Nature Notes: Nature as a Gardener

Some years the red tulips bloom at the same time as the white Narcissus but this year only the tulip leaves are up.

An example of nature as a gardener is the narcissus below came up about 18 feet away from the closest bulbs I planted a long time ago.

I also had something similar happen with Helleborus.

I planted the Helleborus in the top left part of the shot above. The Helleborus below sprung up on the other side of my yard.

I've had irises pop up in the front yard when the nearest ones were in my back yard.

I think squirrels dig up bulbs and then bury part of them somewhere else so they become the gardener.

One morning I went out to shoot the sunrise and spotted a lot of birds singing in full voice.

I guess everyone is calling for a mate.

Perhaps the brown thrasher below is taking an after mating bath.

I love to catch the flowering trees against a blue sky.

The first of the variety of Narcissus below are blooming in my yard.

My money plants are starting to come up everywhere because I let the seeds drop out of their white pockets in the summer.

I caught the bird below in full voice.

The periwinkle has started blooming.

The rufous-sided towhee below is hunting for food.

I noticed in our extended forecast that there is a chance of snow here next week. Usually the latest it snow in central NC where I live is early March so that would be unusual. Click for the home of Nature Notes.     

Today's Flowers and Weekend Flowers: Another Durham NC flower walk

I had to go back to Durham, NC for work this week and returned to Grace Garden.

This time of the year there is something new to look at each day.

I like early spring because individual plants stand out more than later when there are more plants and flowers growing.

There seemed to be a lot of new growth since I looked just a week ago.

I like to snap some macro shots to get a better look at early blooms.

The Narcissus above and Helleborus below are always amongst the first blooms of spring.

After Grace Garden, I walked up a block to a courtyard and landscaping in front of the blue building you see in a distance in the fourth shot.

I like the way you can see the earliest blooms but there is still a lot of space where the flowers aren't yet above ground.

Some parts are more barren and others have more growth.

All the shots in this part are of the landscaping and courtyard that surrounds the blue building.

I remembered from last spring that this was a good area to explore in March.

It looks very different in the summer and winter.

The last shot is of an old house converted into an office and I always like the garden that grows there.

Click here for Weekend Flowers and here for Today's Flowers.  

Photohunters: Watch Sunrise or Sunset and Footprints

This is the first time I haven't been able to combine the two posts but instead have had to treat them separately. All the shots are from my archives.

I think the footprints above were left by a squirrel. Below are my footprints mingled with birds footprints.

I love to watch the sun rise and set at the beach.

These shots are of the sun setting at Atlantic Beach, NC a few summers ago.

Click for the sunrise-sunset photohunt and click for the footprints photohunt.

Nature Notes: Spring approaches

There are many signs of spring including wind and cold damaged flowers.

I like the way the Narcissus dot the landscape even if they are bowing low.

I think yellow has to be the most cheerful color of them all.

I wonder if my response to yellow is ingrained in genetics.

By that I mean if I respond to yellow like I respond to the sun after too much rain, and also crave rain during a drought.

I know when we haven't had enough rain, I feel parched even though my water comes out of a faucet or bottle.

Sometimes my responses seem to go to the core of me.

I know when I've had serious illnesses or even special needs like when I was pregnant or nursing, I craved particular foods that were often ones I needed for a particular reason.

The garden shots, except for the yellow narcissus I shot in my back yard, are from a garden in a city park.

The forsythia bud below is from my neighbors yard bordering mine.

The rest of the shots are from Shelley Lake which is near my house.

The gulls haven't left the lake yet for their breeding places.

I don't know where the gulls go but they leave sometime during the spring and don't return until the fall.

There are a lot of geese and ducks year round although some individual types pass through in the fall.

The water birds haven't started getting noisy like they do in the spring, although the birds at my house are getting a lot louder.

There are a lot of little signs of spring though as well as bigger ones.

I'm spotting ducks in the creek that feeds into the lake and they tend to move into these more protected areas during the spring.

The gulls were quite active when I was walking.

The cormorants are another bird that leave sometime in the spring and return in the fall.

Click for the home of nature notes.