Come walk with me in the peak Autumn beauty of the Northwoods. To say that I love this time of year is an understatement. Most everyone can appreciate the colorful falling leaves---it reveals the 'true self' of a tree when its leaves are no longer producing chlorophyll. Their true colors are revealed, and there is something simple … [Read More...]
Flower to Fruit Transformation
In the ‘About Me’ section of my blog, I wrote how I loved the constancy and adaptiveness of Nature. The constancy of Nature occurs in the cyclical motion of the seasons. After a warm, beautiful summer, we know that fall will be easing in and pleasing us with her gorgeous leaf colors and bountiful harvest of pumpkins, apples, carrots, and many other delights. We also know what will be coming after that! This predictable evolution of seasons is marked with transformation, metamorphosis, and change.
In less than three month’s time, the bright white blossoms of the wild plum tree are transformed into ripening fruit surrounded by changing leaves.
The woodland Jack in the Pulpit has become a stalk of brightly colored fruits.
The amazing Buckeye tree with its prolific early summer blooms is now covered with fruit that contains the shiny, brown nut-like seeds.
The delicate wild rose flowers have changed into sturdy rose hips that contain the seeds.
And the dangling white-green flowers of Solomon’s seal are now dark, plump pairs of fruit.
These short-term transformations are really all about Nature doing what Nature does–producing seeds for future growth. The plants adapted to a late spring, a soggy June, a dry July, and a cool August–and still got their work done! The seeds for next year’s ‘crop’ have been produced.
Perhaps I like Nature’s adaptability to change and its many stories of transformation because I’m not very good at change myself. My love of routine and of the things I like, keeps me sailing on a calm sea. If change is coming, I like to see it coming. Nature reminds us that we really aren’t as much in control as we think we are. There is a rhythm to life, a development, a change, a transformation, a metamorphosis, a conversion, a shift, a remodeling that innately runs through our lives–and then it happens again and again and again. So I will try to take my cues from Nature–to be open to change and up for the task of transformation.
The Luck of the Buckeye
This deep brown, nut-like seed is from a Buckeye tree. The shiny brown color and lighter tan circle on the seed gives it the appearance of a deer’s eye, thus the name of the tree. We have quite a few seedlings growing on our property, thanks to the squirrels who gather the nuts from a mature tree two blocks up the street. You can see the teeth marks from the little critter on the nut above. Similar to a Horse Chestnut, these nuts are supposed to bring good luck to those who carry them.
The buds of the young Buckeye are large compared to other tree buds, which gives us an inkling of what’s to come.
The bud cover now looks so small compared to what it contained.
Nearly a month has passed since I took a picture of the bud. The leaves are beginning to turn green and look more mature.
And this is the tree up the street that the nut probably came from and that will soon be blooming in showy clusters of flowers. It takes decades for a tree to reach its full potential–from shiny brown seed to flowering, nut-producing mature tree. Amazingly though, in only one month’s time, we can witness the large-budded seedling double in size and produce an array of beautiful compound leaves. It is one of the reasons I believe in miracles!