If you ask me when Spring starts, I have rather a lot of answers. Spring is my favorite season, and I like to celebrate its beginning as many times as possible! March 1, on the assumption that Spring is approximately March-MayMarch 8, when we spring forward our clocksMarch 19, vernal equinox when the length of day and night are (approximately) equal
But ultimately, Spring arrives for me when I find the first wildflowers in bloom. And since I have now found three species blooming in Framingham MA, it is absolutely Spring!
March 4, Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) one of the earliest (non-native) mustards:
Again March 4th I also saw Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) peeking open:
It is the first native spring wildflower to bloom. One was even leafing out, to my surprise:
And today, March 10, there was another (non-native) vernal mustard, Common Whitlowgrass (Draba verna), growing in the cracks of an abandoned parking lot!
Such tiny rays of sunshine <3 They're so …