Today I drove past the parking area for the Lower Purgatory Falls Trail. The parking lot was full and cars lined both sides of the street. I know this trail well. It is  a very short and easy walk to a very nice waterfall. I could only imagine how many people would be packed in a very small and relatively contained area. In normal times I would make the stop. However these are not normal times.

I knew it would impossible to maintain any kind of “social distancing”  if I stopped so I continued on my way.  Here is a photo of the falls in 2018.

Lower Purgatory Falls 2018

I decided to seek out the signs of Spring away from other people. I grabbed my camera and macro lens to get as close as I could to my subjects. My first choice was a flower on my rosemary plant  (Salvia rosmarinus).  I grow this as a houseplant because it is not winter hardy in New Hampshire. The flowers are small and easily overlooked which makes them a great candidate for a macro shot. You can even see the droplets of rosemary oil on the leaves. Such a fragrant photo subject.

A friend mentioned that she had seen several Trailing Arbutus (Epigae repens) growing in an open field across from my house. This is an endangered species so I was anxious to see them for myself. I saw several low mats of greenish leaves with small white flowers.  They seem to match the photos I’ve seen online.

I find clumps of Pulmonaria scattered around the edges of my yard. These plants have pink or blue flowers which I’m guessing depends upon the pH of the soil. The have spotted leaves which give them the common name of Lungwort, since the ancients thought they symbolized diseased ulcerated lungs. Has a new meaning for me in the midst of  respiratory pandemic.

New Growth

One sign of spring are the emerging red shoots of my peonies and bleeding heart plants. The reddish color is due to the pigment Anthocyanin.  As the plant grows and Chlorophyll is produced, the red pigment is masked until fall. I read that the red pigment protects the new shoots from the cold in early spring.