5/01/11 IT'S SPRING, DESPITE THE WEATHER

MARSH MARIGOLD

RED ELDERBERRY BUSH...

... EMERGING LEAVES AND BULBS OF RED ELDERBERRY

GRAPE HYACYNTH

HYACYNTH

Sunday, 7:30 AM.  37 degrees, wind S, moderate with stronger gusts.  The channel looks like it will get wicked. The sky is overcast with high, dark clouds and the barometer predicts rain.
    Despite the cold weather, more plants are blooming and leafing out, including  Hyacinths and minor bulbs. The red maples are in full bloom now and the marsh marigolds (Caltha palustris) are blooming in the roadside ditches.
    The red elderberry (Sambucus pubens), in the back yard is about to bloom and has been hesitatingly leafing out for a week or more.  It is about the earliest native plant to leaf out, in my observation.  It has feather-compound leaves, and clusters of yellow-white flowers followed by red berries. Other identifying characteristics are its rather ill-scented flowers, and a brown branch pith. The fruit was considered edible by many Indian tribes, and  the bark used as an emetic, although considered dangerous. Although it is a far northern plant it is not really abundant in the landscape.  It is quite a contrast to the common elderberry, Sambucus canadensis, which almost everyone is familiar with, that has very large, flat white flower clusters and purple berries.
    I don’t know about you, but I have seen enough (and that only in passing) of the British royal wedding.  I’m glad we got rid of all that expensive silliness during the Revolution, our media superstars being difficult enough to put up with.