'There Never Was a Spring Like This'
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| Peach flowers opened in February. PHOTO/AmyGWh |
The flowers pictured to the right were on a peach tree at the community garden on the grounds of a church in Marietta. I took the picture a couple of weeks ago, at the very end of February.
On warm-enough days, I sometimes take my lunch to eat at a picnic table by that garden. It isn't too far from the office, and it is a beautiful place.
These flowers are beautiful, too, but I was not as happy to see them as I might have been in another spring.
The problem is that the flowers opened too soon, triggered, I would guess, by a February that felt a lot like April. Unfortunately, we are about to have two nights in a row of temperatures around 25 degrees F.
Even though bees and other tiny insects buzzed all around the open flowers, working their pollinator magic, the little fruits forming as a result of that work are at a high risk of damage from the impending cold. Apple and plum trees in my neighborhood have done the same thing, blooming too soon.
This is one of those times when I think of the poet Countee Cullen, and the poem that starts “I cannot hold my peace, John Keats; There never was a spring like this.” Of course, he meant it differently, but this is definitely a spring that I have not seen before.
Home gardening can provide a lot of good food for families and communities. It’s also some work, but I love it. This blog is about the garden and yard where I “grow my own,” NW of Atlanta, Georgia.
Source: http://atlantaveggies.blogspot.com/2017/03/there-never-was-spring-like-this.html
