Mid Month Review

The month of April we see fast changes happening in the natural world, things emerge, bloom, and fall back in the blink of an eye (and then get covered in snow again like today). I'll admit, after a month passes it's hard for me to recall the sounds of water seeping through the soil, the crisp breeze skimming across the water, and the smell of the soil on the first warm day, so these posts will be happening more often! 

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April 2nd Barnes Preserve

A round of snow came through overnight, as the day progressed the sun came out and warmed up just enough to begin the melting. A large patch of coltsfoot started to open to the sun's warmth, you can also see its leaves for which the plant is named. Ever determined, the turtle took to its log welcoming the sun back and coaxing it to stay.

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April 11th Wooster Memorial Park

The recent heavy rains and warmer temperatures have alerted the forest to spring's arrival! At last we're seeing spring beauties and hepatica blooming, the trillium are stretching up from the ground, even the trout lily are cutting their way through the leaves. More details with each image. 

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April 12th Cuyahoga Valley National Park - Beaver Marsh Area

Arriving early at CVNP (we attended the volunteer orientation) we had an hour to reacquaint ourselves with one of our favorite areas, Beaver Marsh. Two years away and it still felt like a homecoming. Lots of blooms happening on the day we were there (see images for id) and an all around lovely day at 70*.

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April 16th Barnes Preserve

The cold winds and snow were back making this a very quick walk. Although it was cold this day, the plants have been taking full advantage of the few previous days which were much, much warmer. The cutleaf toothwort is starting to arrive and bud and looking along the trail you can see everything turning a shade of green!