As we draw closer to the end of May, I’m starting to see the final round of spring flowers/plants start to lose their brilliant hues. The sun’s steady heat is setting up for the more robust specimens. As much as I like summer flowers, there is an understated beauty in the spring variety.
There’s really nothing like the feeling of looking out of the window on a sunny spring morning when you’re still mentally (and physiologically) in that winter biorhythm. I think the feeling of that contrast is what makes the sight of brighter mornings so impactful.
And then there’s the fields of wildflowers. In the midmornings, when the sun is just about to top out over the sky, you can see hundreds of thousands of wildflowers just like this. The amazing thing is, when you look at them closely, they have all of their petals wide open and are facing the sun. They are literally miniature solar units – a whole sea of them. As much as I would love to sit in the middle of it all, I’d feel bad if I unwittingly crushed even one.
Usually the last leaves to go and turn green are the ones from the Japanese maple and the Eastern redbushes. It’s poignant watching them trying to hold on to their colors. Their mighty struggle reminds me of myself in many ways. Change will have to drag me kicking and screaming if it wants me to move towards something lol.
The spring flowers though, I wish it could stay like that for the entire season. It absolutely blows my mind how, during the winter, this holly-bush-lined walkway path looks so barren and then in spring it just explodes in these brilliant colorways. Don’t get me wrong – I do love the tulips and lilies – but I’m sure they could grow alongside these flowers. It would just make for the most colorful bloom in the garden. It would be paradise.
But speaking tangentially of paradise though, there is all types of different life teeming about this garden. One minute, you’re basking in the sheer security and visual beauty of such a place, the next minute you realize you’re not alone…
These serpents aren’t dangerous – they have round eyes and look like they’re smiling. As a handy rule, if a snake has round pupils, they are fine. But if the pupils are vertical slits (look at an alligator or crocodile’s eyes) there is an extremely high risk the snake carries venom. But I’m not a believer in that there are bites that are harmless. For you parents and pet owners, even a harmless snake can carry bacteria in their bites. It’s always better to just shoo the snakes away from your yard but also let the snake know they are welcome when no one is out there. They fulfill a very important ecological role in keeping the mice/rat population in harmony with the rest of nature.
As an aside, I didn’t realize that snakes have a groove in their jaw to allow their tongues an easy way to sense the world around them. Seeing this strange little evolutionary adaptation up close made the encounter, like, 5 trillion times weirder for me.
“Michael, if you want to know the secret of life, drink the beer in the bottle that grows from the Tree Of Knowledge. Do it!…..Dewwww Itttt!!!”
– The Serpent (probably 😄)
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