Proverbial Truth in Nature

“You snooze, you lose.” I have noticed that this is particularly true about wildflowers. Violets have spoiled me with their long blooms times. They last a week or two, and because they don’t all bloom at exactly the same time, violet season lasts for a month or so. Most flowers have much briefer lives. I almost missed the blue-eyed grass entirely. I checked on it a couple of days after taking pictures of it. It had already gone to seed. If I hadn’t known where to look for the seed pods, I wouldn’t have noticed them. The plant could have gone through its entire life cycle unobserved. I also nearly missed the bloom times for partridgeberry and St. John’s wort. The area where those plants all grow is right next to the woods, deep in Tickville, and at this time of year, mosquitoes are thick in the grass. It’s almost impossible to go up there and not get bitten by something. So, I don’t visit it often, and who knows what other beautiful flowers I might be missing.