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| 23 March 2011. No more tulip magnolias; the tree will be green until late autumn. And I lost my wager that the rose would bloom by the equinox (it does have plenty of buds). |
Having begun documenting the blooming sequence at this latitude (about 31° N.) and on the Gulf of Mexico (well, just where the continental shelf ends and from here south is alluvial), I thought I might post a couple of snapshots, since the light was very good. My English friends are better art photographers of nature than I am, but if you live in North Dakota you can take these as a promise of Spring to come.
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| 23 March 2011. The young orange tree is next door. It has several oranges still (the rest having been picked) and if you know where to look at lower left you can see a bee collecting nectar. Anyway, here are the kind of buds and blossoms that, made by hand, are used on brides' veils. |
Spring is finally, slowly arriving here, though your latitude of 31 degrees looks positively tropical and much closer to the equator than Norwich's arctic 52 degrees. You never made a bet upon a rose blooming by the equinox did you?!!
ReplyDeleteNot for extraneous gain; I only bet on my honor and self esteem as the owner of the rosebush. It has done, in other years, but not this time.
ReplyDeleteI would love a bush like that orange. It looks clean and fresh, and is productive too. Unfortunately I am in the wrong climate! Does it have a strong scent?
ReplyDeleteThat one is only a year old. It will be a tree. If you can't grow an orange, which they have in the Luxembourg Gardens but in a big tub on a flat with wheels, on which they bring it in in the winter, maybe tangerines or lemons will grow in a nice suburb like yours. I think limes want a more tropical clime; here they grow in Florida, for example. But in California we have orange groves (fewer now, because Silicon Valley like the same climate) all up and down Highway 101 at the latitude of San Jose. Perhaps your summers aren't warm enough. I'm thinking of what other citrus fruit (since the leaves and blossoms are similar onh all)...what about the kumquat? They make great preserves and are quite small. Yes, they are fragrant, when the sun is shining.
ReplyDeleteOn Sunday the 27th three buds opened on the rambling rose (see my wager in the caption of March 23rd above), so it was only six days late, my wager having been 'by the equinox'. It usually has opened buds within a week after forming buds at all. It is a very hearty plant, with huge thorns such as wild roses have.
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