Woods, Wasilla: Roses have been blooming around the Valley. Watermelon berries and high and lowbush cranberries are all flowering. Most red currants have small green berries forming, some are still flowering. Raspberry flowers are generally buds. Spruce tips are super good this year so we’ve been eating a lot.
May 28
Swamp land, Big Lake: Gathered lots of good very big/tender spruce tips which are everywhere. Elderberries and raspberries flowering. Red and black currants flowering too. Also bluebells, etc.
August 8
Swamp land, Big Lake: Picked lots of great (domesticated) raspberries and also elderberry. A whole bunch of white spruce in the Mat-Su are spruce-beetle-killed or infested.
May 18
Ester Dome, Ester: Pollen everywhere, Fairbanks broke world birch pollen record this year apparently. Good spruce tips and red cones (berry-like.) Red currants have small green berries. Blueberries have tons of flowers. Also flowering is highbush cranberry, bluebell, labrador tea, soapberry, nagoonberry, coltsfoot and many wildflowers. Wild rose has no flowers yet.
June 4
Fairbanks: Growth of all plants and pollen is booming after late greenup. Really good spruce tips. Highbush cranberry plants have the start of small white flowers.