#star chickweed

It’s been a brutal spring weekend in NC-WV: cold, freezing drizzle, alternating waves of sun and low overcast, etc.  The highly variable weather pattern this time of year drives me crazy.  Anyway, nature reminds me that better days are ahead - evidence of life emerging from the barren woods grows stronger by the day. From Toms Run Preserve on Saturday: water droplets cling to a tough little rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides); yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) pushes up through the leaf litter; and giant chickweed (Stellaria pubera) produces a bouquet of white starbursts, which will soon light up the forest floor like pockets of spring snow.