On the Path -- April 17th, 2013

Pussy Willows are an early indicator that winter is being left behind. They've been around for awhile. The first Robin on our front lawn is an even more welcome sight. They've been around for a while too. Pussy Willows and Robins are both usually seen before the calendar says it's spring.

But once I find a patch of Coltsfoot I consider that spring has truly arrived. And they're here in spades. Nature has been slowly painting her world green over the last few weeks. Now that she's added a splash of yellow with her latest crop of Coltsfoot, we can look forward to the floodgates opening with new signs of spring daily & weekly. Never mind that the weather forecast calls for summer temperatures tomorrow and the possibility of a snow-flurry on Saturday.

Coltsfoot tends to grow in disturbed areas, amidst last year's stems & twigs.

Before I learned otherwise I thought Coltsfoot were 'early' Dandelions.

If you look closely, though, the difference is obvious.

A significant difference from Dandelions is that Coltsfoot bloom first, then develop leaves, some of which can be huge... about 1 foot across. The leaves are also shaped roughly like a colt's foot, hence the name.

The central portion & petals (somewhat) are very different from a Dandelion too.

 

Here's some Dandelions (from a year or two ago) for comparison.

Not a sign of spring but the thorns on Black Locust intrigue me. There's a small stand of Black Locust across the road at the start of the path.

Very few trees in our area have thorns on them.

And they're deadly... very hard and strong. I've caught my clothes on them a couple times and one of them has some of my blood.

In the shot above you can see a leaf scar between the thorns. When I became interested in trees a few years ago, I learned about leaf scars and bundle scars. On some trees they're easy to spot, on others not so easy, or almost impossible.

Here's one I found on a tree on the path today.

They sometimes resemble a face as this one does. They're left behind when a leaf falls off in the fall. The blurry dark blob above the leaf scar is this year's bud where a new twig will grow.

The irregular spots within the leaf scar (5 of them here) are the bundle scars, each one being where a vein of the leaf was attached to get nutrients from the main tree.

In this shot you can see leaf scars, bundle scars and the newest opening buds.

When you look at this section of the path, there's little sign that things are developing as they should. In a month they'll be in full leaf, or close to it.

But if you look up you see signs. This is a Silver Maple, full of buds, many of them open already.

Trees follow a sequence in spring too. Silver Maple is the earliest in our area. Before long you'll see its telltale yellow pollen on the streets & sidewalks.

This is the bark on an old Silver Maple. It looks like kids glued the bark on in small rectangles... but didn't use enough glue.

This is the woods on the path, bordering a creek. Our southern Ontario forests are often a mix of Beech, Sugar Maple & Hemlock just as these woods are. Spring & fall are when you see the Hemlocks clearly.

At the top of the path there's a small stand of Aspens. The catkins are well on their way.

Almost nothing in nature is simple when you look at it closely.

There's a small patch of Leeks across the street on the path too. If there's any doubt that they're Leeks, crush a leaf and take a whiff... it's a strong onion smell. The red streaks are a give-a-way too. Planted by one our feathered friends I expect.

Also across the street at the bottom of the path there's a nice display of Pussy Willows. A few were out weeks ago but they've really burst forth in last short while.

Despite the chance of a flurry on Saturday, spring is here. Signs are all around us now. It is the transition though between winter and spring so we have to expect some surprises on the weather front for a few weeks yet.

In Moose Jaw, the saying was, "There's always a chance of frost until the May 24th weekend". In Oshawa we're a few 100 miles south compared to Moose Jaw so I'm not sure what the date might be in that saying.

But the Coltsfoot are here! Get ready for the spring rush. It's inevitable.

One of my favourite quotes:
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

Soren Kierkegaard  - Danish philosopher (1813 - 1855)

- fini -