I watch for these each spring in our back woods, and saw our first ones pop up two or three days ago. This morning, suddenly, there was a plethora. Didjaknow, just like the Aspen, their colony shares a single root? Mayapple is also called mandrake. It flowers in May, but its “apple” comes later. The fruit may be eaten in small quantities but only after it turns yellow, and only after removing the seeds. Linnaeus described this plant in 1753. See more at wildfoods.ca.
A tentative approach to an empty vegetable garden
Perhaps at their peak today. Blooms open about the same time as forsythia but they don’t last nearly as long. Rain, wind, or frost often decimate them overnight. For years we’ve called them northern magnolia (to distinguish from the more popular evergreen southern magnolia), but their correct name is probably saucer magnolia. They were 1993 gifts from David and Wena.
Ours are mostly quite small trees, overlooked and perhaps stunted by a preponderance of many tall oaks. But they stand out in the winter and early spring by holding onto most of last year’s now very light brown leaves.
Home to 50 years of Christmas Messiah concerts on Princess Anne Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia. And, from further away, the other side of the spire as seen from Chatham Manor across the Rappahannock River in Stafford County.
Hartwood Precinct ready to open at 6am, 3/3/2020: Robert Bady, Debbie Bittinger, Bob Jankovits, Judy Feather, Heather Smithson, Amy Gardner, Margery Schafer, Edwin Ridout. By closing time at 7pm, we’d checked in 898 of our 5,199 registered voters and by 7:15pm reported these results: Joe Biden 487, Bernie Sanders 195, Michael Bloomberg 111, Elizabeth Warren 69, and 34 votes divided among the remaining 10 names on the ballot.