Scilla and Snowdrops

[pameladean]

I'll put the photos behind a cut this time. I am out of practice.

The heaps of snow and ice have dwindled in a fast-forward blur. I didn't get outside in the daylight yesterday or the day before. Today the temperature reached 87 degrees, which I was not ready for and did not appreciate. Neither, it turns out, did the snowdrops. They are going to drop their petals and go to seed much sooner than in a chillier season.

The scilla is pretty happy about the situation, however.

There are a lot more leaves on the ground than I remember seeing last fall. I don't rake or mow the leaves any more in order to give beneficial pollinators a winter shelter. I can get rid of the leaves when the nighttime temperature is reliably above fifty. It will be tonight, but not reliably over enough of the next days.









I have some similar photos of scilla in a similar phase from last year, but last spring was so cold that those photos are from June 4. This does not exactly make my head lie easy, even though it does not wear a crown. But I cannot help welcoming the returning life.

Pamela

Comments

[davidgoldfarb]

87? Man. I bet there aren't many days in a year where Minneapolis is hotter than Houston is.

[pameladean]

I sure hope not! The original forecast was 83, but it just kept going up. They've inched their forecast high for Thursday to 85, but I wonder. However, it will all come crashing down on Friday night.

P.

[graydon]

Today is forecast to reach 28 C, which is thereabouts of 82 F. So that 87 seems very warm indeed!

I most entirely hear you about one's head not lying easy.

[pameladean]

Today it looks likely to hit 90. There is one 90-degree day in April every few years, but not a stretch of overly-hot stuff like this.

Yeah. Always an unease, whether on the surface or as background. I think climate-change denialists feel it too, or they wouldn't be so weirdly hysterical about everything.

P.

[graydon]

It is notably challenging to base one's sense of security on a false position.

Though given that real estate values haven't collapsed in the areas from which the insurance companies have withdrawn, I shouldn't go supposing I understand what people might achieve in this regard.

[bibliofile]

Yay for spring flowers. The blue scilla on the lawn here bloomed, too, though we only got up to 80' yesterday.

[pameladean]

Eventually I hope I'll have some photos of the places where the scilla just has taken over the lawn. It's quite capable of blooming at 45 or 50 degrees if there's plenty of sun. It looks a bit dubious about the heat today and I'm glad of that extra mat of leaves for it.

P.

[julian]

Dang, I love Scilla.

[pameladean]

It's glorious. There's a certain dearth of really truly blue flowers that it makes up for abundantly. I feel a bit guilty for planting it when it's not a native, but at least it causes less harm than some non-native plants.

P.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

There are lots of dry leaves scattered everywhere and we have been warned that fires will start very easily. I still see folks toss their cigarette ends out the car window. Our crash is supposed to come Saturday along with a forecast (please!) of three days of rain.

[pameladean]

We've currently got a Fire Weather watch and two River Flood warnings. If only moisture could be better evened out!

I also say please to a forecast of several rainy days. May we both be rewarded for our courtesy!

P.

[sartorias]

Oh look at that rich color! So pretty!

[pameladean]

I'm hoping to get a photo of the sheet of blue that is the shadiest part of the back yard where, about 25 years ago, I planted a bag of 25 scilla bulbs. The burgeoning has been assisted by a patch in the neighbors' yard that eventually spread to mine. Those scilla have lighter flowers.

The neighbors used to have yellow violets, too, but I didn't get any of those.

P.

[sartorias]

Oh please do! I'd love to see that!"

[asakiyume]

Lovely--in these photos not only do the flowers look beautiful, but you've somehow managed to catch all the shades of brown in the old leaves. It makes the pictures all the richer.

And wow! June 4! Two months' difference!

[pameladean]

Hee, I think that's because it was so late when I got outside that the flash went off when I used the camera. There's a nice patch of rabbit droppings, too, I see.

June 4 is late -- last May was staggeringly cold. I went to two different outdoor social gatherings happily planned for a regular May day, and the high temperature barely got to fifty both times.

P.

[pameladean]

P.S. I love the variations in texture and color of any last year's leaves. They are hard to photograph for an amateur, though, so I'm glad that I got lucky.

P.