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Bud Watching
Greetings to all in Greensboro on a mild last day of March, 2006. I hope your day is going well so far.
Yesterday as I drove by The Perfect Tree on Elm Street I saw that it’s end buds were huge, really to open up and fill the air with Oak pollen. And last evening I noticed that the birch tree catkins (from the white or paper birch trees by our patio) are just starting to swell an elongate. Soon, birch pollen will cover our patio. I pity my neighbors with allergies, but I love, in the true sense of deep affection (and praise to God) the “miracle” of Spring. OK, so I am a biology geek, but tree buds are way cool. Their formation, dormancy, and opening is akin to conception, development, and birth in animals, and almost as fascinating.
Spring is here! Take a break. Go outside and walk around and look at the perfectly ordinary and common tree buds all around you. They are swelling. Many have opened already and we see leaves on their trees–maple trees for example, and hackberries, and red buds. Others are just getting ready. Notice the covering of the bud. All winter long those bud scales, sometimes one big scale, sometimes two, sometimes more, have protected the life inside the bud from the cold and wetness outside. One freezing rain storm after another may coat the tree with ice, but the bud scales keep the life inside the bud safe and ready to grow when the time is right.
Inside are tiny leaves and/or flowers, either well-formed in miniature, or at least already differentiated as cells ready to take on full form. What energy the tree didn’t put into its seeds or store in its roots last summer and fall, it has packed into these buds. Indeed, as last summer wound down, and the buds started to form which would lie dormant over the winter, the tree “knew” to transfer important energy sources from the leaves to the buds. These buds are rich in energy which is why deer and other animals like to eat them. As the buds open they will attract the season’s very earliest insects, crawling and flying, to their moisture and sugars. Over the next few weeks Greensboro will be filled with budding coming-to-life trees, awash with flowers. Tree flowers aren’t always bright and glorious like red buds and cherries. So, like the many varieties of oaks may have some color, but that color may be masked by the beautiful earth tones of the catkins baby leaves. Sometimes the most beautiful things are faint, and less showy. So keep your eyes peeled, and if you have a chance, go on a bud walk. It’s at least as fun as sitting at a computer all day! |
