Despite what the Groundhog said back at the beginning of February, spring seems to be here in north central Florida. The weather is still pretty inconsistent, warm for a couple days, then cooler again, but the warm days (and even the cool ones) are getting warmer with each cycle. Today it is 81 degrees outside as I write this, but next Monday it’s predicted to be only 63 degrees for the high (I know that’s still pretty warm for those of you in the north). If we listen to Mother Nature, though, she seems to feel that spring is here. Last week I spotted the first phlox flowers (Phlox drummondi) on the side of the road. When I stopped to take some photos, I also found some pretty little yellow woodsorrel (Oxalis dillenii) and some black medick flowers (Medicago lupulina), too. Admittedly, the next night the phlox flowers froze, but within twenty four hours more were blooming. The other, smaller flowers survived the mild frost since they were lower and protected by the grass blades.

The flowers aren’t the only ones who are telling me that spring is here. The trees and shrubs are in complete agreement. Azaleas all over the area are putting out their first bright, colorful blossoms. The willow (Salix lasiolepis) that grows in my front yard is turning green again with new leaves popping out all over the place. It has even started putting out little shoots that will eventually produce flowers, and later fruits. All the viburnum trees have bits of new growth coming out at the tips of the branches, and like the willow, they are gearing up to start producing their small, white flowers. The dogwoods (Cornus florida) are popping with white flowers and the redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are getting pinker and pinker each day as more blooms open.

And it isn’t just the plants that are talking, either. The insects are telling us that spring has arrived, too. Tuesday evening I found the first moth of the year, a white-dotted prominent (Nadata gibbosa), perched on the wall outside underneath my porch light. It had been attracted to the light. In the summer, I am sometimes mobbed by all kinds of moths when I go outside at night to feed the dogs. Then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday there was a beautiful yellow butterfly fluttering around the viburnum trees by the gate. It wouldn’t let me get close enough to identify it or photograph it, but it was most definitely a welcome sight, and the first of many more to come. Finally, the hibernaculum of paper wasps (Polistes exclamans) is breaking up. The girls are slowly heading out to begin establishing their own colonies. It’s been very interesting watching them, and in a way it’s like watching your (insect) kids heading off to begin lives of their own. I hope that a couple of them will establish their colonies right here so that I can continue to watch them.

Mother Nature has fibbed to me before with early buds on the azaleas, early leaves on the viburnum, or early phlox flowers on the roadside, but when all the plants and insects are talking, I think it’s wise to listen. I know we don’t have the harsh winters here that many folks do, but I for one, am quite ready for spring!