The Daily Bucket: Spring comes slowly but surely in the PNW.

Bellingham WA

Pacific Northwest

After an unseasonably warm spell in early January many plants “thought” spring was just around the corner and decided to start budding. Boy were they surprised in mid January (as were we) when the temperatures plummeted to single digits and a stiff northly gale blew for several days. Many local small creeks and streams totally froze over and others almost did like the one below.

The frigidity showed itself as well on Bellingham Bay with a nice spray of Sea Smoke. And in the background, the Canadian Cascade Range jutting up crystal clear, all coated in white.

 Brrr!  Not only did the early starters stop budding and greening, existing leaves were burned and many plants all over town died. The cold temps and the high winds were a double whammy for anything green or that hoped to become so.

This winter might or might not have been our coldest weather but in my 54 years here it did the most damage to plants. This damage was probably due to the frigid temperature along with the intense winds. We survived it well enough, fortunately there was very little snow so we could get to the store and anywhere else we needed to go but mostly we hunkered down until it blew over. Which it did. 

Then came the warmer temps with heavy rains in the lowlands and snow melt in the mountains that pushed the Nooksack River to flood level. While we appreciated the warmer temps, the resultant torrent tearing down the Nooksack river basin overflowed in some places and washed out and under cut many mature trees along the banks.

Here are some photos that show what too much rapid melt off coupled with rain does to the river banks. The next two photos are from along one of my favorite river walks at Horseshoe Bend of the Nooksack.

These riparian trees are critical for cooling the river waters for salmon, especially with the warming summers that are upon us. Their loss will be felt by the fish his summer. Our various volunteer conservation organizations have been planting more riparian trees for shade for years now. Although we plant thousands per year the critical years are now and it will take many years for new ones to mature into their canopies and provide effective cooling shade for the fish. 

The high water mark was sort of a boon to some of our ducklings. Here is one from a group of Barrow’s Golden eye that found their way up river about 40 miles and into the mountains to forage in an over-flowing Kendall Creek. This creek is typically just a small tributary that flows into the Nooksack just about 100 yards away. At this point it was about 20 feet across while it is usually five to 10 feet.

Nonetheless, spring did arrive and not just on the calendar. Now is time to try to put the pieces back together, trim the dead leaves and branches, replant those that have died and get ready for summer.

Also, now is the time to take a walk in the woods to enjoy nature’s harbingers of spring. Along with the Trillium shown at the top, a few other plants are reliable indicators that spring is here for good.

Several of the regular signs that spring has sprung at last are shown below:

• One of first of the season is Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), wherever even a small pool of seepage or a left over puddle appears, 
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The lovely Pacific Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra formosa) make a wonderful ground cover in the forest or in one’s yard,

Another perennial is Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica) which is to be avoided, unless you like to make tea out of them.  Apparently it is a rich source of antioxidants and offers other health related benefits.

Fern fiddle heads, ( en.wikipedia.org/... also begin popping up about now. These too are edible and some are found in cuisines around the world.  

I’ll end this Bucket as I opened it with one of my very favorite flowers, the Trillium.

So Spring has arrived again after a sluggish start. Our world is green again and we even had some sunny skies. I can’t wait until after the 4th of July when summer arrives in the PNW. It too is slow around here.

What’s newly green in your part of the world? 

And, a question I often ask about this time of year — What did you do on EARTH DAY, 2024? Please share with us your activities in support of Mother Earth.