing out of the ground, climb onto the nearest flower.  They wait for bees and hook onto their bodies, hitching a ride back to the hive.  There, they gorge on eggs and prepare for pupating.  They're so interesting...the Czech Republic even had a violet oil beetle stamp!

I love being out in the woods in spring, and so does Borga!  

After more than a decade of dragging us around, she's finally starting to slow down.  She's pretty tired after an hour, and she no longer leads the pack...she's content to trot behind Todd.  Sometimes she even lets me walk in front!  Hopefully this will be a very active spring for us, and she'll have lots of opportunities to stretch her legs.

Have a great week!  

ankle biter blighter

 Green at last!

Right on schedule, signs of life.

Claudia has been so tired of her hard toil on the porch...

...and is happy to resume her warm-weather duties.

Our muskrats are swimming, goz are visiting the front pond...

Once again, the spring peepers are calling, so loudly that they drown out all other sounds at night.  The red-winged blackbirds are back, too, but it's a strange situation.  Because of a combination of mysterious flooding and muskrat-chomping, the five-foot deep band of cattails around the pond's edge is basically a bare fringe now.

The blackbirds, who've been nesting here for years, are confused.  They perch on solitary cattails, but have been unable to find even a small pocket of protection for their nests.  I hope that they can find another place nearby, because I love their calls and jaunty attitudes.

We've had a bit of a tumultuous week here!  We "borrowed" a cocker spaniel for a week-long trial run,  to see how she fit into our household.  She:  howled nonstop; managed to nearly rip my arm out of its socket the very first day with a leash tug, a tug that resulted in a strain that left me unable to use my left arm or turn my head for a week; growled and lunged at the cats; busted through our screen door (twice); jumped on our coffee table and couch and seemed impervious to treats or instruction; sailed over an embankment behind the house and landed in the pond; COULD NOT hold still for brushing of any kind...in the end (mainly because of the cat aggression), we decided that she was a little too rambunctious for us.  But Borga had fun while it lasted!

Well, Borga is still pretty happy with her OTHER playmate.  :)

Calliope...sigh.  What is it with our animal struggles this past year?

She's always nipped, and that's been manageable.  But she's graduated to out-and-out biting, and HARD.  I have a big bruise on my right arm from her last attack.  She comes out of nowhere, bites hard enough to draw blood, and dashes off.  She's an ankle-biter too, and it's a mystery.  She has tons of play time with and affection from me, but has turned on me. I'm afraid of her, so we keep her locked in a separate room at night and watch her warily during the day.  I still fuss over her and pet her, but from a safe distance.  Meanwhile, although she's still chasing Tabitha and they're constantly hissing at each other, we had a bit of a breakthrough yesterday.  

Calliope commandeers Tabitha's perch.  Tabitha is outraged.

Calliope warns her off with a single cold, withering stare.

Accepting defeat, Tabitha naps in a nearby bed.

A NEARBY bed!  Oh, this gives me hope that even if Calliope can't be a snuggly, loving cat to us, at the very least, maybe someday soon the fighting will stop and we can have an uneasy peace!  For someone like me, whose anxiety issues MANDATE a calm and harmonious home environment, this gives me great hope.  

Have a great week!

no seedling left behind

 What a contrast!  A week ago, everything was blanketed with thick snow and ice.  This week...sprouts.

Daffodils are coming up!  And more great surprises...a local lady had posted on Facebook last year, asking if anyone could come and thin out her bulbs.  I came away with hundreds of daffodil and naked lady lilies.  I planted them in clumps around the yard, but the greens were prematurely mowed down, and then we had a horrible drought.  I didn't bother to water, thinking that they were most certainly dead by now.  But yesterday...

I can't wait until they bloom!  These are wonderful harbingers of spring, along with the raucous red-wing blackbirds and the gentle rhythmic chirping of spring peepers that I've been hearing for the past few days.  Hooray!  

I've been very busy with my plants.  First, my ranuculus and anemone corms - they were soaked and pre-sprouted, and developed very nice roots.

I planted them in temporary pots until I can get them out in the ground, not expecting much growth, but they are really taking off!

I set up a caterpillar tunnel in the garden and they should be fine to grow within it, just with a frost cover (like a thick sheet) at night for protection.

I'm extremely pleased with my sweet peas!  They've grown steadily and now are in our cold, unheated potting barn addition with bright grow lights but no heat protection.  They love the cold and can survive freezes.

Other things are slowly and steadily germinating in the house.  I have multiple different plant varieties on the same tray and just scoop them up with a brownie spatula and move them upstairs under grow lights once they germinate.  I love seeing them sprout!

Sometimes a seed has fallen between soil blocks and germinates in the soil debris at the bottom of the tray.  No problem.  I mound up some soil and pop the seedling in.  Do I know what it is?  Nope, and don't care.  I'll give it a chance to grow.

I planted 12 - 15 varieties of snapdragons, and all the tags have gotten displaced from sliding trays in and out from under grow lights to water.  Does it matter?  Not really.  For a Type A person, I am remarkably unfussy about this.  As long as they grow and prosper, I'll pop them in the garden and see what comes up!

Even though March is a fairly grey month, I love being outside in the spring.  There's a lot of work to do in the garden, and I like listening to the horses...

...and keeping a certain nosy cat from impeding my work.

Sunrises have been GORGEOUS.

When it's too cold and rainy to work outside, and when I need a break from plant care, I try to focus on other hobbies.  I finished my Ley Lines wrap, and I quite like it.  It sometimes gets chilly upstairs and just draping it around my shoulders takes care of that.

I also knitted a hat.

AHEM.

I'm not really happy with the color choices, though.  I'm trying to use up scrap yarn, since I have so much of it, but skeins that look appealing next to each other don't necessarily carry over into the finished project.  I'm moving right on to a cardigan, and this time, I decided to test my theory before starting.  I picked yarn and colored in my choices (pencil colors not quite the same, of course)...

...then knitted up a swatch (wonky because I cut the yarn strands at the end of each row...just wanted to get a general idea).  I'm glad that I did, because together, the colors all seemed too washed out and pale, especially with a pale main color.

I chose new colors - brighter, with more contrast, and I think it's going to look a lot better.

Between my regular work and my plant propagation, this is plenty to keep me busy for a while.  The soil blocks need to be watered multiple times per day, especially ungerminated seedlings that are under grow lights because they need that light in order to germinate.  They dry out quickly and have to be closely monitoring.  I also am keeping a close eye on my winter sown containers.  If there's early germination, I have to remember to throw a blanket on top of the containers when we have heavy frosts.  Signs of life!  There's condensation on top, but peek in the sides and you can see a bit of green:

So far, out of the thousands of seeds planted, I've got very sturdy Bachelor Buttons and Corn Cockle coming up.  It's a great pleasure to daily check these containers to see what will be showing up in this year's garden.

Enjoy your greens and have a great week!