Spring’s a poppin’ with buds and blooms

Spring’s a poppin’ here in Oregon, and it’s the buds that tell us so. While most folks rely on sunny skies and the rise of snowdrops and crocus as early signs of spring, here at the nursery we rely on bud swell to predict spring’s arrival. For decades, we’ve practiced springtime phenology. This is the scientific term for ‘the study of the timing and cyclical patterns of events in the natural world,” according to the home page of the USA National Phenology Network, “particularly those related to the annual life cycles of plants, animals, and other living things. These events include the budding of leaves in spring, the arrival of migratory birds, the flowering of plants, and the onset of fruit ripening.” 

Learn a little bit about phenology, and you’ll want to learn more! The USNPN site includes a map that pinpoints local phenology programs and regional campaigns including Quercus Quest and The Redbud Phenology Project. Another good jumping off place is Budburst, a citizen science project of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Published in English and Spanish, it includes links to other phenology resources including activities for groups and educators preK-12 through higher education. It encourages visitors to join a community of thousands of people across the country who observe, record and report plant phenology in their own gardens, parks and forests.

Back to bud swell
Here at the nursery, we rely on the phenology of bud swell to help our garden center and landscape distribution center customers across the continent schedule the delivery of containerized trees in peak condition for their spring sales. The ideal time is just before bud break so the trees will arrive in dormant condition and “wake up” in their new environment, just in time to wow their customers with bright spring blooms and foliage.

This year, we’ve formalized our bud swell observations and are sharing them with customers via our weekly stock available lists. We think the arching rainbow of bud and bloom is so pretty and useful that we’re sharing it here, too. To develop the the weekly bud status chart for our customers, we observe a representative collection of 27 trees of various species every Monday morning and evaluate and rate their bud status that advances from Tight to Swelling, to Swollen, to Pushing Growth to Showing Color and finally, to New Growth/Flowering.

This week, some of those formerly tight buds have sped through the various stages and are among the first to wow us with  beautiful and fragrant flowers that promise to become delicious fruits of summer. Enjoy!