Confused Plants

There's some flora news I haven't told you about yet this year.  Oh brother.  She's going to talk about the plants again.  Yes, I am, and you're going to relish every word.

As you are already aware, all the plants bloomed two weeks to one month earlier than usual.  But I have found some glitches in the system.  

For one, the buffaloberry never fruited at all.  AT ALL!  I have not seen one single shiny buffaloberry all summer, and I look for them.  The leaves are already starting to brown and crisp up, so I doubt they will still fruit.  Good thing I wasn't relying on them for any special potions this year.  I bet next year will be bountiful.  I'll let you know.

For two, the orange hawkweed and bladder campion are blooming their second time this summer!  They both went to seed in July and early August, but here they are again bright as the hot June sun.  I don't know enough about these two to answer this phenomenon, but I do have a couple thoughts in my little brain.

For three, the common snowberry has produced more fruit than I have seen before.  Maybe it's just because I have found more patches of it, but those white berries are big and juicy.  I even have a bush in my back yard!  Too bad I can't eat those, but I'm sure the birds and other critters will enjoy them.

I can eat the plums, however, and I picked five gallons the other day.  Yeah, just before the bees started buzzing around all the squished ones on the ground.  I've already been stung this summer (like most everyone else I know), so I was out of there in a hurry.

And lastly, I have never seen leaves turn this early.  Granted, it's mostly because they need some rain.  There's a birch down the road that is already completely yellow (at least from where I can see), and those usually turn last!  I've seen a couple deep red maple leaves and some crunchy oak leaves on the ground.  But don't drive up with your camera just yet.  We've got a way to go before peak.