Winter has been very reluctant to depart this year, and just two days ago we had several inches of snow. Though my vegetable garden is still under a heavy white blanket, parts of the lawn are clear (until the next snow). In the woods, the retreating snows have exposed surfaces covered with glorious greens: the bases of tree trunks festooned with mosses...
and rocks scattered across the forest floor, rising from the snow as though high mountain peaks above clouds.
Rotting stumps display a verdant landscape of moss and lichen and small shelf mushrooms
and there are beautiful frothy mosses on an exposed bank.
Small vernal pools have begun to appear, and in the midst of graying brown leaves, some fallen pine needles, or more brilliantly, fern fronds that have amazingly stayed fresh and green through the winter. They greet us with the promise of new growth and awakening life.
That's what I love about moss (vs. grass), it is green the minute the snow disappears. And the ferns that make it though the cold and all the weight of the snow, are always such a delightful surprise. I can just hear the trickle, trickle of water in that last photo.
ReplyDeletewithout my glasses these look like arial shots of a sea coast - really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMs Wis, I agree with you on the delight of seeing the ferns. Even though I know they will appear fresh and bright, it's continues to be a surprise.
ReplyDeleterappel, thanks, it's nice to envisage snow as frothy sea.
beautiful green patches...so late am I to review your posting...now we have much more green, more every day. Hurray!
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