Daily Archives: April 3, 2012

Apple Blossoms

I’ve always liked apple blossoms and I think I prefer them over cherry blossoms. I’m not sure why I like one over the other since they are both simple, five-petaled, white flowers on medium sized trees. I think I prefer apple trees to cherry trees, and maybe it has something to do with that. At Glen Orchard (a cousin’s orchard that’s been in the family for over a hundred years) they grow both apples and cherries but it’s the apple trees that surround the cabin and perhaps that’s the real source of my preference. The view from the cabin when the apples are in bloom is right up there in terms of beauty. When I see apple trees in bloom, particularly simple, white apple blossoms, I think of Glen Orchard and in turn of my grandparents.

Whatever it is, I love apple blossoms and they are out here now. The flowers pictured here are on a few feral trees growing in the empty lot next to my office building, down by the stream. They are very happy there and I’ll be sad when the time comes for that property to be built upon.

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The Bugs Are Back In Town

Green and Yellow

Green and Yellow

Not surprisingly, with all the flowers blooming, there are lots of bees about, from the humble but industrious bumble and carpenter bees to the flashy, green cuckoo wasp, they are all over both tree and weed. Mostly doing yeoman’s work pollinating flowers in their effort to collect their daily bread (so to speak), they add motion and even color to a static, if already colorful, scene.

I love bees.

[Update: this has been identified by the good people of BugGuide as genus Augochlorella. The yellow flowers are Barbarea vulgaris, which goes by various common names including yellow rocket and bittercress.]

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