February Warm Day Blooms

One of the advantages of keeping a blog like this is that I now have four years of data showing weather trends and bloom times of many wildflowers. While looking through the past four February posts, I noticed that there were almost no blooms, wildflower or domestic. While I noted some warm trends, most of the time it was MArch before I commented on the first Crocus or Spring Peepers. This year, I saw Crocus at my 3050 foot elavation home on February 23rd and the first Daffodils were today.

I heard the first Wood Frogs peeping on February 21st just across a field from my home. We have had two weeks of beautiful 60-70 degree days and a lot of rain. A lot of spring emerging flowers and animals are starting early, but I am afraid they are in for a surprize. Tonight it will be 28 degrees and the trend is cooler into the weekend
       

And I saw my first new wildflower of the year for my attempt to photograph and record every wildflower that I can in West Virginia. I had saw a Facebook post about American Hazelnut blooms, so I checked the ones near my home. And, they were there..... Tiny and very pretty. But, so small, it explains why I have overlooked them until now. So it makes 360 wildflowers I have found and photographed in West Virginia, and I probably have many to go....I hike many miles looking for something new, chase leads from many sources and do a lot of research to find these flowers. Most are native but many are not. But I record them if they are now a part of the landscape of West Virginia. 

# 360 - American Hazelnut
(male flowers in catkin)

# 360 -American Hazelnut
(female flower)

In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move. Henry Rollins