The First Wildflower

The first really warm day of 2010 came upon us suddenly, last week. Temperatures soared into the 60s and low 70s. Tops were down on the convertible cars, families went for bike rides, and teens floated in rubber rafts on the lake outside town.

For most of April, we were teased with a sunny, clear day, that might hit 50°, only to be beaten back the next by a whiteout of frozen mix driven sideways by howling winds.

Despite the snowy violence, the daffodils on the front of our house popped, thanks to heat reflected off the walls. And when the snow in the backyard melted away from the garden beds, the crocuses appeared. Out in the fields, the first green blades of new grass began to thrust up through the mat of brown, dead stalks.

Walking the dogs through the field last Friday I saw the first wildflowers: spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata). That day I counted just a few, but over the weekend hundreds more appeared. It’s a remarkably predictable flower. My records indicate the earliest appearance, in our 10 years here, was April 10. In 2004 it was April 12; in 2008 it was April 13; and in 2007 it was tax day—April 15.

Soon to come are the yellowbells, woodland shooting stars, several varieties of phlox, and streamside bluebells.

On my errand list today is new fabric for the vegetable garden hoop tunnels, because around here we know there’s more snow in the offing—right up to the first week of June.

—Dan Spurr