Sunday, March 16, 2008

Bluet



Less than a week after our last snow (I hope it was, indeed, our last snowfall of the winter), wildflowers are beginning to appear. On Thursday I noticed a few dozen of these tiny bluets (Houstonia pusilla, I think) scattered around the pasture. By Friday, there were several hundred scattered in various places, and many were beginning to emerge in small clusters which is typical for the species. A single small bluet -- a purple-blue flower 1/4-1/3 inch across -- is easy to miss, but a cluster adds a splash of color to the glades, rocky ledges, outcroppings and dry open places where they typically grow. Bluets are native annuals that seem to do a very good job of reseeding themselves.

Another sign of spring that we've been experiencing is thunderstorms. Storms on Thursday evening knocked out our ISP for about 18 hours. More storms Friday night took out our telephone service while I was in the process of making a blog post. Doing anything online has been a challenge the past few days.
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5 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

What a bum to have your ISP knocked out. You aren't haveing a very good techy time lately. Those bluets sure make up for it. They are gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

I love this time of the year with flowers showing up like this! Great signs of spring can make anyone's day!

Willard said...

Keep the good flower pictures coming, Marvin. I'll try to post some from Pennsylvania, when they start showing up here.

Mary said...

Marvin,

Bluets are a wonderful sign of spring. Many people weed them out! I'd NEVER!

I sympathize with your ISP woes. I had a real bad time last summer with storms and lost connection for a week once.

Tom said...

I had missed you posting...these are a great way of giving notice that spring is nearly upon you. a splash of colour certainly makes a differance after the dullness of a winters landscape.