This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack for the Second Week of Early Spring.
When pussy willows open all the way, then all the snow crocuses and golden aconites come into full bloom, and woolly bear caterpillars come out from winter hibernation. Pussy willow time is the time when clover and wild violet leaves start to grow; horseradish stretches out to an inch or two, and red rhubarb unfolds in the sun .
Honeysuckle buds are unraveling on the lowest branches. Bleeding hearts are pushing their heads from the ground as day lilies reach to the top of your boots, and white snow trillium blossoms appear in the bottomlands.
Pussy willows lead to bright blue squills, delicate yellow jonquils, then to the full-size daffodils, then to purple grape hyacinths, then to pale wood hyacinths and pushkinias. Towering on the horizon, silver maples and the red maples and box elders prepare to fruit.
Woodchucks are digging up the hillsides, making new dens. The rivers are high, and carp begin to mate in the shallows. Red-winged blackbirds sing in the swamps. Celandine has sprouted in the alleys. Buds lengthen and brighten on multiflora roses, mock orange, and lilac. In the pasture, nettle tops may be ready to pick for greens.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the third week of Early Spring. In the meantime, watch for Viginia bluebells to push out of the sunniest hillsides.
