Pink spring blossom

So Quickly Gone: Spring Blossom

Posted on by Ann Mackay

I nearly wrote ‘Cherry Blossom’ in the title rather than ‘Spring Blossom’, but then I realised that I’m starting the post with flowers that aren’t cherry blossom. (Cherry tree flowers have a little slit at the tip of each petal, as you can see in the photograph below.)

What the blossom actually is, is something I can only make a guess at. Though I’m fairly sure I remember seeing tiny crab apples on the tree (which is on a green near my house). I do have a crab apple in my own garden, but it has far fewer and smaller flowers. The fruits that it produces look very attractive though – they’re a rich deep red and make up for the less impressive flowers.

Cherry blossom on tree
Early spring blossom – it flowered a couple of weeks ago and has gone now.

On the same green, which runs along the other side of the road just opposite us, there are several trees that blossom in the spring. I’m always happy to see the first flowers on the cherry trees there, and this year I made a point of photographing them. They flower earlier than the double-flowered cherry in my garden and they’re a joyful signal that spring has arrived. But they seem to disappear again so quickly! Now the trees that were covered in blossom just a few weeks ago have not a trace of blossom left.

Double-flowered cherry blossom
Candy-floss pink blossom from the tree in my garden.

While those trees have finished, others are just now in bloom. The cherry tree in my front garden flowers in the last week or two of April. When we moved into this house, the tree was in full flower and felt like a generous welcome to our new home. So seeing it back in flower every year is like a little celebration of the happy years we’ve lived here.

However, as soon as the tree has managed to come completely into flower, the wind is busy tearing the petals off. (Sometimes we’re lucky and the weather stays calm for longer.) This weekend has been a bit rough on the unfortunate little flowers with strong winds scattering their petals all over the grass. They look like giant pink snowflakes! I managed to bring some flowers inside to photograph before they got blown away but they won’t last long.

Perhaps its fragility and short-lived beauty is an important part of the attraction of spring blossom…I know I’ll enjoy seeing it again when it returns next year. And, as usual, I’ll try to photograph it before it escapes me!

Cherry blossom in a vase.
The flowers look lovely in a vase for a little while, but the petals will soon start to fall.

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

14 thoughts on “So Quickly Gone: Spring Blossom”

  1. I didn’t know about the notch! Thank you! All blossom is wonderful, isn’t it? And you are right, it’s brevity makes it all the more magical. You have some really delicious varieties. I used to live in Acton, West London, and the cherry blossom in Acton Park and along the residential streets of Chiswick was superb. I associate it with the birth of my second daughter, so it is even more special.

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    1. A brief magic – that a good way to sum it up! It’s lovely to have that association with the birth of your daughter! 🙂

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    1. Thanks Shelly! I photographed them just before it got very windy, but there is still blossom on my tree…for now!

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    1. Thank you Laurel! It’s very delicate too – the flowers I photographed left a trail of pink petals all round the house afterwards. (But they lasted a couple of days for the photos.) The wind did its best to rip them off the tree yesterday, but there’s still lots there, yay! 🙂

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  4. Love the pink blossoms! I used to live near Washington, DC, and the Cherry Blossoms on the Mall were so spectacular to see! Do you have the pink blossom Dogwood Trees over there? They bloomed with the Cherry Blossom trees and were very nice also.

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    1. I’ve seen a few of the white dogwood trees in gardens here but not seen the pink one yet. (Just in photos – they are lovely!) I’m going to visit an arboretum tomorrow, so maybe I’ll see one there….

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    1. Yes, and it’s something I look forward to…waiting for the sudden outburst of flowers that shows the garden has come back to life. 🙂

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