Dwelling Among the Beauties and Mysteries of the Earth

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.   Rachael Carson

I love Rachael Carson's comment.  Nothing seems more welcome to me than those very first glimpses of flowers pushing their way through last autumn's leaves. Uplifting and comforting, Nature shows us the infinite greatness of the Creation and the value of all life. When we learn to appreciate this, humans seem very small in this grand order and overwhelmingly destructive.

 The spring anemones 

This is a rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) whose name is from the Greek word for "wind" because the flower was believed to bloom when the wind blows.  It was used by the herbalists for everything from headaches to leprosy. The anemones are members of the Buttercup family, and worldwide there are some 85 species with about 25 found in North America.

Jack Sanders in his book "The Secrets of Wildflowers" says that the Romans would pick the first anemone of spring and say a prayer that it would protect them from fevers while the Crusaders are said to have returned with the poppy anemone, a red and white flower that was believed to have sprung from Christ's blood.  Some even believed that this anemone was the "lilies of  field" mentioned in the Bible.  Egyptians, on the other hand, believed them to be a symbol of sickness, and the Chinese called them the flowers of death.

The flowers below are light pink, which according to some sources, occurs if the blooms are among the earliest. The leaves of Dutchman's Breeches may be seen in the lower right hand corner while the heart-shaped leaves of wild ginger are at the bottom center.

To determine the difference between the rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) and the false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum), you have to count the number of sepals.  Even though they look like petals, in this case they are actually sepals that are neither green nor leaf-life. 


This is a true rue anemone because there are more than five of these white sepals.

Even though the leaves are very similar in shape, this is a false rue anemone because there are only five of the white sepals. Both plants are members of the buttercup family.

This plant is a wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia).  It also has five sepals like the false rue anemone but its leaves are very different.  The leaflets are divided into three to five parts.

Jack Sanders says in the earlier mentioned title that the anemones should be established in a garden through the use of seeds collected in the spring. Anemone seeds should be planted in the spring and rue anemone in the fall.

 The Hepaticas 

Also in the buttercup family, these delicate flowers are among the very earliest of the spring flowers.  Their leaves are green throughout the winter and give the plant a head start on blooming.  The flowers appear so early that there are few agents for pollination, and it can self-fertilize. The hepatica's leaves and stems have tiny hairs. 

The plants have either pointed (Hepatica acutiloba) or round (Hepatica americana) leaves. The pointed ones are called "sharp-lobed". The sharp-lobed leaf can be seen in the bottom left corner of the picture.  Because its leaves are lobe-shaped, it is associated with the liver and was used by some Native Americans to treat liver disorders.  Some of its common names are liverleaf, liverwort, and squirrel cup. It can be white, pink or purple in the color of the bloom.

After a long, cold winter, Ralph Waldo Emerson probably said it best

 when he wrote:  

                      Earth laughs in flowers.

An Early Spring on the Berea College Campus

I spent the last two weeks of March in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky during a record breaking warm period with many temperatures in the mid eighties.  Spring erupted and faded into an early summer-like landscape by the time that I left.  During my travels with my camera, I stopped by the town of Berea several times and shot pictures on the college campus.

One thing quickly became very evident, and that was the  presence of many, many redbuds on campus. 

 I've been told by a botanist that C.canadensis, the Eastern Redbud that is a native of the eastern United States, has blooms lighter in color than the C. chinensis, the Chinese Redbud. 

  

The dogwoods against the redbud make a beautiful contrast.  Travelling home along I 64 east, I marveled at the beauty of these two trees and the dark green of the cedars that grew among them.

 I came across this cozy area with an inviting bench.

This is a close-up of the flower bed in the foreground of the previous picture.  

It's an unusual but striking combination of colors.

The ground in the shady areas under the trees looks like a light snow of
spring beauties.

I stopped at a building called the Appalachian Center to check out the displays.  Inside, I found a display of student artwork memorializing some of  the mountains in Appalachia that have been lost to mountain top removal for coal mining. It's so encouraging to see youthful activism for the environment.

These are some of the colorful tree blooms on March 15.

And another shot of the campus trees just a few days later on March 21.

No campus is complete with a few squirrels and this one has plenty.

On an earlier campus stroll on March 15, I saw this little building which I learned is sometimes called the cat house. Many college campuses have a problem with unwanted cats being dropped on the grounds, and Berea is no exception.  The cats live in this little structure, are adopted by locals when  possible, and are cared for by money supplied by the faculty and staff.

 

More flowers on campus

Looking across the street through Bradford Pear blossoms to College Square

 and the historic Boone Tavern.  This picture was taken on March 15, 2012. 

This is the hotel just six days later on March 21.  The eighty degree days 

have hastened the maturation of the leaves and the petals have
 fallen to the ground.

Across the street in front of the Boone Tavern, 

the Bradford Pear petals decorate the street.

An electric vehicle delivers pots of daffodils to be placed 

beside the shops of the crafters in College Square.  With 

the heat, these flowers only lasted about three days. 

A picture of some of the shops in the Square.

And one last peak at the flowers.

A Visit to Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

This was our destination, a place that I had wanted to visit since I first learned about it during a brief transfer to  Louisville, Kentucky back in 1978. The hike up and back was a little over three miles and took place on March 11, 2012, just when an early spring was making the buds break on the trees.

 The beauty of the rock formations in Kentucky never ceases to amaze me.

A close-up of this colorful area.

   

More colorful stone.

The dark colored portion of this rock may be iron.

Looking up into the arch as the golden glow of the afternoon sun lights up the surface.

Almost to the bridge with just these narrow steps left to climb.

Walking along the top of the bridge area.

We will hike along the ridge and over to this outcrop to look back at the bridge.

Looking back from the outcrop to the bridge.  What an amazing picture.

Zooming in to the bridge with my camera shows

 other people looking back at us.

Just a closer look. Shall we wave?

Colorful buds are breaking on the trees surrounded by the green of conifers.

It's all so early!!

Hiking down the other side, we came across this. I can see the suggestion

of both a large and small face of a creature.  Can you?

Here are more colorful and interesting rock formations.

This is Balanced Rock.

An amazing sight of not only the rock but all of the vegetation, 

even small trees, growing on it.

Again, some amazing rocks.

Now, to reach the parking lot, get into my Prius, and head back

 to my daughter's home.  What a wonderful day we have shared, 

certainly a memory to treasure.