Tuesday, March 2, 2010

March Came in Like a Lion










That Rogers and Hammerstein hit said "March went out like a lion," but I can't wait. It's raining hard and there's a promise (no, a forecast) of more snow this week. In Quincy, that is. It is already snowing elsewhere in the county. The astronomical Spring begins late in March with the vernal equinox, but spring began a month ago down in the Great Valley is we measure it by gass getting green and flowers blooming. Interesting how songs like "June is Bustin' Out All Over" capture our stereotype of the season, yet it only applies to a narrow swath of the temperate zone. These images are meaningless in the southwestern desert or above 10,000 feet in the Rockies and the Sierra. As I've said earlier, one thing I love about my location is that within an hour or so I can go forward and backward in the seasons. Today, snow is only a half hour east but blooming wildflowers are only an hour west. Today I'm posting pictures of flowers I love and of me doing what I love in the spring - photos taken by my wife and son. OK, one was taken in the fall:) Got to get to work. Flower ID notes will be posted this afternoon.
It's now "this afternoon" and I'll add info about the photos and hope that doesn't scramble their positions, which seems to happen often. Feel free to e-mail me for further information or just to comment. The big white lily is Washington Lily, found at the roadsides in many places in Plumas County (and elsewhere) usually above 4,000'. The cluster of Meadow Foam was taken on Table Mountain, around 1500', just outside Oroville, CA. The Leopard Lily is in many places in Plumas County, but is found down to around 2,500'. This cluster was photographed near the Greenville Y, about 10 miles west of Quincy. The gum plant is one of my favorites, a composite, found on roadsides all along Hwys 89 and 70 in Plumas County. It attracts many types of insects. I'm not sure which ones are pollinators. I photographed the Calypso Orchid near Leggett, California, where the locals call it Redwood Orchid. The daisy could be anywhere in the UA, but this one was photographed in a school yard in Quincy. The photos of me were taken in Plumas County, the one with Corn Lily near Snake Lake, just west of
Quincy, the one with Larkspur down in the Feather River Canyon, and the one with my son and the apple press by Indian Falls at our annual Apple Harvest. Technical names and other botanical/geographic information supplied on request.

No comments:

Post a Comment