scratch and sniff

After its typical arrival in fits and starts, spring here in the North is finally filling my senses in all the familiar ways. Crabapple blossoms are lighting the trees on fire, I just caught my first cloud of lilac scent on my walk today, and red winged blackbirds, mallards, geese, and yellowthroats are calling from the cattails. Next up: Sorrel omelet for dinner! It’s May in Minnesota.

lilac flowers (Syringa)

on looking past peak expression

When I give photo workshops, I have a section in my lecture that encourages participants to look past the peak expression of a subject. These tulips are a perfect example. I think these tulips are ever bit as interesting and beautiful, maybe even more so, than they were in peak bloom. Often the moments just before, or just after peak expression grab our curiosity more. They make us hesitate. The mind fills in the missing moment of perfection, it extrapolates the bursting bud or the decaying bloom.  I personally find these wabi-sabi images so much more engaging. A fresh alternative to the clichéd image you have seen a million times.

spent tulips

decorate the scaffolding

I love the trees that blossom in spring before the leaves burst and start competing; magnolias and redbud come to mind. While technically not native to Minnesota, redbuds are more and more common here as our climate changes. From a distance the profusion of pink flowers make it look like any number of spring flowering trees such as crabapples and plums. But on closer inspection, the way the blossoms seem to burst all along the length of the bare branches and even the trunk feels unique and special.

eastern redbud blossoms (Cercis canadensis)

Jack is back!

Jack-in-the-pulpit is one of favorite woodland wildflowers. It even graces the back cover of my new book. The are shade-loving native woodland plans. We have hundreds of them that pop up in our wooded property every year. I have captured them in every phase: spring shoots, summer umbrellas, autumn seedheads, and winter stems. This is the first one to capture my attention this spring (I’ve been a little busy.Lol.)

jack-in-the-pulpit shoot in early spring (Arisaema triphyllum)

**For the nerds: The small, inconspicuous flowers of Jack-in-the-pulpit are borne on a fleshy, spike-like inflorescence called a spadix (“Jack“), which is enclosed (or nearly enclosed) by a large, sometimes colorful bract called a spathe (“pulpit“). The flowers are clustered around the base of the spadix inside the spathe. A sterile spadix appendix protrudes from the mouth of the spathe tube. The appendix is covered by the leafy tip of the spathe, referred to as the spathe hood (or spathe lamina). The lip along the mouth of the spathe tube, used as a landing platform for winged insects, is called the spathe flange.

stubborn oak trees finally joining the party

These baby oak leaves overhanging my deck are stealing both my attention and my heart today.

young white oak leaves in spring