Day 103 / 2022 Photo Project365

Woods About to Go Green

The winter woods are about to go “super-green” just like one of my favorite lines from the movie Fifth Element. I love that movie — one of my top ten! No, really, it is…

Sure, we’ve had crocuses, daffodils, and a few other early risers sticking their heads up through the dirt here in USDA plant hardiness zones 5-7 the past few weeks. Yes, the cherry blossoms are popping, with crabapples, dogwoods, and magnolias ready to bloom next.

But that’s all so far for mid-April! The buds on the trees are about to burst into leaves, but as of today around here, any wooded area pretty much still looks like winter. The forest floor is still covered in last autumn’s brown leaves; dormant, drab duotones in a sepia palette. But I know they’re just about to go green!

So, here are a few shots of a nearby group of trees by a lake — in muted monochrome, duotone, and warm-tone edits — just before the fresh, light greens of the first leaves burst out of their buds to start recoloring the woods…