Reddish-brown the leaves for now
But darkly purple later.
Red wears a crown when leaves fall down
But the Crimson King’s is greater.
I had planned to post this back in May when the leaves had opened up on the tree and it possibly would have made more sense. But there are many things that didn’t go as planned this year. We’re all doing what we can.
I hope you are doing well where you are. Take care.
It’s the most pollen-y time of year. I’m looking forward to wearing my contacts again when the pine trees are finished celebrating spring.
Gloomy grey
Cloudy day
The dogwood flowers are gone now
You could no longer bend with the wind. Yesterday it broke you down, revealing that you weren’t as strong as we thought. You had a weakness that you kept hidden. Was it worms that did this? Or maybe insects or fungi that caused this weariness?
We wept for a moment near you, wished you well, and walked on, past the wasted part of the wood.
Dry, yellowed beech leaves
like parchment quiver and shift, crinkle and twist,
on each flowing breath of wind.
Last year won’t let go.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Newark, New Jersey? The airport, maybe? It probably isn’t the home of the nation’s largest collection of cherry blossoms, and yet that can be found in good old Newark.
Branch Brook Park, listed on both the New Jersey (1980) and National (1981) Registers of Historic Places, is home to more than 4,000 cherry trees, according to the park’s website.
The park began in 1865, when the city, along with the newly created Essex County Park Commission, made plans to transform a former Civil War Army training ground into public use as a park. This became the nation’s first county park.
Donations from wealthy families expanded the park in the following years. The cherry trees were a gift from the Mrs. Felix Fuld family in 1927.
I was lucky to visit during peak blooming, and I spent several lovely hours viewing the cherry blossoms.
Who doesn’t love Bob Ross? He paints and teaches with such love that I can’t help but relax and fall into a happy little trance when I watch The Joy of Painting.
I saw this tiny tree on a walk yesterday and wanted to wish it good luck.
I hope you grow up strong and happy, little tree.
We had a warm streak in early March that lasted long enough to trick the early flowering trees into blossoming. Too soon, little flowers, too soon. The snow stuck around for a day or two, followed soon by another storm with much colder temperatures and more snow.
Finally, a month after this photo was taken, the time was right for the trees to begin opening.
It seems that weather patterns have been disrupted lately. Winters are not predictable as they once were, turning into a mixture of a heat wave one week and an arctic blast the next.
These trees that I photographed are decorative—planted in my neighborhood to look pretty and not to provide food. But these same erratic weather patterns are affecting and will continue to affect our fruit trees, other crops, and food supply. For example, fruit and nut trees need a certain amount of cold weather, or “chill hours,” in winter in order to produce fruit during the growing season. Peach farmers in Georgia are expecting an even worse year than last year’s crop yield, in part due to record low amounts of chilling hours.
Let’s hope we can stop climate change before we run out of food.
I admire nature for bravely pairing this pink and this green. I wouldn’t have had the courage, but now that I see it, I’m completely sold. It’s perfect.
(These are petals from the crabapple trees from last year. This year they fell more gradually and the wind scattered them, so we didn’t get this gorgeous pink carpet.)
For the photo challenge Admiration.
Just watching as Spring opens up all around me.
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I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge for the month of April. The idea is to post every day, except Sundays, and end up with one post for each letter of the alphabet. It’s a good challenge to help me to blog every day.
Cynthia M Voss 