Into isolation. Virus or no virus, there was other writing to be done, and no days where it was justifiable to set things aside for the Blog of the Things. During that month, some birds have arrived, the bugs woke up, the frogs started singing, and we even had Worm Moon, complete with robins tugging worms out of the soil.
But I'm going to focus on the plants, because they have been popping up, putting out some buds and flowers. All of these, unless otherwise noted, are just from out my door and into the Renton Natural Area.
We aren't family
It has struck me, as I have been taking in all of these flowering plants, how many of them aren't in the same family. I enjoy a good pattern (Oh look, these two are in the same family because they both _____!), but the pattern that has been thrown at me is that there are a dang lot of families of flowering plants.
Out of fairness:
Before launching into the different families of plants I've run into with singletons here and there, it's worth noting that two families have had some multiples:
The Heathers: Salal and Rhododendron
I know, there are supposed to be three Heathers. If I could tell one rhodie from another, we might be there. Sorry!
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| Rhododendron, our state flower. The leaves are apparently edible for something, just not us. |
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| Salal! It doesn't look like much now, but there will be yummy berries in the summer. |
The Roses: Douglas's Spirea, Indian Plum, Salmonberry, and Himalaya Blackberry
This family came in with a whopping four members! Douglas's Spirea, affectionately known as Hardhack:
There will be pink flowers everywhere in the summer.
One of the earliest bloomers, Indian Plum, was shown earlier. I actually found some of it with fruits at Black River Riparian Forest:
I guess those are Osoberries hanging in that cluster.
Salmonberry and Himalaya Blackberry have been familiar to me for much longer. Salmonberry has been blooming - again a picture from Black River:
To be fair, there have been some honest-to-goodness roses as well. I just found out that there are multiple native species, so I will wait to add them to the list until I actually identify them!
The asparagus family: False Lily of the Valley
I kid you not. Somehow this is related to asparagus:
The flowers it will send up will help make sense of this fact. They are kind of sort of little stalks. I will try not to highlight this fact too many times, but. . . There's so much of this stuff everywhere, and I didn't know what it was until a week or two ago. The mission has been a success so far!
The gooseberry family: Red-flowering Currant
I was so excited when I learned that this was red currant! Then I learned that it's just the flowers that are red, and that the purple berries are not all that tasty. . . Learning is not always as fun as people make it out to be. At any rate, it is blooming all over the place in early April, and is part of why the hummingbirds make their return right around then.
Bunchflower family: Pacific Trillium (Western Wakerobin)
This one gets to be bigger, because A) it's not out of focus, and 2) it's such a gorgeous thing. There are more on the way, but this one bloomed really early, and always gave me something to look forward to on my walks.
The Mint family: Red Dead Nettle
Oh! That's what that stuff is called. This is everywhere. I've eaten it. Don't worry, the "dead" part is because, despite looking a little like stinging nettles, there's no sting.
Sunflower family: Nipplewort
Not just edible, but actually kind of tasty. I have seen this stuff in quite a few places now, but never in huge quantities. Far from flowering right now. Apparently, the name comes from a medicinal use - it helps stop the flow of milk after breast-feeding.
Geranium family: Herb Robert (Stinky Bob)
This was the biggest disappointment of all. I always wanted to know what these beautiful little pink flowers were. I searched and searched through native plant databases, certain that I was describing it well enough. Well, it's not native. And it's not cute. It is Stinky Bob, destroyer of ecosystems. I see it everywhere because the stuff spreads some exceptionally hearty seeds out into the world, and pushes everything else out of the way.
And the leaves taste like parsley. Invasivores, go ahead and have a field day on this one.
Poppy family: Western Bleeding-Heart
These certainly aren't struggling to survive. Where there's a patch, there's a huge patch blooming right now. Pink/purple drooping flowers.
Barberries: Oregon Grape
This is in the Stinky Bob picture above. I've been surprised to see some quite tall versions of this plant. The leaves are edible. I know what you're thinking. Something like "gross." The leaves are, by and large, rough and pokey. Any week, however, they will start to push out some yellow/orange growth of new leaves, which have an interesting flavor.
Please research the heck out of any of this before picking and eating anything. I have tried to be pretty thorough before I have a taste of anything!
Have to stop there for the day, but Stinging Nettle... we'll have a talk about Stinging Nettles soon.
Things are flowering as we speak. Gotta go!
