Another Spring, more burgeoning blossom and yes we’ve seen it all before. Spring blossoms are almost a cliché but surely we can never see enough of this ephemeral beauty. Japan’s ‘flower viewing’ or hanami is their major Spring event and here in the UK, the National Trust have now begun a Blossom Watch day (April 23rd 2022). This not only reminds us to stop and enjoy the sights, in towns, woodlands, and gardens but it also entices us to plant blossoming trees, if we have the space.

More than half of the orchards in England and Wales have been lost since 1900 …with only 43,017ha (hectares) left growing today. Traditional orchards have also decreased by 81 per cent equivalent to an area the size of the West Midlands.

Here in my daughter’s Derbyshire garden, they have begun a small orchard of plum, damson, cherry, apple and pear

“The trunks and branches of traditional varieties of fruit trees are great homes for rare species such as the noble chafer beetle and attract patrolling bats. Not only this, but the blossom attracts pollinators, which are vital to our ecosystem.”

Orchard fruit trees are not the only ones to blossom. Many of our native trees also flower profusely in Spring including blackthorn, bird cherry, wild cherry, crab apple, dogwood, elder, guelder hawthorn, rowan and the foul-smelling Plymouth pear!

"...And just as you find 

yourself at the end 
of winter’s long, cold 
rope, the blossoms open 

like pink thimbles 
and that black dollop 
of shine called 

bumblebee stumbles in."

Susan Kelly-DeWitt ~ Apple Blossoms

The National Trust ~ Blossom Watch Day ~ April 23rd 2022

One for Wildlife Wednesday