To help celebrate this special birthday, I decided to take a series of photos of 40 garden objects. This photo series was inspired by the blog Things Organized Neatly. My arrangements are not arranged as neatly as many photos on that blog, but you get the idea.

Here’s photo #4 – 40 flowers from plants in my neighborhood:

40 flowers from my neighborhood

I did not find 40 different flower species, though my son and I looked far and wide, but we have at least 40 flowers in this photo. Thank you to my co-worker Debbie Anderson for the lovely green fabric.

You can see past 40 garden object photos:

• 40 Garden Tools
• 40 nuts nibbled by squirrels
• 40 green leaves

Share Your 40 Garden Objects Photos!

During Garden for Wildlife month, I’m going to keep taking photos of 40 garden objects. Would you like to join me? What will you photograph? Share your photos at our Garden for Wildlife Facebook page for everyone to see.

And if you haven’t already certified your yard as wildlife-friendly, certify your yard with National Wildlife Federation this month!

Cherry blossoms flowering on the grounds of the Washington Monument during President Obama’s Second Inauguration, January 21, 2013. NWF photo by Bruce Stein.

Climate scientists at NOAA recently announced that in the continental United States, 2012 was the hottest year since record-keeping began 118 years ago, blowing past the previous record by a full degree. The effect of these increasingly warm temperatures is already showing in our woods and meadows. Just last week scientists reported record early flowering times for dozens of spring wildflowers in the eastern United States. Using notes from famed naturalists Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, research teams documented that flowering is now occurring up to three weeks earlier than in Thoreau and Leopold’s time, 160 and 80 years ago respectively.

While an early spring may not sound too bad to winter-weary New Englanders, many plants and animals depend on the linked timing of other species to survive—for instance, the timely emergence of insects for birds to feed to their chicks, or the arrival of bees or hummingbirds to pollinate flowers. Accelerate or delay one side of the interaction and the other can suffer in response. This form of ecological mismatch is just one example of the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems that were summarized in a recent report to the National Climate Assessment, on which I was a co-author.

As I stood on the grounds of the Washington Monument with thousands of others yesterday, I was thrilled to hear President Obama speak very directly about the need to finally confront the dangers climate change poses to America. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.” He then noted that “some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.” Indeed, the science is now clear; it is only the political science and our will to act that is in doubt.

Early this morning as I stepped outside to walk my dog, temperatures in Washington hovered around 19 degrees, a dramatic dip from the previous day’s relatively mild temperatures. Such cold days are now becoming a rarity in Washington, and I found myself savoring the bite of the winter air. I couldn’t help but think, though, about the now-frozen petals on the National Mall, and the young trees that, come spring time, would be without cherry blossoms. Washington’s cherry blossoms long have been a national treasure. It’s time we listened, as the president clearly did, to what they are telling us.

Speak up for wildlife, like polar bears, and support limits on carbon pollution from power plants!

Glacier National Park has almost a thousand species of wildflowers, some resilient enough to grow in harsh conditions. Photo by Christine Haines.

Explore the Outdoors!

Enter a city, state or zip code to search for parks, campgrounds, and other wild places with NatureFind.

This Photo of the Day was donated by a participant in the annual National Wildlife Photo Contest. See more photos or sign up for the 42nd Annual National Wildlife Photo Contest.

Spring officially starts this Saturday, March 20—mark the occasion by continuing to celebrate the 73rd annual National Wildlife Week! Because it’s Friday, and I’m big on alliteration, let’s take a closer look at flatlining frogs and fantastic flowers.

Spring Into The Season

The North American wood frog, also known as Rana Sylvatica or “masked frog”, is an iconic symbol of spring. If you were walking through a wintertime forest, you’d have no idea the wood frog was even there—but it is! Wood frogs hibernate in winter and freeze their bodies. Yes, the frogs freeze themselves. Winter’s cold temperatures set off signals inside the frog, directing it to freeze its internal organs. Not much happens next—no breathing, no kidney function, and no heartbeat. When spring arrives, the frog’s pulse reboots, beginning this annual phenomenon of spontaneous resumption. Within a day, the wood frog comes back to life in order to mate.

Neighborhoods In Bloom

Wildflowers are also key indicators of the vernal equinox. On your next lunch break or during an afterschool activity, keep your eyes peeled for these commonly seen North American wildflowers.

Spring Beauty – Although there are multiple species of spring beauties around the country, the most well-known species is claytonia virginica. This flower can be found primarily in woodlands, low to the ground. Look for the flower’s whitish-pink flowers and petals with dark pink veins.

Lilies – The lily family (Liliaceae) is large and in charge when it comes to spring’s blooming wildflowers. Lilies are characterized by three petals and three sepals. Depending on where you live, you could see mariposa lilies, trilliums, Solomon’s-seal, desert lilies, and fawn lilies in a variety of colors.

American Pasqueflower – This wildflower received its interesting common name because the blossom has a tendency to bloom around Passover and Easter. The American pasqueflower decorates grasslands throughout the Great Plains and upper Rocky Mountain regions. The flower blooms in purplish-blue blossoms that grow in short clusters with one flower to every stalk.

How To Kickoff Spring

Photograph flowers this spring with tips from National Wildlife Magazine editors.

Enter the 40th annual National Wildlife Photo Contest to earn the chance to win more than $30,000 in cash prizes.

Watch The Today Show and NWF’s David Mizejewski celebrate National Wildlife Week in this video:

References:

PBS

University of Rhode Island

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Montana Plant Life

Photo by Amy Nyberg

Picture this:

Once home, the father reaches for a children’s dictionary — the one with the big colorful pictures and 18-point font. The father says, “Let’s look up dandelion, son!”

If you are rolling your eyes from the sickly-sweet unreality of this scenario, stay with me for a moment. It all goes horribly wrong.

They flip to the D section and … dandelion isn’t there. And near to where the word should be? Database.

That’s right — the Oxford Junior Dictionary has been slowly removing many nature words, and adding more technological ones.

For the record:

In: Blog, MP3 player, broadband, Blackberry (the electronic kind)

Out: Acorn, beaver, otter, blackberry (the purple berry you can eat)

Sure, there are plenty of other things beside lexicography for parents to worry about. But I ask you – is it absolutely necessary that kids understand broadband technology at age 7? What about stone-skipping or grass-whistling?

It’s not fair to pile on the dictionary’s editors. Junior dictionaries are not meant to hold every word — just the ones commonly used by children. And next to MP3 players, I guess dandelions and acorns don’t stand a chance of making the cut.

The dictionary is simply reflecting the world our children live in, where the virtual world increasingly crowds out the natural one.

But there’s hope: You might assume it was an environmentalist group that raised a fuss about the missing words.

Nope. It was an even more powerful force: a mother.

According to the original story — Lisa Saunders, a mother of four in Northern Ireland, was helping her son with his homework when she realized words like moss and fern weren’t in the dictionary. Missing too were certain Christian terms, like bishop, chapel and saint.

Incensed, she spoke to a reporter late last year, who wrote an article. At the bottom of the online version of the article are 351 comments from readers. The world’s bloggers took it from there.

So. There’s a button at the top of this post. It says “Share.” You know what to do.

And check out NWF’s Green Hour program for great ideas for getting your own kids outside again.