Pasque Flowers
I had some time today to wander around the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, checking out the spring wildflowers, magnolias, and other spring bloomers. I wanted to see how soon some of my favorite flowers might be blooming.
I was excited that the 3-mile drive around the Arboretum was open already. Because I’ve been having some pain when walking long distances lately, being able to drive around made it much easier for me to go to favorite spots, park the car and walk just short distances to the locations of the flowers I was checking out.
I only took along my camera with my 24-105 mm lens, an extra battery, and lens cloth, so the photos I made today in mid-morning suffered from me trying to shade the subjects where I could and still get close enough to make the shot. Next time I go, I’ll take a macro lens, tripod and set of reflectors so that I can control the light on my subjects better.
“So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute…Give your approval to all you cannot understand…Ask the questions that have no answers. Put your faith in two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years…Laugh. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts….Practice resurrection.”
― Wendell Berry, The Country of Marriage
It is still early days for the spring bloomers—daffodils are about 3 inches high, but no buds showing yet, tulips are only 2 inches high, a few of the protected magnolia trees are starting to bloom, pasque flowers are starting to bloom, and only the very earliest of the woodland wildflowers are blooming. Scilla and crocus are in bloom at the arboretum and in my garden at home. The wild ginger is in bloom but I haven’t seen any bloodroot plants or flowers yet. I have a spot at Big Willow park where a colony of them live that I will be checking out soon.
The forsythia bushes are in vivid eye-catching full bloom all over the arboretum. Their cheerful bright yellow color pops in the still somewhat monochrome landscape colors.
This is the time of year of rapid changes, the delicate spring ephemeral flowers pop up, bloom, and fade very rapidly so it is worthwhile going for walks every couple of days to see the best display of the wildflowers. Soon the leaves will appear and the woodlands will wear a coat of green again. But before those leaves pop out there are wonders to see.
“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
― Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community: Eight Essays
I will soon be heading to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park near Northfield to experience the spring wildflowers there. In past years when I visited, I was filled with joy at the splendor of the wildflowers in the woods there. The rare Minnesota Dwarf trout lily can be found at the park, a wildflower native to only about 600 acres of woodland habitat in Minnesota.
Being out in the woodlands and sunshine is healing. After several months of winter weather, it is all the more welcome to me. It fills me with joy to wander in the woods, noticing the ordinary miracles of each season.
When was the last time you took a walk in the woods? Isn’t it time to spend some time basking in the beauty of the season?
May you walk in beauty.
Scilla
Tiny pink wildflower
White forsythia
Pasque flower dance
Forsytha
Magnolia blossom
Pasque flowers
Soft white
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