The Birds and Skunk Cabbage Think It's Spring at Holden Arboretum!

This morning I took a brief walk at Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. The birds were singing up a storm. They think it's spring and not late-late winter! Love is in the air at Holden--it's mating season. Thrusting up through near-frozen earth, amid patches of snow, is the skunk cabbage. This homely, smelly plant should be the symbol of Northern Ohio--we are tough! We will not be defeated. We will bring in the spring!

Here are three pictures from this morning's walk--two of skunk cabbage; one of snowdrops.

Skunk Cabbage melting its way through the snow

Not pretty, but powerful--a force of nature, a victory!

Now these snowdrops are pretty!