Snowdrops

This month's column is "The surprise of snowdrops in spring."   I'm pleased that the Danvers Herald editor added a lovely photo of snowdrops.

Skunk cabbage

Skunk cabbage is an unmistakable sign of spring!   This year skunk cabbage appeared early, thanks to the unseasonably warm days in March.  I walked around a pond in western Mass on March 21 and took these photos  -- so reminiscent of the skunk cabbage my mother liked to show me along the streams and ponds in Danvers when I was young.

What bizarre shapes! Like sculpture...

Cabbage-like leaves

I have always enjoyed the sight of skunk cabbage and the faint skunky smell.  I welcome this sign of spring. 

For this month's column, I have written about another plant that appears very early in spring: snowdrops.