#ClimateDiary Just saw that our (already very scraggly looking) #Laburnum tree has suddenly started flowering - not everywhere, but around 4-5 flowers across the tree. It’s flowering season is normally May/June. Is it just ours or have others observed the same? Or is it normal for them and i just didn’t notice before? #Phenology#Jahreszeitenchaos#SeasonChaos
@pvonhellermannn We moved into our house (Georgia, USA) in August last year, and our crabapple had fruit when we moved in, then suddenly bloomed a second time in Sept. It just did the same thing again this year. No idea if this is a weirdness of this particular tree or just climate weirding. The bees are of course delighted.
@hydropsyche i was just trying to look it up - i don’t know. Yet again struck my profound ignorance and lack of observation about any of this, until far too recently- an ongoing conversation with @CiaraNi#Phenology
@pvonhellermannn@CiaraNi I found some references to cultivated apples doing this in response to a drought, so I would imagine their native cousins can too.
@NatureMC@pvonhellermannn@CiaraNi This is so cool. Thank you! Our crabapple is obviously quite old--big trunk with clear signs of having dropped large branches over the years. And it has a great big nest hole that's very popular with songbirds. Sounds like it may be near the end of its life and trying to get in a few extra reproductive rounds.
@NatureMC@hydropsyche@CiaraNi thank you so much for all this, Petra. Another day of learning so much from you, Petra. Very much looking forward to listening to the podcast, too!
@pvonhellermannn You're welcome. 😊 For a few years before the pandemic, I professionally made up nasty questions for horticulture and landscaping students to practice for the exams. That must be good for something other than plaguing young people.😂 @hydropsyche@CiaraNi
@pvonhellermannn@hydropsyche Another good example of one of those niggling 'is it weather, is it climate' observations. Interesting discussion and thread here!
@pvonhellermannn I just saw some of those posts - I've often seen those kinds of clouds, but never knew what they were called. 'Mackerel sky' is perfect!
(I am still spotting all sorts of other striking cloud formations, pretty much every day. It's hard not to think it's a sign of climate change.)
@pvonhellermannn there’s a bridleway near my work that always has a lovely swathe of crocus in spring - they have all come out over last few weeks. I can’t remember if that’s happened before - either way when I checked their flowering time it is meant to be spring from what I found….
@charliestyr ! yes, crocusses are normally spring flowers. I also just noticed these #flowers on our street, which normally blossom in May/June. I don’t know enough about all this though- maybe it is quite “normal” for trees/plants to sometimes flower at unusual times of the year? #Bloomscrolling folks may know more #ClimateDiary#Phenomenology
@pvonhellermannn@charliestyr This happened to bushes and flowers on Cape Cod, MA after a late August hurricane. Sadly, flowering twice in one year made the spring flowers pretty dismal the next spring.
@pvonhellermannn In my latest podcast episode about baseline shifts, I talk about research on old books about plant traditions and comparing them to today's biodiversity. You can see a shift in blooming time from earlier centuries: https://mastodon.online/@NatureMC/111154525606608319
Unlike humans, nature (as a whole) adapts. With the climate crisis e.g., species from the south are wandering to the north. Frost-sensitive plants overwinter better. And other species die ... @charliestyr
@pvonhellermannn given the lack of flowers and the high temperature here in Netherlands I cant imagen how this must impact #insects
Trees are known to flower a tiny bit second time in fall, but they have plenty of reserves.
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