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-May
- March 8, when we spring forward our clocks
- March 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 small it would probably take 9-12 of them to cover my thumbnail!
So while it may not be totally obvious yet, it is absolutely (finally) Spring!
(Note, these photos are from Framingham MA, not my land in New Hampshire)