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A LAST COLUMN Because of urgent business in southwest Virginia, I’ll be away for three or four weeks during the peak of the spring season. The River Reporter (TRR) also has a space problem, so the editor and I have agreed to postpone "Signs of Spring" until I get back in early June. By then, TRR’s Things Are Happening section will be appearing each week, and the plan is to continue my column in that part of the paper.

It’s been fun keeping track of the spring and doing the column each week, and I’ll look forward to resuming it in early June.

SPRING WILDFLOWERS Even with cold nights — and many cool days — our native spring wildflowers have begun to blossom. Here are thumbnail sketches of three of the most interesting ones.

Trailing arbutus A member of the heath family, which includes azaleas and rhododendrons, the little arbutus thrives in dry, acid soils, especially along sunny paths in oak-pine woodlands, and sometimes along barren road shoulders.

Look for leathery leaves and clumps of small pink or white flowers, each with five petals that branch from a short tube. If you find the arbutus, take time to smell its nectar, which seems distilled by the god of spring. The best way is to throw caution aside, and to kneel on knees and elbows, sharing the impulse of a courtier in an ancient Chinese poem (A.D. 810):

There came a guest with heart so full, that though

a page to the throne,

He did not grudge with his broidered coat to wipe off the dust and read.

Early saxifrage This is a flower whose name indicates its habitat. The Latin word "saxifrage" combines a noun, saxum (rock) with a verb, frangere (to break). So we can call this small plant, literally, a "rock-break," or suppose it to say: "I break rock."

The German name, steinbrech (stonebreak) also captures its routine of bursting into bloom from tiny clefts in large and small rocks. To discover early saxifrage, forget rich soils and comb, instead, among dry rock outcrops and rocky hillsides. The tiny saxifrage flowers have five white petals, borne on a sticky, hairy stem.

Hepatica This is one of my favorite native wildflowers, whose buds often begin the season under leaf litter on the forest floor, frequently along rural roads where trees march right down to the pavement. Since it’s a small plant, its flowers are sometimes hard to spot among last fall’s desiccated leaves.

"Hepatica" means "liver-like," which alludes to its three lobed, liver-shaped leaf. Just a few centuries ago that resemblance would have indicated the plant’s medicinal qualities, because of a then-popular doctrine that God provides humankind with clues to the medicinal values of each plant. Surely, if a plant’s leaf was shaped like the human liver, it must be useful in treating liver ailments — or so Old World healers and apothecaries believed.

After its flowers have appeared, the hepatica’s rusty leaves — leftovers from last summer — give way to young, fresh ones. Its small blossoms vary in color from blue to pink or white.

BARN SWALLOWS ARE BACK Carrying water to the goats Basil, Peaches and Precious last Wednesday morning (4/21), I spotted, in a squadron of white-bellied tree swallows, the split tail and buff-colored breast of a barn swallow. These birds generally return like clockwork to our barn about April 23, so this "barn" was right on schedule. After I opened a couple of doors, it began inspecting last year’s nests.

DISCOVER THE SPRING WITH DHC The Delaware Highlands Conservancy’s (DHC) popular natural history programs will be continued this summer at its Milanville "Butterfly Barn." Two events are scheduled for May:

May 12, 9:00 p.m., The night sky — Bill Yeaman, who used to manage the National Park Service Planetarium at Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., will point out prominent stars and constellations, and tell some of their legends. (It’s a great program for families with kids.). If May 12 is overcast, meet at the same time on May 13.

May 15, 7:30 a.m., Bird identification walk — Peter Wulfhurst, an experienced birding guide, will lead an informal walk around the DHC grounds to help us identify birds and their songs, including spring migrants passing through. Bring binoculars if you have them (we have a few pairs to share, and also hot coffee and donuts), and be prepared to hike in any weather. Beginning birders, especially, will enjoy walking with Peter, who makes everyone feel at home.

Both programs will meet at the DHC "Butterfly Barn" on the River Road, about a mile south of Milanville, PA. For information about these or future programs, call 570/729-7053.