April
"April hath put a spirit of youth in everything" —William Shakespeare
APRIL "WAKING UP"(pick a word or phrase for each month)—From The Ground Up
BEDROCK—Cave Carving: 20+feet below me april showers mix with soil acids that open up tiny crevices—mini caves—in my bedrock, unlocking important minerals for plants in my yard from that ancient seabed turned to stone.
SOIL—The Engine Roars To Life: Just under the surface a million fuses are lit as rising water tables and rising temperatures ignite microbes and fungi to break down, break up and make available minerals coming up from the bedrock and nutrients already in the soil that were locked up by frost.
EARTHWORMS—Peak Activity: Prime mating season for worms. Vertical migration of worms making 150 holes per square yard create tunnels for rainwater to reach grassroots. Worm poop "castings" spoon feed grass the nutrients they need most and can most easily digest in this pre-digested "baby food" form.
GRASS—Out and Up: Peak month to begin to grow, but mostly horizontally, filling out the base and sending out rhizomes, those extending octopus arms of growth that fill in bare spots.
TREES—Bud Burst: Last months root sucking work results in buds exploding into leaves and flowers.
- Magnolias' pink and white blossoms mid april.
- Pear trees white blossoms mid april
- Crabapple trees "cranberry/whip cream salad" blossoms late april
- Red bud trees purple blossoms late april
- Arborvita's and pine trees shooting out much bright green new soft needles.
FLOWERS—Awakening (or...gaing an uprising):After a few of the super early flowers of march, the show really gets going.
- Dandelions really getting noticed. That batch of yellow becomes a crowd of tall seedy stalks in 1 week in warmer temps.
- Yellow Daffodils
- White Trilliums
- Blue and yellow violets
- Siberian Squill—amazing eye catching carpet of blue.
- Creeping Charlie's purple tiny flowers (love the smell of this "ground ivy")
INSECTS—Explosion...Maybe. The needed amount of sunlight is here, final switch is that magic 50 degree temps. Flowers time their blooming based on these flying insect hordes.
- Bumble bee queens—sole survivors of last falls colony are cruising for holes to start a new colony.
- Tiny spiderlings parachuting into my yard.
- Honey bees—at first are especially focus on dandelions.
- Violets—leaves and flower salads.
- Dandelion—young leaves for salad, flowers battered and fried.
- Sorrel—sourness that my kids and grandkids love.
- Garlic Mustard—Dehydrate the leaves or just tear them into peices and put on anything you're grilling. Taste like...garlic.
- Fresh green soft new pine needles make a great tea.
- Ground squirrels emerging from hibernation.
- Rabbits first litters
- Garter snakes—coming out of hibernation+ breeding season kick off = best month to see them in my yard.
BIRDS—High Energy Courtship: My backyard is now fully alive. Migrating birds riding the southern Gulf of Mexico winds begin arriving. My backyard resident birds' breeding season is also well underway.
- Blues birds, chickadees and nuthatches looking for nest cavities and building nests.
- Mourning doves, cardinals and robins—the 1st to have a brood, already have nestlings.
- Blue Jays offering nuptial courting gifts to females.
- Tree swallows showing up as they follow the 50 degree release of insect life northward.
- Sparrow variety show. My favorite sparrow migrant to nest in my yard is the friendly chipping sparrows. Most dazzling is the white crowned sparrows paying a visit as they head to the far northern tundras of Canada and Alaska. Juncos heading north are also a type of sparrow.
- In the upper reaches of my april backyard turkey vultures are in peak courtship mode—chasing each other, and chimney swifts are just beginning to arrive.
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