The Piedmont, early April

 The dogwoods are blooming in the Georgia Piedmont, reminding me of the woods of East Texas.

The splashes of white blossoms are fun, especially when the dogwoods have invaded a beech grove, where last year’s leaves, bronze and khaki-colored, are still holding on.

The forest is greening. Hickories and sweetgums are putting out leaves. In the coming weeks, 200-yard views through the forest will be cut to 20 feet.

The wild azaleas in genus Rhododendron are lovely. The most spectacular blooms were in a stand of Southern Pinxter azalea. I’d describe this plant as small trees, rather than a bush. The little trees we saw were about 12 feet tall and were in a creek bottom.

The showiest bloomer in the forest might be the black cherry. The biology textbook speaks of white flowers in drooping racemes, which doesn’t do the cherry justice. Imagine a flowering raccoon’s tail.

The forest floor has smaller blossoms that are easy to overlook: brambles, buttercups, bittercresses. Mouse-ear chickweeds, in genus Cerastium, are putting out tiny white flowers here. They are all over North America. Some might be blooming near you.