The Glory-of-the-Snow are not a wildflower, but they are ‘wild’ since they escaped about 150 feet from where I originally had them planted and now a cluster of blue is in the woods. It was a pleasant surprise to see when only a few varieties of flowers are open yet but I hope it doesn’t snow on the Glory-of-the-snow.
The ‘Wild’ Glory-of-the-Snow
The pink striped petals of the Spring Beauty wildflower are a welcome sign of the arrival of spring, even if there is a mention of snow in forecast. The flower is one of the most common native perennials in eastern North America which grows small roots that remind people of tiny potatoes, hence the nickname “Fairy Spuds” and can be eaten, although it would take a lot of them for a meal!
The Pink of the Spring Beauty
More signs of spring are peeping, like the peeping chicks scurrying around for heat, feed and water. Another sign of spring was the first wood tick crawling on me yesterday.
Spring Peeps
Most states have a natural rock bridge and some have a number of famous ones and Wisconsin has its own natural bridge in the unglaciated Driftless Area weathered from sandstone deposited 1.6 billion years ago. The arch opening is 25 wide and 15 feet high.
The rock shelter on the right side, is 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep and when an archaeological excavation of the rock shelter was conducted in 1957, the oldest artifacts were dated between 9000 and 8000 BC, making the rock shelter one of the oldest-dated sites for human occupancy in northeastern North America. Evidence indicates that the shelter was used only periodically at first, perhaps as a hunting or seasonal camp for Paleo-Indians hunting Mastodons or Wooly Mammoths. Later the shelther was inhabited year-round.
Wisconsin’s Natural Bridge
The early sign of spring is when the catkins of the American pussy willow are spotted, long before the leaves are out.
Pussy Willow
More signs of spring with new calves in the pasture, even though this one was watching the bird until I stopped for a picture.
New Spring Calf
The snow must have fallen on the robin’s tail this past week and now it is officially spring since I finally spotted the first wildflower open yesterday and the frogs are singing. The flower was partially open yesterday but fully open this morning. The Sharp-loded Hepatica is the first wildflower to open in my woods each spring and since the blossom is less than an inch across, they can be easily overlooked since the foliage comes after they bloom. It was windy this morning so trying to capture the tiny blossom swaying on the hairy stalk was a challenge.
The First Wildflower of Spring
Today was the Indianhead Polled Hereford Association Spring Opportunity Sale where established breeders and first time consignors had bulls. cows and heifers for sale. Even a little boy got to raise a bidder number (when said so) as the cattle were auctioned off. And this heifer was a granddaughter of a heifer purchased at a previous Indianhead sale.
Hereford Heifer at Auction
I will have to look inside for blue colors since it is another cloudy day and still some snow on the ground.
Blue Quilt
The cats are not playing outside and enjoying a sunny warm day – not when the ground is white this evening since the temperature is at the freezing mark. So they will have to wait another day before going back on the hunt for chipmunks.
Delayed Chipmunk Hunt
