Spring! 03/28/15

Sunny and 80°F.

It is finally spring in Oklahoma! The year seems to be rushing by. Oklahoma went from freezing to almost 80° in the blink of an eye. The trees are all blooming at once and the pollen count is high. Someone should write a poem about that LOL.

I actually saw an indian paintbrush blooming, yes! already! I’ve been cycling a lot lately, but I need to hike more while things are coming up. The only problem – TICKS. Yes, they are horrible this year. Already as bad as June last year when I gave up trying to get Roxy out in the woods. It’s just not worth it when she comes home covered in ticks (she may disagree). So this is a quick update on what I’ve seen this week.

First of all, every morning this week I’m greeted with a backlit weeping cherry tree in bloom. It’s lovely in the morning light.

Along with the typical pansies and such the Euphorbia is blooming. This photo was taken a few days ago, and they’ve already opened up more. I love these “insignificant” blooms.

Red bud trees of all varieties have exploded. I love these deeper red (deeper than the native trees) blooms.

Out to the country – where the first thing I notice is, of course, the morel. This one’s a yellow.

My friend gave me some grey morels out of her yard, which were extremely tasty with eggs! I have several friends with morels growing in their yards, and all I have to say is – JEALOUS! They are beautiful things, which are also delicious.

Next up was the ever cheerful violet. This first one is in full sun.

full shade

False Garlic

Golden Currant. I don’t know much about this plant, but I’ll hear back from the local experts soon! It was in full shade and right next to an occupied beavers dam.

Little cuties – Spring Beauty. Those aren’t the leaves that go with the flower, I just thought it looked cute peeking out.

and moss. I’m a sucker for moss. These moss spore capsules are hovering over the greenery. I know nothing about moss, so if the terminology is wrong, please correct me! I’d love to learn more about it. Now that I look again, there are similar swellings at the base of these spore capsules.

I took several photos of this little bitty moss and when I zoomed in on the computer, I was even more interested! Look at the texture and color. Without reading glasses or a magnifying glass, I’m so happy to have a camera lens that lets me see (in production) what I didn’t see in real life.