Dutchman's Breeches
(Dicentra cucullaria)
One can barely see them at reduced photo size, but draped along the stem and flowers in the second image are the season's first strands of spider silk. Since the north woods are still cool and wet, perhaps the spiders wore coats and gloves to do their work and sheltered under leaf umbrellas. I applaud their determination to get out there and spin in such brisk weather conditions. In a week or so, Dicentra cucullaria will carpet the woods, but these were blooming in a protected alcove against a rock face warmed by the sun.
The feathery gray-green foliage and nodding white flowers like upside-down pantaloons were endearing, and the filaments of spider silk held my attention for some time with their shimmer and floating windblown motion. Larger and more lavish clumps were in bloom several feet up on the rock face, and I briefly considered either climbing up or dangling from the top to capture them with the camera, but decided to avoid such assuredly risky pursuits and shoot from right where I was standing. No fancy footwork or rock climbing this year...
The woods are slow to leaf out and bloom this time around, but these images were perfect for a northern Beltane or May Day week methinks. They need no description from this doddering photographer and occasional wordsmith, although I have done just that this morning and tried to describe them.
3 comments:
What beautiful captures of the wildflowers. Isn't nature grand to give us early spring flowers, after the grey and cold time. Enjoy what you see, and continue choosing to be safe on your adventures. I do look forward to your daily posts. I've kind of stepped back from 1 of my 4 blogs for a while...and sometimes just post every other day.
Amazing! Thank you for finding and sharing them in your photos.
I like finding the little things in spring that get overlooked. I should do a post about my May apples where I had to get down and dirty to take a photo! The common names are always more fun.
Post a Comment