One of the most fleeting of spring's ephemeral wildflowers is bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, native to the eastern US and Canada. If you catch them early you will find each delicate stalk furled within its leaf. They are exquisite.
This patch is growing in the woods of Prospect Park, near another that had been stomped by humans or the off-leash dogs that sometimes race through.
(I have become a student of people-with-dogs during the pandemic. The combination tells very interesting stories, most of which the humans are unaware of - the dogs, on the other hand, know. The few folks who let their dogs off-leash in these woods do a lot of ostentatious shouting. And most of the dogs seem frantic. Both human and dog require a very special sort of attention, that neither is getting, apparently. Does one need qualifications to be a dog shrink? Perhaps I can just set up a booth on the sidewalk. But for the migrating birds like woodcock that sometimes rest on this urban forest floor, my brains simmers and steams.)
Plant bloodroot if you can, and then get on all fours to enjoy the flowers in early spring. They like the shade of deciduous trees, because, like us, they enjoy spring sunlight.
_________________
I was wondering whether any one comments on blogs any longer, but I gather they still do. I feel, to some extent that SM has deteriorated the audience for blogs and has removed the impulse to capture reader/viewers in favor of hearts and thumbs. BUT! You've inspired me to post about my old garden in Brooklyn which I looked at on Maps after sussing out that 18th St location.
ReplyDeleteI walked a black lab for 13-almost 14 years. We would both see something or someone (or another dog) and look at each other. Communicating as to what we should do. would he protect me. Would I protect him. Could we visit? He was my first dog. It was quite a relationship.
ReplyDelete