Spring Time!

Flowers!

Speedwell - 3/31/23

These are my favorite little flowers! Apparently they are called some kind of Speedwell (Persian Speedwell, Bird's-Eye Speedwell, etc). They appear to be common wildflowers, and I often find them in sunny areas along the road/sidewalk and in peoples yards (but not planted) ^^

photo of tiny blue flowers up close, showing four blue petals with darker blue stripes.

i remember noticing patches of them near the sidewalk when I was in kindergarden so they always remind me of childhood spring ^^

Here is an online gallery of speedwell flowers!

photo of purple leaved stalks with tiny lavander flowers ontop each stalk

Purple Deadnettle - 3/31/23

Another wildflower! This one appears in the same locations as the little blue flowers (you can even see them in this picture), but they also occur in large patches in farm fields that dont have new crops yet, creating purple fields. their leaves range from warm purple to green

photo of a single stalk with greener leaves

I enjoy their tall spriggy nature, and the fact that the leaves can be very purple

It appears early in the season they are the purplest, and they gradually get greener. The second picture was taken on 4/16/23

Henbit Deadnettle - 4/16/23

leafy green stalks with little lavender flowers sticking out the top

Related to the deadnettle above! They similarlly form stalks, but have a pinker hue, especially notable with the deep pinkish red buds the flowers form before opening

Ground Ivy/Creeping Charlie - 4/16/23

leafy green stalks with droopy lavender flowers hanging down

i mostly see these in shady areas

Bugleweed - 4/16/23

throughout the year these plants mostly present as dark green to purple leafy greens low to the ground, but in spring they produce vibrant violet purple flower stalks!

brownish purple leafy stalks with vibrant purple flowers near the top

Wild Violets - 4/16/23

these are all over everyones grass now! they range from a deep blueish purple to near white lavender. i see them in both sunny and shady eareas. unfortuntely my camera has a hard time capuring blue leaning purples

a violet patch in dirt, showing round to pointed curved leaves

grass often covers their leaves, but here you can see a patch of them with their leaves fully visable ^^

Annual Bluegrass - 4/16/23

grass with spriggy droopy little white flower stalks

i just thought these little white grass flowers were pretty

Double Flowering Cherry Tree - 4/15/23

very fluffy pink decorative trees! petals create a pink blanket on the ground when they fall. technically known as Prunus 'Kanzan'

close up of a few cluster of blooms, showing their thin but densely layered pink petals

Dame's Rocket - 5/11/23

a wild flower i mainly see growing along side the road under trees or in ditches. they range from a warm medium purple to almost pure white, with a range of lavender inbetween

tall stalks of purple flowers. They all have four thin oval shaped petals

I found out the names of these flowers by reverse image searching one of my pictures with google (click the camera button in the search bar and upload a picture)

Four Leaf Clovers and more!

Not inherently spring, but thats when I start finding them ^^ photos are shown latest first in each section

The classic four leaf, considered a symbol of luck :3 their leaves tend to fall into two categories: equally sized, or one leaf smaller than the rest

huge four leave clover with floppy long leaves.

huge four leaf clover with firm round leaves

a four image college of two four leaf clovers. top two photos are of the front of each clover, bottom two photos are the back of both clovers, showing on each clover one leaf that sticks out further from the stem

four leaf clover in a small brown bottle

two four leaf clovers with heart shaped leaves

two four leaf clovers, each in a small bottle

Five Leaf

rarer than the four leaf, but not exceptionally hard to find. the relative size of their leaves vary more than four leaves, but a common arangement is four leaves roughly the same size with one small leaf

Six+ Leaf

six leafs are very rare! They tend to have four large leaves and two smaller leaves

a six leaf clover in a tiny glass bottle

I've only ever found two seven leaf clovers in my lifetime, one when I was very little, and one i think last year? I unfortunately dont have any pictures. Both of those clovers had a very thick stem that looked like two stems fused together

here is my most recent six leaf showing the fused stem appearance

Bunches of Four+ Leaves

a small paper cup filled with four leaf clovers

Last spring (2022) during lunch break I went outside and found a huge patch of four leaves! Sometimes you will find an area that has a much higher density of four leaves than average

a small patch of clovers with three four leaves and a five leaf circled in red

Heres an example of a patch with multiple four leaves within close proximity of one another ^^

many overlapping four leaf clovers in a pink shot glass

seven four leaf clovers in a shot glass, and one four leaf in a tiny bottle

Two and One leaf

two image collage. top image is a three leaf clover with two leaves removed, leaving one leaf and two nubs. bottom image is a one leaf clover showing the smooth transition from stem to single leaf

Just as clovers can have extra leaves, they can also naturally have less leaves (as in they grew that way, rather than being eaten by bugs)!

the first image shows the difference between a natural one leaf (bottom) and a three leaf that was damaged (top). Notice how the damaged three leaf has nubs on its stem where the other two leaves were, where as the one leaf has a smooth transition from stem to leaf

two one leaf clovers and a two leaf clover

Other Mutations

Other fun mutations! Many of these feature clovers with leaves that look like they are tring to split into separate leaves, but arent there yet. If you spot a mutated clover like these, theres likely to be more around (including four leaves ^^)

two pictures showing a clover from front and back. the clover has four leaves, two in normal position, one on an extended stem, and the other splitting off from the one on the extended stem.

two image collage. first image shows a five leaf clover that looks like a three leaf and two leaf overlapping. second image is the same clover from the back, showing a single stem that splits into two stems, one with three leaves and the other with two leaves.

a three leaf clover, one of its leaves with an extra leafy growth from its edge

a four leaf clover with the edges of two leaves partially fused

a four leaf clover with the edges of two leaves fused, the joint folded towards the center of the clover

a four leaf clover and a three leaf clover. one of the leaves from the three leaf is fused to itself, forming a cone

a four leaf clover where on leaf appearss to be two leaves fused at the inside center line of each leaf

a tiny two leaf clover. one of the leaves has an extra lobe on its edge

a four leaf clover with two of its leaves leaves partially fused on their underside central line near the stem

a four leaf clover, with an extra leafy growth fused to itself and the outer central line of one leaf

two four leaf clovers, each with a leaf that has an extra leaf shape growing from its edge

a three leaf clover with two albino leaves and one green leaf

three tadpoles under water over a grey tarp

Toadpoles - Toad tadpoles

Spring 2022 my parents and I noticed there were tadpoles in our pool (still tarped over from winter). This picture is from 4/24/22, shortly after we noticed. I was excited that I was able to caputure their little eyes. There were thousands of them, and once the sun got shining, they would crowd together near the shallow edges in the sun. Everyday after work I would go out to see them, creating a relaxing little routine for myself while even engaging with nature!

video of many tadpoles swimming above the tarp in a pool. a few cling to my hand with their mouths as I slowly drag my hand away

If you stuck your hands or feet in the water still enough for them to become comfortable, they would start to nibble on your skin! It was an experience you could feel, and was almost ticklish if one got into the webbing of your fingers. This video is from 4/30/22, compressed for size.

close up of many tadpoles clustered together

This picture is from 5/08/22. As you can see they are larger, their eyes are more defined, and their heads are notably wider ^^.

Here they have sprouted little back legs! 5/16/22

We determined that they were toads rather than frogs due to their black color and by finding long strings of eggs while transporting them (toad eggs string together, while frog eggs clump together)

one small toadlet with four legs and a long tail

After they sprouted legs they very quickly transformed into little toads! Fully toad shapped, but so tiny! The date I have for this one is 5/21/22. Shortly before this image, we began transporting them to a nearby pond, which was good timing since they started hopping out of the pool near the end of the week.

❀~Its Spring!~❀