Wild honeysuckle

The woods this time of year come alive. When the days get longer and the sap begins to rise, a transformation takes place in the shadows.

Spindly dogwood trees try to reach into the canopy for a little slice of sunshine. The blossoms as big as your hand unfold and look like tiny lanterns in the undergrowth of the hollow.

An outcropping of rocks as big as Edsels lies at the edge of a  bluff overlooking a small rocky creek a few hundred yards behind the barn. 

Those rocks warm earlier in late winter which seems to be a perfect environment for wild honeysuckles. Some call the shrubs wild azaleas, but my people have always called them wild honeysuckles. They bloom white and many shades of red and pink.

Through the years, we've tried to transplant them from the wild into our yard without success. But then the last time we tried, it survived. Tiny, at first, we kept the soil around it aerated and nurtured with compost.

Last year when our azaleas bloomed, the little wild honeysuckle bloomed too.  Over last summer, it took a growth spurt. It bloomed late last week, but the last few days were beautiful and it decided to put on a show. Mother Nature got this little plant right.