Mixed signals

Spring is just a date on the calendar north of the 45th parallel. While it might officially start in March, we still get substantial snows through April and hard frosts well into May some years. So the ephemerals have to be especially hardy. This is a trout lily leaf on April 21 a couple years ago. You can see some moss sporophytes in there, too. It’s true the snow doesn’t last this time of year, but the ground really doesn’t warm up enough for agriculture until well into May. It’s a tough hang.

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Technical Details

Lumix G9 on the beanbag probably
Legacy 90mm f/2 Olympus macro - manual focus and stop down
1/160 sec, ISO 200, probably f/4 or 5.6

Lr for the usual adjustments for luminosity values which were high and to the right because of the backlighting and the snow. Probably a crop and the usual texture, clarity and sharpening to bring up detail. I probably also adjusted for white balance because it was a bit tricky.

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Kris, sometimes it’s just a date even here in NC. It was 92 for the high Thursday, and Sunday morning it was around 45 I think. I said “it sure was a short summer” to a lady as we were walking from the parking lot to the church. It is still cold here today, for us. I know your area would probably appreciate a day like today.

This is sure a nice find. It is amazing how the new growth deals with the on again off again springtime weather. Looks like you got down really low in the snow to get this shot.

Quite cool, Kris. It was 37 degrees here this morning. We haven’t been able to sit out in the back yard any morning yet this year because of the cold. Love this little leaf pushing through the cold.

April is indeed the cruelest month. I forget which poet said that, but it’s true. We also have a saying that summer is the nicest month of the year in Northern Wisconsin.

But now the trout lily is blooming, and so is the bloodroot, cut-leaf toothwort, hepatica and spring beauty. No photos yet this year because it was practically a monsoon yesterday and we lost power for a few hours. Today probably rain. But we need that since the fire danger is so very high right now.