Apple blossoms, maple and birch in Lunenburg, May 13th

Apple blossoms were blooming in Lunenburg last Thursday, which means they’re past their prime in the Annapolis Valley already.  The Apple Blossom Festival will apparently be blossom-less.  Usually the organizers hit the blossoms right on with their timing, but this year it is generally agreed that spring is 2 to 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

Not that we’re complaining … this is my favourite time of year, when the leaves burst forth.  If it’s part of a long-term trend, however, it could be very disruptive to the natural balance of blooming and birthing, migration and munching, which governs the ongoing survival of many animals and plants.

Spring is early across Canada, not just in Nova Scotia, or so I hear.  Is spring early where you live?  Leave a comment below.

Crow in the cones high on a spruce tree

There is a traditional rule that says when the cones are set high in the trees, you can expect a lot of snow the following winter.

If it’s true, and if this tree in Feltzen South on Lunenburg Bay is reliable, then we’d all better make sure our snowblowers and plows are working, to say nothing of getting our backs in shape.

The crow in the picture is staking its claim over a reliable food supply.  Crows are no fools.

So we’ll see what the winter brings.  Remember, you saw it here first…

There's a chill in the air, a touch of frost, and a splash of colour in the maple leaves.

The red of young cones on the tamarack

Ever since attending a concert by the Nova Scotian children’s entertainers The Wilderbeats, described in Rural Delivery magazine as “Madcap oracles of nature’s voice for a new generation,” looking at a tamarack tree makes me think of their Tamarack Song:

Tamarack, Hackmatack, Juniper, and Larch
Absolutely naked from November until March
It’s got CONES! and it’s got NEEDLES!
But it isn’t what it seems…
It’s decidedly deciduous and never evergreen

Of course, it’s not really a juniper, but that’s one of the many names people use for this conifer that sheds its needles every fall.