Late arrival

After a long cold winter with abundant snow and ice, spring is welcome in the backyard wildlife habitat.  Wildflowers and understory trees bring on the color before the oaks come into leaf.


Bloodroot is one of the earliest wildflowers, but they made a poor showing this spring.  The mayapples did not disappoint.  These are only a few days old.

The golden ragwort is a cheerful spring wildflower.  Tiny yellow aster-ish flowers are pollinated by tiny insects.  Like most early wildflowers, the golden ragwort is short, which makes the oak tree in the background look even taller.

Virginia bluebells along the path to Papa's garden make a good companion to the golden ragwort.  Blue and yellow make a lovely combination.

And the winter flowers of the hellebores near the porch are still blooming in early spring.  

Shelly patrols the backyard every day but the garden does not look worse for wear.  The red buckeye tree, gold and green hostas, and the white and pink azaleas make a colorful spring.

The backyard is a dog's dream.

Maybe it would be a bird's dream too, if it weren't for the dog.

Early days in a late spring in the backyard wildlife habitat.