(Photo of Queen Anne’s lace full of seeds at summer’s end in September). Back last summer we had a time hunting for Queen Anne’s Lace. We went to north Georgia looking, found it on the roadsides but couldn’t find a safe spot to pull over.
Then, on a regular walk up my childhood road, we found it!
(Photo of Queen Anne’s lace in spring – March). So, a couple of weeks ago, we went back to the known patch of white lace. It was still there. Not mowed over. The very same patch! What we noticed was, it was all brown.
No tops full of seeds anymore. We decided we’d be back in a month or so to see if we could see that pretty white.
And, we did find a yard full of fun dandelions to blow, just down the road!
What fun to watch the seeds scatter.
Fast forward to this week. We decided on our spring break we’d hop over to the park across the street as much as we could. Right after lunch today we did. And we had the place all to ourselves. We hunted all over for Queen Anne’s lace. But none was found.
Instead, the children and a friend played prey and predator. It’s a fun sort of hide and seek where one plays the predator and counts while the others are the prey that hide in the woods. The predator can only approach so far and just quietly watch for prey.
Along the way we found delightful wildflowers. Buttercups. And violets.
Eldest boy picked up a neat branch with some fungus.
The dogwood trees were in full bloom.
Both the white and the pink.
We might just enjoy Nana’s Queen Anne’s lace pastel lesson again. I love those photos from the mountains.
It’s been fun to see our across the street park in different seasons. And we’ll still keep our eyes alert to roadside lace and stop back by the known patch. Can’t wait until the lace blooms and we can use food coloring to dye them!
After trying to see the QAL pastel tutorial and not being able to, I am reminded of how much I love your being here! My computer just won’t respond for some reason when it goes over there.
Anyway, I had the same problem with looking for QAL. I think it is too early yet; all we can find is last year’s dried flowers. Perhaps later on in the month.
Phyllis – this is the first I’ve heard of not being able to reach the original Hodgepodge site. So you are unable to view Nana’s pastel lesson? It may be time for me to start pulling those tutorials and reposting here if that is the case. And, I like your QAL abbreviation. How much quicker is that to type! 🙂
I’ll see about pulling that pastel tutorial. It is one of my very favorites and would be a joy to do again!
We had a great time looking at the QAL yesterday and this morning, I have my post scheduled to go on Friday? Saturday? I love seeing all of the seeds in full. We’ll work on finding that next year. So fun to see! I need to go by my favorite garden in town and see if the trees are blooming yet, we are having such a late start spring!
Beautiful pictures, Tricia! You are so talented! Looks like you guys had a great time!
Loved your entry and the hunt for Queen Anne’s Lace. We went on our hunt today and found some new sprouts coming up at the bases of the old QAL. Just an idea…since we really had to use our observations skills to recognize the shape of the leaf.
Thanks so much for sharing your OHC. I realized when I was thinking about this challenge that it isn’t so much that we didn’t find the plant blooming yet but to remind ourselves what it looks like before the change and to see other things as well. Love your dogwood, ours is still not even close.
Can you believe they are predicting snow tomorrow? We have never had snow this late and everything is bursting out for spring including my pear tree.
Angie, you are blessed with a wonderful spot for adventures. I always love to see what you and your boys pick for your nature studies. Heidi – thank you. Would love for you and your boys to join the Outdoor Hour Challenges community! Barb- you are right! I actually thought that we should have taken the time to look down (as I was typing this up). Yes, not finding blooms helps us to focus on finding other treasures. SNOW! Wow – you have true spring out there – back and forth. Guess you have to watch the forecast carefully to see if you should wear short sleeves or a heavy jacket! I bet that pear tree of yours is gorgeous.