Golden Alexander

Fri May 15, 6:15 pm. The quince is blooming, 5 white petals veined with pink, lots of stamens, a few insects buzzing around. The grass next to me is taller than from my finger tips to elbow. Beech leaves are thicker and bigger, and one shows some white stuff stuck to the bottom. A beaver is making its way leisurely towards the far shore, and some of the water lilies already have yellow buds showing. There may be something besides lily pads down there now, there seem to be smaller stationary things on the surface. A great blue heron is sitting on a stump over the water and sticks his head under his outstretched wing for a bit. Plant X has upright stems now, sturdy, watery green a bit like jewelweed, with ridges. The leaves are alternate, divided and then lobed, and have two little protrusions clasping the stem. The Golden Alexander has tiny yellow flowers now. 10 ft in front of me a patch of stems rise, I think of this as goldenrod but have never been sure of the connection between these leafy things and the later flower. Next to me there are two stems of the same; when did they appear? They're a foot high. Round, fuzzy stems, soft white fuzz, alternate leaves long and thin, with teeth, also a bit hairy. The quince smells sweet. It's in the low 70s, still, humid, sunny, a few clouds some wispy and a cumulus. Plenty of black flies, and a cloud of some small fly up near the maple, like 100 in a round cloud 2 feet across.