Our Environment: “The Colors of Winter” by Scott Turner
Sunday, February 02, 2020
Non-native neighbors are adding color to the garden this mid-winter.
The green tips of several spring bulbs, including snowdrops, crocus, and daffodils, are poking up from the ground, particularly in sunny spots.
Many spring bulbs come from elsewhere in the world such as parts of Europe or Asia. Here, far from their home turf, small environmental changes like moderate winter temperatures will set these plants shooting through the soil surface.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMost native species of plants, on the other hand, don’t react that way to temperature, moisture or other fluctuations in the air or soil. Take our beloved icon of the New England winter, sugar maple. The tree’s buds won’t break until April or May, period. Of course, a sugar maple’s sap might start to run well before February and March. In fact, sugar maple sap flows when nights are in the 20s and days are in the 40s, and we’ve had a stretch of such weather. No doubt, sap is flowing in local sugar maple trees at the moment.
If you’re craving more color than green shoots outdoors, then find the nearest Chinese and Japanese cultivars of witch hazel, for they are in bloom.
Witch hazel is a shrub or small tree. At least two species are native to North America. Both of them flower in autumn. It’s the Asiatic cultivars or their hybrids that bloom in mid-winter. And because it’s like a refrigerator outside, the flowers will last for weeks to come.
Witch hazel flowers look a lot like clusters of dainty yellow streamers. These blooms also happen to be fragrant. Sometimes a witch hazel displays orange or red flowers.
I am a huge fan of any living organism that bursts forth in color, plus fills the air with perfume, during the coldest, and nearly darkest, time of the year. If you want the gray of winter to go away, seek-out the nearest witch hazel as soon as possible.
Now, please note that the appearance of witch hazel flowers in no means suggests that winter will wrap up soon. It does tell us, however, at least here in Southern New England, that February has arrived.
A year ago, for example, several snowfalls followed the winter-blooming of witch hazel. The flowering shrubs, topped by bright white clumps of wet snow, looked enchanting, particularly in bright sunlight.
Of the bulbs that have broken ground, snowdrops are growing the quickest. Indeed, snowdrops are the first of our bulbs to bloom, producing bell-shaped, nodding white flowers. A few more sunny and relatively warm days, and snowdrops will begin to blossom.
For some of us, the appearance of bulbs shooting forth, combined with the flowering of witch hazel, brings the “s” word to mind. I definitely would not go as far as to say that the next season is in the air, but something is up, and maybe “s” is not too far down the road.
Scott Turner is a Providence-based writer and communications professional. For more than a decade he wrote for the Providence Journal and we welcome him to GoLocalProv.com.
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