Sunday, April 30, 2017

Early Flowers in Groton

Violets:
Our local wild cherry (or maybe it is shad):
 
An unfamiliar variety of blueberry:
 
[ADDED:] I cannot find any website that discusses what varieties of blueberry grow wild in this part of New England. Wikipedia's photos are not adequate - so can anyone tell me about this variety?
[ADDED:] Contacted the U of ME blueberry expert. It is called leatherleaf.

Pussy Willows:
 
High bush blueberry:
And some birch flower:
And let's not forget the oaks:
It is a spring where everything is flowering at the same time - from maples to lilacs.

2 comments :

Tim MacSweeney said...

Did he answer your wild blueberry question? "Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada (from Manitoba to Newfoundland) and the northeastern United States, growing as far south as the Great Smoky Mountains and west to the Great Lakes region...The lowbush blueberry is the state fruit of Maine...Native Americans regularly burnt away trees and shrubs in parts of eastern Maine, in order to stimulate blueberry production." Burnt Hill might be an example of Indigenous Stone "fuel breaks."

Tim MacSweeney said...

That Wikipedia entry should say that blueberry barrens are kept in production by burning selective fields every four years. You especially liked a photo I used on this post:
http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2006/10/blueberries.html