Saturday, March 21, 2009

Spring is a-cumin' in

Well, it's now officially spring! I'm not sure where winter went. Everyone's a little freaked out by the warmth and lack of snow. I guess you can blame me – it hasn't snowed appreciably since I bought that snowblower.

Not only are the daffodils in bloom, the smaller trees are already leafing out:
I am enjoying the nice days but have a little worry that a late, heavy snowfall could do a lot of damage to trees that are fully leafed out. The leaves catch the snow and the extreme weight breaks the branches.

And yes, the cheery forsythia is blooming (last year it was April 2nd):
And even more cheery, a cherry:
A cherry with a bee on top!

OK, maybe it's a crabapple. I don't know! Do you?

I need to go back and take more photos. The tree was being mobbed by bees, but the combo of back lighting and macro lens on a dark, fast-moving subject is a tricky one.

With more blooms every day, the bees are further out of danger of starving, though a late, prolonged cold spell could really mess them up. They spend the winter in slo-mo, eating through their stores, but once spring arrives, they ramp up brood production. Lots of hungry babies who will become hungry workers ready to go get nectar and pollen for next winter's honey.

12 comments:

  1. Lovely flowers in your blog. My congratulations to you.

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  2. Lovely flowers in your blog. My congratulations to you.

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  3. I have one lonely crocus blooming. Hubby is worried that the warmer days will cut the sap production for maple syrup.

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  4. Gorgeous photos. :D I'm so happy spring is finally here!

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  5. Vibrant spring blooms...looks like cherry blossom I think..supposed to be Autumn here but Summer knocking on the door still! :D

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  6. Uusually I'm the one who impacts the weather by what I buy or don't buy, do or don't do (like changing all-season tires for the heavy-duty winter ones). This time, I know it was you.

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  7. Happy spring! The questionable flowers look like our peach flowers. Not sure though. As long as they feed the bees now, and us later! Todd.

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  8. I'm lovin' all the spring photos! The fruit trees and forsythia here are almost finished blooming, but we still have lots of daffodils.

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  9. I told you it wouldn't snow after you got the snow blower. We won't get spring like that for another month until it gets really warm really fast.

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  10. Thanks, Ana-Maria!

    Peggy, is it pretty warm where you are, too?

    Thanks, Kasey. It's such an uplifting feeling, isn't it?

    Thanks, Mimi and Gina. Gina, maybe you'll have a "non-winter" like we did.

    Claire, yes, it's all my fault. That was $40 well-spent, eh? Todd, could be peaches, but they aren't usually planted as street trees. I actually suspect it's more likely crabapple.

    Martha, I was out your way last week and was jealous of all the green!

    Betts, you nailed it. I'll bet you can't wait for warm-up!

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  11. I bet you're happy to have that snowblower today!

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