Outdoors at Brookside – early March 2016

After walking through the conservatories at Brookside Gardens, I walked on the boardwalk toward the Brookside Nature Center to see if the skunk cabbage had appeared. It had not but I did see a very weathered stump and the bald cypress knees were more obvious than they are in the summer when foliage hides some of them.

There were crocuses beginning to bloom. Do you see the bee in the upper left? The day was not too cold for the bees to be enjoying the few flowers that were blooming.

Back into the main part of Brookside Gardens – I noticed bulbs beginning to come up. Are these daffodils?

Snow drops were already blooming.

The seed pods from last summer at the very tops of the crepe myrtles in the rose garden were almost glowing in the bright sun against a very blue sky.

There were other bulbs blooming as I started back along the path between the visitor center and the conservatory.

And then the witch hazels in bloom. They are the earliest tree in our area to actually bloom. Some of them don’t jettison their leaves from last season before the spring blooms emerge!