Re: Irregular blooming: What is normal?
- To: M*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Irregular blooming: What is normal?
- From: R* F* D*
- Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 21:59:19 -0500 (EST)
At 09:41 AM 3/31/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>
>Yes, it's intriguing to wonder why flowering plants are blooming early
>or why the butterflies are missing in the California Central Valley or
>what La Nina will bring in climate. But it might be good to accept that
>the more we try to understand these things, the harder it will be to say
>what's "normal." I think the best we can do is say, the redbuds are
>blooming more fully this year than last year and the narcissus were a
>week early than last year.
>
>I'll get off my soapbox now ...
>
>Paul Harrar
Paul:
I'm glad you mentioned the redbuds. They seem more plentiful in North
Carolina as well. Last year, both John Sorenson in Sacramento and I noticed
that Salvia canariensis went nuts and set lots of seed.
There are daylight-independent Salvias (daylength is not a factor),
short-day and long-day bloomers. But bloom in Salvias is more complicated
than that. Different temperature ranges can cause some sages to bloom
indeterminately of light period or become short-day bloomers.
I like to think of the emergence of blooms as notes in a symphony, by way of
trying to understand whatever subtle message nature is trying to send us.
Salvias seem especially sensitive, and it is very interesting to find out
that some of these observations aren't just local events! Maybe Mother
Nature's Symphony of the Sages is part of the Music of the Spheres.
Richard F. Dufresne
313 Spur Road
Greensboro, North Carolina 27406 USA
336-674-3105
