nature | Kameleon

Annual Spring Report 2015

Posted on May 5, 2015 by kameleonquilt

May 1st has come and gone, so my annual spring report is overdue, but here it is.

I guess there is no such thing as a “normal” spring, but if there were, this would be close, I think. At least this is very close to my memories of what spring used to be.

Since we were going away on May 1st, I took these photos in the evening the day before, and nothing had changed much overnight, so I think they count as May 1st photos.

We have had a relatively mild winter with little snow here on the coast (inland dwellers will tell a different story), but the spring has been quite cool, especially April. The leaves on the birch trees have just started to come out, but very slowly.

The daffodils are budding, and a few are in bloom.

The exceptions are the ones by the walls facing south, they have been blooming for some time. The crocuses are all finished, unlike the very cold spring 2 years ago, when they were still in full bloom on May 1st.

The flowering currant bush is also in full bloom, ….

…. but none of the rhododendrons have shown their colour yet, – not even the early ones.

The tulips by the wall are ready to bloom, and were opening up when we arrived back home two days later.

The rose bush has got some green leaves, but the spirea bush only has a hint of green on it.

No leaves on our old rowan tree yet, but it is budding. We still have snow falling now and again.

As we travelled into the fjords on May 1st, we could see that there was still a lot of snow in the mountains, and the greenery varied from quite green to none at all, depending on whether the slopes were facing south or north, and on the altitude. Some high lying farms inland still had their fields covered with snow.