Spring Observations!

The theme of my observations this week is pretty straightforward: I like flowers.

Our campus, along with most of California and probably this region of the world, is largely covered with weedy little plants growing in every available space. I had seldom even noticed them, until last week when my field methods class was practicing vegetation sampling. The professor selected a small patch right outside McCone (across the pathway from an area where our class once overturned a log and identified all kind of stuff underneath) and plopped down a quadrat tool. We then proceeded to count all the different species growing inside it, and I was amazed at the diversity of life contained in what I had previously just disregarded as annoying weeds!

Ever since, I've been making an effort to keep more of an eye out for differences and peculiarities in the natural vegetation everywhere I go, and one thing has become evident. These areas of weeds are now all beginning to blossom, revealing their true form and beauty! After our mini-plant lab on Tuesday, I was excited to take a stroll and appreciate the subtleties of a few of our local specimens, and these are my five favorite.

It might be worth mentioning that I also noticed an increase in birds being out and about, but failed repeatedly at photographing them, so I opted for the flower theme instead. I'm also curious as to why the common ivy I so love (I've already observed it several times for the class) appears to be dying while everything else is happy, healthy and blooming.

Posted on Μάρτιος 14, 2013 0844 ΜΜ by maeganblansett