March 29 was a wonderful. The day I woke up to discover there might actually be a Spring on the horizon. In the morning, I hiked on the Keddie Cascade Trail with my son Greg. It was cold and foggy, but I did spot one yellow bud of Shelton's Violet, Inspired by that, I decided to take a drive around American Valley that afternoon to some of my favorite roadside stops that usually receive more sun. I scored many photos of flowers and bugs, and mentioned here that I had a week or more of material for future blogs. I've barely got started on that process. But, this morning I hike a short way up the FRC nature trail and found many Shelton's Violets blooming (above and below). It's now time for me to review my yellow violets - none of which are violet. At least two of our local species have fan-like leaves. Viola sheltoni is often called Fan Violet in field guides, but the other local species with fan-like leaves, Viola lobata, is called Wood Violet in those same guides. To make matters even more confusing, two other species of yellow violets that should arrive in a few weeks have oval-shaped leaves with few or no lobes. They are Viola purpurea and Viola pinetorum. So I'll need a refresher on how to tell them apart. Still later in Spring and early Summer are the white McCloskey's Violet and the violet Western Dog Violet. The challenge now is to just take in the beauty of these early Spring wildflowers without getting too wrapped up in taxonomic hair-splitting.
Hopefully I'll get back to sharing my finding from that wonderful March 29 afternoon - especially the bugs that are awakening.
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