Quiet Elegance of Wisconsin's - Merging into Spring Time.

Each new day brings surprises

Dawn brings another day.  It is predictable that morning rises.  But with Wisconsin
Spring it might mean 40-60 degrees or then it might be only 17 above 0 degrees the
next morning.  It might be raining when you go to bed, and wake with a couple inches
of snow covering the day.  But in April that snow quickly melts in the central part of our state.

 

  With the snow melted away, the warm sun quickly starts to green the pasture fields.  The horses already nibble the new shoots coming up. The plowed fields are open and ready to dry out enough for the local farmer to set seed in the field we let him use.  Last year he put in soybeans, this year, well it could be corn, we never know.
      Out back in the wooded area the deer already have settled down to finding the perfect spot for her new fawn to be born.  There is a pond back there so no need to come to the creek that runs through our front woods.

 Domestic Crocus have pushed their way up through the thawed ground.  A hail
storm with a couple inches of snow did not defer it to wilt or die.
Spring growth have a toughness about it and seem to carry a
special glory of their own.  Rejoicing that our Great Creator
has released them from the tiny bulb beneath the
 frozen tundra of Wisconsin soil.

  

Wood hyacinths come in several

shades of blue, depending on how much sun they get.

As I walked through the woods with my camera late afternoon I noticed many things that were just as beautiful as the flowers were.

Fungus growing on a dead branch looked like sea shells.
The white compared to the grayish colored bark was stunning!

A close up picture shows the intricate artful texture.  Nature is God's smile in our world.  Only God could create this big wonderful world.  It certainly put a smile in my walking around the woods today!

I constantly took pictures at every turn in the path.

This picture was on a large tree.  The bark was rough and different colors.

As I turned around a group of new growth was pushing up, noticing in the wet area near the creek it was beginning to show the pointed beak of the skunk cabbage in the picture below.

Skunk cabbage was given the funny name because it smells horrid if the stem or leaf is broken off.  The red buds are the flower of sorts.  Pushes up through the leaves and very moist soil and turns green as shown in the middle of the two blossoms.  It likes shady areas and of course wet feet but not under deep water.

Red dogwood in the woods has turned this bright red and the growth from
 last year is a contrast on the lower  older gray stem it grew from. The brightness
is caused by the surge of new life from the warm sun.  I always watch during the month of March
 the dull red color of last years stem until they turn this bright red, a sure sign that spring is finely here!

 The Hickory tree bark is a lot more noticeable in the spring.  The shaggy bark is an art peace of its own.                                                                                                                                                                  

Looking up towards the top,on this cloudy day made it look almost spooky.

The soft almost lime colored moss looks nicely compared to the gray 

rock that surrounds it.  It is in bloom and oh so soft feeling.

Coltsfoot flowers coming up first, leaves are following, nestled in between
 twigs, and branches, they also love wet feet.  What is yukky for humans
to walk on, is heaven to the wetland plants.  These coltsfeet are near our creek
 that floods in spring therefore making perfect soil for their growth.  

Close up showing flower and leaves surrounding it as it ages.  The leaves will be
the size of a bushel basket by mid summer.

 Picture below shows where the creek flooded its banks and eroded the soil, making it mushy for the Coltsfoot to propagate and also it can move under ground by root connection. What one would think a catastrophe is what prepared the life giving nourishment and environment  for the life of the Coltsfoot. This process of the Coltsfoot is very slow so therefore not that aggressive and can be dug out to put in another spot that erodes.  It grows as tall as humans so also can be used as a privacy barrier.  We just let it do its thing the past 29 years and it is beautiful.  I first saw it at the Milwaukee Botanical Gardens and it took me a few years to finely discover a garden center that sold it.

The Virginia Blue Bell is close by to the creek but likes it a little dryer.  The deep black purplish green leaves are startling to see at first.

Sharing the same area Gingers soft fuzzy leaves 

just barely showing next to the Virginia Blue Bells

Hole at the bottom of this tree housed some critter
that hibernated all winter and pushed his way out of the hole not too long ago.

     As I leave the wooded area I walk up to the upper gardens that are domesticated and carefully placed.  They hold a more orderly fashion.  Groomed and pampered the past 28 years, still natural but 

hold an expected array of beauty.  I am not surprised with their growth, I have seen it many years, but it still gives me that smile.  Knowing what the flower will be, knowing I will have to wait for its summer month to bloom.  A contented feeling.  While in the woods I am like a child looking here and there for a thrill which only spring can bring me.  Summer the woods become deep shade, flowers are scarce. The domesticated gardens then are in all their glory full of bloom and beauty.  

Peonies stems poke through the soil, a bright crimson red.
Latter turning to the deep summer green.

Miniature Daffodils are the first to blossom in the formal gardens.

Columbine Stems pushing upward look like a
 flower in its lime green Spring dress up.

                                                           

The light blue hycine is a domesticated flower I bought out of a bulb catalogue.  It is very delicate and only a few inches above the ground.  Easy to miss if I am not searching for it.  I place it in a special place in the gardens to high light the other empty spots yet to be filled with sleeping perennials merging through the cold soil.

Luke our Airedale greets Miraculous.  They kiss greetings by rubbing noses.  Ginger our pony turns her butt to Luke ready for defense attitude.  Miraculous the little Painted mini horse shows her vulnerability by rushing to greet Luke, trusting he will not harm her.  I am like both some times.  Worry about getting hurt, put up defense mechanisms like Ginger, and other times take a chance and open myself to others in greeting, not worrying about whether they will like me, hurt me, just let things happen....

My Scripture in quite time was Matthew 6:27-28 this morning.  "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Blessing you all with

Faith

Love

Hope

Our Great God Hovers over you

Blesses you

and is closest to you in the pain 

of growing

Just like Winter leaving

troubles prepare us

for blessings

Flowers surge up from 

the frozen tundra

Christ also rose from death

is here in our midst

Trust Him

Love Him

His Grace is enough!

Love to you all!

Kate