Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Pasque Flowers Bloom For First Pollinators

With the last two warm days the Pasque Flowers have recovered from last weeks 8" snowfall and popped out of the leaf cover to bloom. 

Yesterday, these native prairie wildflowers were starting to open for the first time shortly after sunrise, one week earlier than last year.
 By 10 AM several of the flowers were completely open and enjoying the bright sunsine and 60 degree temps.
 By noon the flowers were pointing straight at the sun and withstanding the stiff breezes of the day.

Some of the flowers are more tentative and only opening a little, while several are still waiting for a bit more confidence that the warm weather is here to stay.




As I was taking these pictures I was surprised to see a small wasp show up and get completely covered with the pollen of the flower before flying off to look for some other early flowers.

Pollinators get to work as soon as the first flower opens up.  

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2 comments:

  1. PalmerLakeGuyApril 27, 2014 at 6:46 PM

    Awesome photos! I'm seeing pics of them posted all of the internet this year but I've never seen them in person. Where might be a good place to look for them? Are these found at Springbrook?

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  2. Treeclimber100June 20, 2014 at 4:14 PM

    I'm sorry I don't look at my comment section very often so have not seen your comment. Pasque Flowers used to be at Springbrook and may still be. Mostly they are easy to find at Anoka County Bunker Park in the sand dune areas right along the road.

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