Reflections in Nature: As spring slowly approaches, buds start appearing
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As Mary Alice and I were walking up our sidewalk, she told me to look at all the buds on our rhododendron bush and how beautiful it will be in the spring when in full bloom.
Although mid-spring blooming rhododendrons make their flower buds in July to September, the buds will not open until the following year. On most rhododendrons, the flower buds are large, while the leaf buds are small and pointed.
In the spring, new buds are formed on trees, along with the leaves and flowers. However, these spring buds are miniscule, being no larger than the head of a pin. At this time, the food produced by the tree is used to make the tree grow. The buds formed in the spring require very little food but in July, the tree will have grown to the size it will be that year.
Twigs will grow no longer, leaves are full-sized, flowers fall off after setting their fruit and the trunk's new rings are completed.
Now, the tree switches its food supply to the spring buds for next year. During the next two months, the tree concentrates on building, folding and storing the miniature buds for next year's growth.
While some trees have different buds for leaves and flowers, buds can also be both leaves and flowers as in apple, cherry and Juneberry. All buds are packed with nutrition. Wildlife, such as grouse, deer and some birds, feed on them during the winter months.
There are all sizes of buds. Usually, trees that grow in the north have larger buds then trees that grow in the south. A tree has approximately a three to four month growing season to produce flowers, leaves and seeds.
Winter begins to lose its grip when the snow and ice melt, allowing the ground to begin absorbing heat. Now, the buds on the trees will begin to swell. In May, the trees will go from swollen buds to green leaves, while soaking up sunshine. However, the tree cannot leaf out too early due to either a late frost or snowstorm damaging the leaves and possibly break limbs from the weight of the snow.
If a tree were to lose its leaves from a late frost, it does have a fail-safe system of secondary leaf buds that would leaf out later. This is stressful on the tree, however. If these secondary buds are not used, they could last as a bud for several years and then shrivel up and drop.
When looking at the buds on a tree, you will notice that the larger buds are usually the flower buds, while the smaller buds are leaf buds. Some trees will produce flowers before they produce leaves. It is not as hard on a tree if the tree produces its flowers and is then hit by a late frost. Failing to flower one year will reduce the seed production but not harm the tree as much as if the leaves are lost.
However, if you have a fruit orchard, this is disastrous.
Trees that produce flowers before the leaves are usually pollinated by the wind. The leaves would interfere with the exchange of the pollen. While trees that flower out after they produce leaves are usually cross pollinated by insects. Wind pollinated trees produce flowers weeks ahead of their leaves, while a bee pollinated tree, such as a basswood, can flower out a month after it has leafed out.
Why? When the basswood tree creates its flowers, it is the exact time when the bees have had enough time to build up their population, and the basswood tree has a greater chance to have its flowers pollinated.
Some types of trees are equipped with two kinds of buds, both of which are entirely different in appearance. During the winter, the flower buds of the dogwood tree, which are always at the end of the twig, are wider than they are long and come to a peak; however, the leaf buds of the dogwood tree, which are found along the twig, are extremely slender and sharp.
These two types of buds open entirely differently, and of course, the flowers come first.
Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.