Spring Equinox is here

The Greenway is thawing out! Today’s current temperature of 41 degrees is a great improvement from Monday’s chilly high of 26. The Spring Equinox marks the moment when the day and night are of equal length – giving us a full 12 hours of daylight today. From now until the Summer Solstice in June the days will be getting longer, the nights shorter. This change in light and dark length stimulates many plants to grow and flowers to bud and bloom. Combined with the accompanying warming temperatures this increase in sunlight encourages sap and nutrients to move and travel up into plants and trees, helping buds to swell, leaves to open and finally flowers to bloom. While just one of many contributing physiological influences on a plant’s growth and development, the equinox has been celebrated for hundreds of years as a marker of spring and new growth.

Eranthus hymenalis (Winter Aconite)

Just emerging from the still frozen ground is the Eranthus hymenalis (Winter Aconite). This one isn’t fully open yet, and barely the size of a quarter. I will be scouting for more next week in our Taxodium grove near Oliver Street and Atlantic Avenue.

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’

The Hamamelis (Witch-hazel) blooming in the Fort Point Channel Parks will continue to delight us with flowers and fragrance for the next three or four weeks. We mention these often in our blog in March as they are reliable flowers and always a reason to be excited. See some of our previous years’ posts for more about these great late winter/early spring native trees. (March 28, 2011 and March 20, 2012).”

Hamamelis x intermedia