Autumn Be Damned: THIS Is Peak Foliage Season In Vermont

You might have seen me write enthusiastically about this time of year in past springs, but I can't help myself.  

A rainy spring afternoon Wednesday in my St.
Albans, Vermont yard. Even "bad" weather is
simply gorgeous this time of year. 

So, I write about it, take photos and shoot videos two of which you can see at the bottom of this post.

We're now experiencing what I regard as "peak foliage" here in Vermont. 

No, we're not having a super duper early autumn. You can relax. It's just that the moment when everything blooms and turns green in Vermont is simply magical. 

I just like this spring peak foliage even more than the one in the fall. It's in many ways more beautiful than fall colors. And bonus! There's not so many tourists blocking the roads.

In a way, I'm glad that the total eclipse of the sun that drew perhaps 200,000 people to Vermont hit on April 8, not May 8. Early April is not Vermont's prettiest season. At that time of year, the trees are bare, the grass is still mostly brown and there's lots of mud underfoot.

Now that we're into May, the gorgeousness of the season is all around us, everywhere you turn.

Flowers after a rain storm this week in my St.
Albans, Vermont yard,. 

The hayfields are the most luxurious green imaginable speckled by countless yellow dandelions. 

The farms in the Champlain Valley now have the same quality, color and texture of a red carpet look on an A-list celebrity created by one of the world's top designers.

If somebody like Christian Siriano should ever come to Vermont for inspiration, now's the time to do it. 

Every routine thing we in Vermont do this time of year feels like a special treat. 

Driving home after work into Franklin County the other day, I noticed all the multitudes of sugar maples, with their job of providing us with sap and syrup done for the season.  

All those maples seemed to be celebrated by unfurling billions or trillions of tiny leaves, which will eventually grow into the thick lush greenery of summer. The way all those baby leaves glistened when backlit by the sun looked like an immense green fireworks display. 

Brand new sugar maple leaves in St. Albans, Vermont. 

Pulling into my driveway in April and early May, I'm greeted by an audience of happy yellow daffodils, bobbing slightly in the breeze as if delighted that I had arrived. 

It's an optimistic time of year in the world of nature. This natural green hopefulness is a refuge from the human world, the one with way too much war, cruelty, hypocrisy, insanity and stupidity. 

I usually get up in the morning pretty early, often around or a little after dawn to let Jackson the Weather Dog outside to update himself on how spring is progressing.

Full light hadn't hit yet, but the yellow daffodils and deep blue hyacinths glowed in the early morning dim light, as if  powered by some internal electric current. 

The robins at that hour give us a chorus of happy morning music. Somewhere, a cardinal's loud "shpur schupr" call echoes across the yard. That's only outdone by the caw of a crow atop a poplar tree, inviting a couple crow friends over the enjoy the morning.  

Forget turning on the TV morning news for updates on the latest madness in Congress, or the war death toll, the latest dumb criminal trial, or the convenience store holdup. 

The early morning spring birdsong, the beautiful organic aroma of blooms and mud and new growth, and all that green punctuated by colorful flowers is all the news I need this time of year.  

It is a little sad that nature is the only island of sanity in this world. But I take what I can get, and embrace it. You can't ignore such a special time of year. 

Videos:

I planted tons of daffodils around my St. Albans property over the years. You can't welcome spring without daffodils, so I went all out. Following video also has a brief cameo from Jackson the Weather Dog, who was studying the effects of a sunny day on daffodil growth.

To view video, click on this link, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Next up, various glimpses of spring in Vermont, as our surroundings develop endless shades of green, with other wonderful pops of color. Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that: