coming, going, gone

Happy Last Day of May! I saw the columbine blooming in my woods, and do to business thought I had missed my chance to capture their strange beauty. I guess you could say I was lucky I didn’t try to photograph them earlier, because I wouldn’t have gotten this three-in-one shot: one flower bud, one flower blossom, and one swelling green seed capsule. Oh, how I love happy accidents.

wild red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

lean on me

We threw two parties last week. My friend Margo brought the flowers. These variegated beauties were among the mix. Wowsa.

parrot tulips from Margo

hiding in the shadows

We have a large colony of mayapples. Its a strange and beautiful woodland plant. We humans rarely see the flowers unless we get down on our knees and peer under the thick canopy of umbrella-like leaves. Steve and I have been (ridiculously) busy entertaining this past week, and as a result I almost missed their flowering season. A few hold outs came through for me, only dropping one petal on the transport inside to my dining room table where they happily sat for this sriking portrait.

mayapple flowers in late May (Podophyllum peltatum)

it’s still pollen season

There has been a dusting of pollen on everything lately. And while the deciduous trees, with a few exceptions, are fully leafed out and done flowering, the pines are in full pollen. While pines don’t technically flower because they are gymnosperms, I feel these pollen candles are pretty enough to be called flowers.

red pine pollen flower

So dramatic!

My son has been making muglio (pine cone syrup). To make muglio he needs young green pine cones. He wanted white spruce, black spruce, red pine, and balsam so he could do a taste test. As a result we have been assessing every pine tree in a three mile radius of our home for muglio-worthiness. This red pine branch was at the tip of dead branch on an otherwise healthy tree. The crazy twisted needles implies it was some kind of parasite or gall that killed the branch. If you are going to go out, go out in style!

dead red pine branch with malformed needles and cones