Well, technically, I guess it’s actually been spring for a while by the calendar. I date it from the first appearance of baby ducks on our lake. We have a great weedy patch by the dock that serves as duck habitat (that’s my current excuse for not cleaning it up, anyway!). I looked out this afternoon to see this little family.
The papa is very protective, and took his little brood and mom away as soon as I sneaked close enough for a picture. Earlier I saw him giving another male Mallard hell and driving him away from the family homestead. They are so funny when they are learning to swim. Once they start getting a little more independent, they race back and forth, but they don’t have very good directional or speed control for the first few weeks, so they go off in all sorts of comical directions.
And I found a blooming lavender plant on the way back up from the lake, where I really don’t remember anybody planting it. I guess it’s a volunteer*. You can see that nobody on this particular “farm” has been out weeding yet.
Here is a close up picture of those purply flowers from yesterday. Anybody from the Pacific Northwest know what these are? They grow wild, a lot of people think they are weeds, but they have a lovely fragrance, and most importantly, I don’t have to plant them. They just come up; more volunteers. One friend called them bluebells; anybody know for sure?**
*John confessed to moving this from someplace else; so it’s not a volunteer after all. I’m apparently just clueless about what goes on in our yard.
**They are hyacinthoides, as per Laurie from Etherknitter, not only a doctor and a knitter, but a gardening whiz.
I think they are Wild Hyacinth – see http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H94.htm
Li
I’m a genus and species sort of gal. It looks like Hyacinthoides hispanica. It does carry the common name of bluebell, but so does campanula and mertensia. They naturalize (means goes everywhere), is an heirloom bulb (circa 1600s). I do horticulture as passionately as I do yarn.
http://www.paghat.com/scillahispanica.html
(it used to be classified as a scilla, which was incorrect).
wow, now i know what they are called. They grow on Vancouver island to and I grew up calling them blubells. i love the scent as well
Aww… Such cute little ducklings! I love Spring. I was just out in Oregon for business and there were tons of sheep and little lambs everywhere! A few colts too… Thanks for the pretty flower pics!
those ducklings are wonderful! (I now need to add “lake with ducks and ducklings” to my list of “must-haves” for a future house.)