20 Comments
User's avatar
Kimberly Warner's avatar

Your writing and passion feel like sunshine too!

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thank you so much, Kimberly!

Expand full comment
Negar Kamali's avatar

Damask roses mean spring to me and whenever i go to our villa-garden and see the damask rose shrub and those pink, beautiful blossoms, i wanna just sit and look at them (Honestly, i don't just sit and look at them. I pick them, especially the half-opened ones, dry them for later use. Although its thorns leave marks on my arm, i love doing so).

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

What a beautiful spring flower! Our earliest roses won't be here until June, so they are entirely summertime to me.

Expand full comment
Ian Haycroft's avatar

Beautiful Sydney. My wife was raised in western Massachusetts...the Berkshires...and they always had a mud season. Here in Australia where we are, we have had a very very wet summer...and although we don't have a regular mud season...this year there is mud mud mud everywhere. We need our 4 wheel drive to get up our driveway😜. How beautiful is Mother Nature!!!! Sunshine in the mud! Thank you Sydney.

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thank you, Ian! Isn't it funny how a little water added to a little dirt can bring us to a standstill? 🤣 And there, in the mud, the unexpected flowers bloom and the busy frogs are already laying their eggs, and how beautiful is Mother Nature, indeed? :)

Expand full comment
Sandy S's avatar

Sydney lovely post of finding a bit of sunshine underfoot when it is needed! I have to tell you though, you had me scratching my head. I know Coltsfoot in quite a different way! Here is a link to pics and story of the Coltsfoot that grows near me. https://www.fidalgoweather.net/2012/05/palmate-coltsfoot-another-mystery.html

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

It's so funny when that happens 🤣 Couldn't be more different - thanks so much for sharing this, these are fascinating!

Expand full comment
Pamela Leavey's avatar

Sydney, what a happy happenstance to find coltsfoot where you planted lady's mantle. Your photos are stunning.

The rainy start to spring has been tedious, especially after our long snowy Northeast winter. Better weather ahead! I look forward to seeing what's growing in your corner of Maine!

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Thank you, Pamela! It was a happy discovery, they are so much fun and I look forward to them every year now. 💛 Yes, so. Much. Rain! I remind myself to appreciate it, while also looking forward to some sunny days for crying out loud! :)

Expand full comment
Amie McGraham's avatar

there’s a reason for the term “false spring” 🥴

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

lol, oh my gosh, yes! I was laughing so hard about a week ago when we had this spring day, and the next morning I woke up and the whole forest was snow-covered again. Didn't even last the day, though. Spring is a real character around here.

Expand full comment
Sandy S's avatar

A favorite early bloomer here in the Pac NW is flowering quince. It's bright red-orange blooms that grow close to the stems are a favorite of the squirrels and birds, too. It also has the fun ability to rapidly be started from a cutting. Makes a good barrier hedge with its dense growing branches and thorns. Birds and small animals like to shelter in it. Especially in the winter.

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Oh my goodness, yes! I remember the flowering quince from our time in Bellingham. Such a stunner. There were some real monsters growing unattended in this old neighborhood we lived in, and it was really spectacular to see them bloom.

Expand full comment
Emese-Réka Fromm's avatar

Beautiful! In Arizona, my favorite has always been the globemallow - there is just something about it that makes me happy when I see it blossom. We have a few bushes now in our backyard, growing wild, without our intervention.

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Wow! What a stunning plant! I had to look it up, and I haven't see it before. It reminds me of the evening primrose in Texas - but fire! Definitely bright spring energy.

Expand full comment
Negar Kamali's avatar

Very interesting. Roses are very beautiful and depending on where they're planted and their type, they either bloom early or later. Damask roses bloom earlier than the other types. And the Persians either dry them for later use, or make rosewater with them (It's a very time -consuming process, and needs a lot of ice).

Expand full comment
Noel's avatar

What a gorgeous flower! In Texas, of course we have bluebonnets. In my back yard there are little bright pink flowers with cloverlike leaves that grow in spring. I don't know what they are, but they cheer me up.

Expand full comment
SydneyMichalski🌿NatureMoments's avatar

Yes, bluebonnets! I grew up in Texas, so I totally get that. Our similar lupines here in Maine grow a lot taller, but bloom a lot later. So, this little pink flower, I think it might be a native wood sorrel.

If it is, it’s actually edible! The leaves are very lemony. We have one here with yellow flowers, and we always pinch leaves and nibble them when we’re out gardening :) Here’s a link to check out and see if it’s the same one you’re talking about! https://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/wood-sorel.html

Expand full comment
Noel's avatar

Thanks for the link! Yes, it looks like wood sorrel all right. Mine's not lemony though, it's a straight green aroma and flavor.

Expand full comment