#1382. Apalachian Seasons, Part III: May.
This is the third installment of my year-long project of sketching the changing seasons in my small part of Appalachia, and the last one from Spring.
May is Spring’s grand crescendo, when the greenery grows impossibly lush and vibrant, flowers are maturing into fruits, and insects and animals are active.
There is an abundance of ground flowers.
But some flowers are high in the canopy, like those of the soaring tulip poplars, visible only when they fall upon the ground.
The woods are so green that their color tints their reflections in lakes and shaded waterways.
Everything seems to be growing, even the once-mighty chestnut tree that once dominated these forests, felled by a lowly fungus introduced from Asia; ancient roots still hopefully send up shoots with distinctive leaves that grow for few seasons—and then succumb.
May is green but it’s also the month of floriferous shrubs like rhododendrons (the state flower of West Virginia) and mountain laurels.
It’s a lovely time of year to go forest bathing (shinrin-yoku).
