During a time of so much uncertainty and change, many people are doing their best to keep a sense of normalcy. And while the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield isn’t able to hold their typical spring tours and workshops, they’re taking a virtual approach to keep people informed and educated.
Spring is a gorgeous time of the year in Connecticut with everything blooming and coming back to life.
“Even though we have to go through all of this social distancing that doesn’t mean you have to ignore all of the natural things that are happening out there," explains James Fischer, the Research Director of the White Memorial Conservation Center. "And spring is marching along. Every day there’s new things opening up there new things in bloom birds are migrating through.”
This is why the White Memorial Conservation Center is offering virtual seminars on their website and through their Facebook page.
And you can see many of the wildflowers you learn about blooming in your own backyard, like red trillium, which is easily distinguished by the multiples of three.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
Local
“There’s three petals per flower, three leaves per plant and there's six antlers,” explains Fischer.
And marsh marigold, which are loving the recent wet weather.
“You’ll find them often in very very saturated soils and we just had a lot of rain just in the last 24 hours so all of our wetlands are full of water.”
Another flower currently in bloom as the trout lily, which has actually been adjusting with our changing climate.
“We have found that it’s a really good indicator of how the climate has changed over the last 100 years," explains Fischer. "We’ve seen that this plan has bloomed about a day early for every decade that climate change has shifted in temperature.”
And while some wildflowers bloomed earlier than normal this year with the unseasonably mild March, the recent cold weather has put the pause on some spring blooming.
“It kind of slowed things down a little bit and that’s OK that’s what happens that’s what these wildflowers are adapted to.”
That cooler weather is going to stick around for a bit longer. The next seven days all feature temperatures below the average. Our average high temperature for this time of April is 60 degrees.
There’s a full calendar of virtual events you can take part in at https://whitememorialcc.org/
