When I was growing up, I remember my mom and grandma always saying, “April showers bring May flowers”. But times are changing and April showers aren’t as reliable as they once were. We’ve gotten just 2.7 inches of rain this month in just three rain events, most of it all at once near the beginning of the month. Even so, nature has a way of persevering and adapting. Our woods and gardens are full of blooms big and small with promises of many more to come during the month of May.

Tomorrow (May 1st) marks Beltane (also known as May Day) – the half-way point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice – when we honor the “Bright Fire” and celebrate the return of the sun to warm the earth and re-activate the productivity of the land. This is a time of transition from the ascending energy of spring to the transformative energy of summer. In our yarden we see this transition beginning. The cool weather vegetables are still producing but slower, while the summer vegetables are beginning to grow and flower. The early spring wildflowers have melted away leaving seed pods and seeds to spread and grow and the summer flowers are just beginning to open or are showing promises of opening soon.

This is a good time to focus our own thoughts and energy into creating something. I am working on a series of art projects using objects and materials from our own yard, gardens and woods. An experiment of sorts in letting the energy and substance of this land guide my creativity. As it unfolds and manifests, I’ll share here. Until then, enjoy some photos of the transitioning flowers of early and late spring here at Pokeberry Pines.

The Columbine has bloomed prolifically this spring and is now forming seedpods which we hope will re-seed and spread all over the gardens. It’s an early bloomer and so fills the garden with color, shape, and food for the early hummingbirds and bees, then as it fades into the background, it allows other summer flowers to show off. The foamflower, Crimson clover, and Eastern bluestar all added to the texture of color of spring, while the delicate Fringe tree flowers shared a delicate, sweet scent to anyone close enough to take a whiff.

The spring phloxes have been beautiful this year – downy phlox, woodland phlox, summer phlox…Though the rabbits seemed to like one patch in particular, which they ate to the ground!

The late spring and early summer bloomers are beginning to show and shape the landscape in shades of yellow, red, white, and purple. Our first sundrops, coreopsis (tickseed), and blanketflower all bloomed this week.

I hope you enjoy the transition from spring to summer in your own space and place. Tell me what you are seeing, noticing, feeling as you transition from spring to summer. What creative inspiration are you finding along the way?