Waiting on Spring...

"February Evening, Mammatus Clouds"

photograph - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view) 

 

I'm no different than the next person...I'm being tricked by the nice little breaks in the winter weather here and getting somewhat of a case of spring fever.  Not that I want to give up my studio time yet; I still have too much to do!  

 

But late in the afternoon yesterday, Georgie came over to the studio to tell me that I'd better get my face peeled off of the monitor and look outside!  It was pretty cool and a real surprise - mammatus clouds in mid February!  That's weird...ya cool too, but not something you'd expect to see!  She caught me just in time too because I only had a couple minutes to get some photographs of the scene before the light was lost to the early evening. The view is right outside the kitchen looking east.

 

Today is a nice day as well, but the snow, ice and wind is supposed to pick up tonight making tomorrow (Thursday) somewhat unpleasant again; the birthing process for spring can be agonizingly long!

 

"False Gromwell and Prairie Phlox"

(Onosmodium molle and Phlox pilosa)

color pencil drawing - © Bruce A. Morrison

(click on image for a larger view)

 

I have been forestalling the inevitable onslaught of spring fever by working on spring subject matter here; the spring landscape finished about a week and a half ago (last blog) and the small color pencil piece seen above.  

 

Over the past couple years or more I've been working on artwork of various prairie forbs (wildflowers) found in our native pasture here.  The "False Gromwell and Prairie Phlox" is the latest color pencil drawing, just finished this week.  These are both fun plants - the False Gromwell is less showy from a distance but quite a "looker" up close...the Bumble Bees love this plant; I'd say an early summer favorite of theirs!  It has some "nicknames" like most wildflowers, one that fits it real well is "marble seed".  It has a small roundish seed that is creamy white when matured, and is as hard as a marble.  A weird charachteristic is - after a rain, the plant can smell like a wet dog or mule!  (All's normal again once it dries out thank goodness!)  You can't tell much from this drawing, but this plant's "structure" is quite beautiful, pretty even when not in bloom.

 

The Prairie Phlox (some call it "Downy Phlox") is another native plant here I've been doing my best to help proliferate.  It is quite showy from a distance and up close...the issue around here seems to be that the deer and the rabbits love to eat it as soon as it starts blooming...ugh!  I do my best to dissuade them, but its not easy.  Skippers seem to like the phlox about as much as the Bumble Bees do.  These are both early summer bloomers, out before the prairie really goes crazy with color, but once they are out - its like the gate has been swung open for the race to begin, a fun time on the tallgrass prairie!

 

Think Spring, but don't be too impatient!

 

 

 

 

 

Count Down 1!!!

Prairie plants composite from the Pasture

here at Prairie Hill Farm in 2009

Yesterday afternoon, as I was gazing out the living room window in awe at the deep snow still caressing the acreage, Georgie mentioned to me that daylight savings time starts this weekend. That is just amazing to me, but I'm seemingly getting used to everything surprising me this year. How can it be?! Well, get used to it Bruce...that's the way it is!

Happily though, these changes are most welcome! Our first American Robins of the year were in the yard two days ago! The past couple days have had about three dozen Red-winged Blackbirds in the yard as well...this all means things "are" changing for the good!

Even though we've not seen 40 degrees here at Prairie Hill Farm Studio since late November, it has changed from snowing to raining! Messy - yes, but a step in the right direction! This morning we still have maybe a third or a quarter of the 65 inches of snow that has covered us since December, but I can now "see" the daily progress the rain is making...our hillside driveway is now clear!

Last year the pasture here was amazing...this memory has sustained us all winter long. I put together a small composite for this blog celebrating the spring and summer to come. We are now a week and a half from the vernal equinox, but spring has really begun; the small signs now tell us it is here - it will just get better!

Counting down (but already enjoying)!

Things Progressing at Prairie Hill Farm...

False Gromwell in bloom

Things are moving along here...both on the prairie remnant and in the studio. The grant work I've been immersed in since April is beginning to find closure...by the next week or week and a half, neighbors (all about a half mile away) will likely hear a big sigh of relief!

In the meantime life moves on...like on the prairie here and on the gravel road out front (more on that later).

False Gromwell is in peak bloom this week...it's a local native that most people have never had experience with, yet is one of my early favorites in the tallgrass prairie. It's also called Marble seed since the seed is extremely hard and "roundish". They're (the seeds) about BB size, so I'd hate to play marbles with them. I can't really attest to it but I've heard that wet plants tend to smell like a wet mule...I've never seen the deer bother them so maybe there's something to it?

False Gromwell with Bumble Bee

Although False Gromwell flowers are fairly non-descript, Humming birds and Bumble Bees love to pollinate these flowers. The plants themselves though are very handsome in shape and structure, and vary from a yellow green through almost gray hues.

"False Gromwell Slope" color pencil - private collection

One of my first experiences with this forb was on a newly state aquired prairie site back in the late nineties. This is now the south section of Waterman Prairie south of here. There was a slope I did a small color pencil study of and it was rampant with False Gromwell!

Wild Four O'Clock

Another small, and very common. wildflower that's in bloom on the pasture is the Wild Four O'clock...another overlooked native forb! A very colorful but small blossom...usually pops up wherever it wants, but the fence line seems to be a favored location.

Porcupine Grass

And the cool season native grasses are beginning to flower...Porcupine grass is a cool one...but there's also Western Wheat, June Grass, and a couple varieties of panicum or Panic Grass.

Right now you may have trouble getting to us, the road is completely torn up and the rains we "finally" managed to get are making things quite troublesome. If you have 4 wheel drive you'll probably be OK, but I would not recommend it until the county gets things straightened out. In the meantime if you need anything, just email or give us a call.

See you on the tallgrass!