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Sunday, October 2, 2016

Is it Spring Again, yet?

We each have an internal timetable that may or may not match objective reality. Cicero warns us that we have to act our age, or we will appear foolish. For every thing there is a season, the Old Testament intones. But what if you don't feel like the season you are allotted?




Yesterday was the first of October. The air was a bit chilly in the morning when I went for a walk. But I was amazed by the blossoms that greeted me! The honeysuckle flowers were not that surprising.
Honeysuckle on the First of October

 They had not bloomed that day, and soon they would be gone.  After all, two days earlier there were still plenty of yellow butterflies fluttering about.


But the lily white blossoms that I spotted in the serviceberry bush were brand new!

Serviceberry blossoms on the first of October

How did they suddenly decide to bloom forth when the weather turned cooler?

A closer look at the serviceberry blooming


And then I saw the cherry blossoms trembling in the cold breeze! So much bigger and more splendid than the serviceberry blooms, they seemed to proclaim that spring had finally sprung!


These fresh, newly opened blossoms had sprung forth on only one spot on the otherwise bare tree.

Cherry Blossoms on the First of October

What did they know that everyone else did not know? Were they answering a call of nature at odds with the nip of frost in the air?


Not to be outdone, the tiny, baby apple tree that we planted only last fall was suddenly showing a big pink blossom. This tree has yet to give fruit, and I don't believe it even bloomed this spring.



What makes flowers burst forth out of season?



 Is it foolish to want to give fruit when everything else is preparing for a long winter?

Blackberry blossom trying to bring forth fruit on the first of October

 Or do each of us  live by a different timetable, so that those who did not bloom in the spring get a second chance in the fall?

6 comments:

  1. I think the fall is becoming more temperate in many parts of North America, so now the trees think it is spring.

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    1. I like how you put that, Julia! I believe that trees do think, after a fashion.

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  2. I almost thought I was reading an old post from April or May! Trees and other plants have a cycle - sap (food & energy) rises, buds form, and the tree uses up its last remaining carbohydrates (energy) to form the fruit (seeds), then that sap slows declines. But this has been such a warmer fall that the sap is staying up high and providing the tree with renewed energy after they fruiting cycle.
    We can all disagree about the *causes* of global warming, but there's no doubt that *something* definitely is going on!

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    1. Hi, Kathy. It does seem a little like April still. Good to know that it is the sap rising that makes the buds form. It's definitely getting warmer around here. The question is not just why, but also: is it a bad thing? Whenever anything changes, there are winners and there are losers. But I am not so sure that we are the losers in this case. More fruit sounds like a good thing.

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  3. More fruit is a good thing...I'm just tired of the chiggers and ticks!

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