Bleeding hearts are in bloom now in our ornamental garden. Though I usually photograph wildflowers, these showy cultivars couldn’t help but draw my lens!
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/1000″ exposure
The ostrich ferns are unfurling along Fargo Brook. It wasn’t until I processed this image that I realized it suggested the letter “F”
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro, IOS 1250, f/4, 1/500″ exposure
We have quite a number of wild apple trees in our front field and down in the back yard along Fargo Brook. My guess is that, over the years, deer have propagated the trees by muching apples from one and depsoitig the seeds elsewhere. We’ve pruned a few of these trees, and they provide us with apples for cider and apple sauce. This looks to be another good year if we can avoid a late frost.
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/4, 1/2500″ exposure.
I couldn’t resist the juxtaposition of these lovely bloodroot blossoms and the rusted tin can that we came across the other day while walking along the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail in St. Johnsbury.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 81mm, ISO 800, f/9, 1/250″ exposure.
Wild oats (a.k.a. sessile bellwort) are in bloom. These diminutive plants grow in colonies. They spread asexually by means of long underground stolons (think rhizomes) with most plants in a colony not flowering. There’s a prodigious colony up past the beaver pond along the old Mailbox trail.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro, ISO 1250, f/8, 1/125″ exposure.
Red trillium (also known as wake-robin) is blooming along Taft Road. This wine colored three-petaled flower is a real eye-catcher against the forest floor this time of year.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro, ISO 1250, f/10, 1/160″ exposure
Amelanchier (also known as serviceberry, shadbush, and shadblow, among others) is a flowering shrub that blooms this time of year. Its white blossoms are quite visible in the woods before the rest of the neighboring trees have leafed out.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro lens, ISO 1250, f/2.8, 1/4000″ exposure.
Virginia Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) are quite common in our woods this time of year and are one of the very earliest spring ephemeral wildflowers. We’re getting into peak season for them now, and the woods around here are carpeted in places smell sweetly of so many little flowers. This particular blossom popped out to me as it had the brightest and most vibrant pink of any that I saw on my walk yesterday.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/320″ exposure
While bushwacking up above the Camel’s Hump Nordic trails today, I came across several trout lilies in full bloom. Kneeling down to get a good shot, I noticed this congregation of false blister beetles feeding on the pollen and mating. According to Mary Holland’s excellent “Naturally Curious Day By Day”, these beetles are commonly found on trout lilies (the lilies being one of the early spring ephemerals) where they eat and do their business pretty much at the same time.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro, ISO 800, f/11, 1/160″ exposure.
