By Vladimir Brezina
Contrary to the Groundhog’s prediction (he is right only 39% of the time, after all), the season seem to be well advanced into Spring.
In New York City, temperatures are reaching into the 60s or even 70s each day. Crocuses and daffodils are out, two or three weeks earlier than usual. Even some fruit trees are beginning to flower in Central Park. Nobody expects Winter to come back any more.
Yesterday, I inspected “our” patch of land in the park. Since late November, it’s been lying dormant under a thick blanket of dry leaves. We have visited it dutifully but without much expectation. But now, all of a sudden, it has sprung to life!
Among the dry leaves, pushing up vigorously, is an abundant crop of blue, purple, and white crocuses
with dazzling yellow-orange centers.
Wait, was that a bee?!
Yes, indeed! The first bee since that memorable Indian Summer day last October.
Looking closer, I see other insects too. Some are sitting, to my eye still a bit lethargically, on last year’s detritus…
… but others are busy inspecting the crocus flowers
and drinking their nectar.
I watch as the bees, covered in yellow pollen and carrying large pollen clumps under their bodies, flit from flower to flower…
A thousand little signs tell me that Spring has Sprung!
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Even Riverside Park, always a little later than Central, is full of daffodils, crocuses, snowdrops & buds … hard to believe that we sometimes have serious snowstorms in April.
LikeLike
Yes, I remember a serious blizzard, with whiteout conditions in Central Park, at the very end of March one year—it must have been this one in 1997.
LikeLike
This might be the peak of beauty all year for your little patch of land.
LikeLike
It probably is, unfortunately. Last year, when we started looking at it systematically in September, there was plenty of plant and insect life, but of a much more modest kind…
LikeLike
purple and yellow the 1st colors of spring
LikeLike
In NYC, it’s first white (snowdrops), then lots of yellow with blue, purple, and white mixed in (crocuses, daffodils, Forsythia), and after that, everything goes (beginning with all shades of multicolored tulips). And somewhere in there are magnolias and fruit trees…
LikeLike
My hat is off to one New Yorker that remembers to pause and see the beauty. Enjoy the upcoming season
LikeLike
Thanks—sure will!
LikeLike
Oh, I love these photos! Crocus are so important as a first source of nectar for bees in the spring; I always have some blooming here along with other early nectar sources. Early daffodils are starting to open up; let’s face it, spring is early this year by about 3-4 weeks. Enjoy :-)
LikeLike
In past years, I never noticed the crocuses especially; I always saw the daffodils. But looked at closely, crocuses turn out to be much more interesting!
LikeLike
Spectacular! I am looking forward to a visit to Conservatory Garden soon…
LikeLike
The tulip show is coming up at some point soon (especially if everything is weeks early this year), but to my mind the Conservatory Garden is much more spectacular still when the crab-apple alley is in blossom…
LikeLike
Wonderful photos, Vlad. The bottom two of the pollen-coated bees are fabulous. xxx
LikeLike
Thanks, Ailsa! The bees were pretty hard to photograph, actually—so active flitting from flower to flower, they just wouldn’t stay still….
LikeLike
Pingback: Sea Hare Ink Makes Lobsters See Purple | Wind Against Current
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Our 2012 in Pictures | Wind Against Current
Pingback: Details | Wind Against Current