In February, as I walked to a local coffee shop in Wortley Village, I noticed a magnolia tree on a neighbour's lawn beginning to bud. The spear-shaped, fuzzy buds - hundreds at eye level, next to the sidewalk - were hard to miss.
I made mental notes: Magnolias are budding far too early. One hard frost and the buds will be die. The tree, therefore, won’t bloom in spring.
And in many subsequent walks to the Red Roaster for my morning coffee, I haven’t seen any magnolia buds or blooms. Climate change is doing its work, and it’s fortunate we don’t rely on magnolias as a food source.
The hardy apricot tree on my front lawn began to bud much earlier than usual as well this year. In fact, this morning, upon my return from the coffee shop (it’s true, I’m addicted to coffee) I noticed blooms for the first time. In two days the tree will be covered with millions of lovely white blooms and a few photographers will stop their cars and snap pictures through their rolled-down windows, as in the past.
The tree is blooming too early thanks to global warming and I suspect that as temperatures fluctuate more in the future other fruit trees will have a difficult time adjusting to wonky growing seasons.
Unfortunately, we do rely on fruit trees of all kinds to provide a part of our expansive diets, and climate change will likely result in food shortages in the near future. As we feel the warm (then hot) rays of the sun upon our faces, legs and arms in the coming months, perhaps we’ll also feel we have had something to do about that.
[Photos, "Apricot Blooms", by G. Harrison]
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