Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Black Locust--Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
We look forward to the blooming of the black locust trees every year. Their sweet blossoms are addictive. When I was in Massachusetts, I scarfed down a snack of locust blossoms at Six Flags during my school's field trip. Since they were blooming there, we figured it was only a matter of time before they came ready up our way. We waited a week . . . then two. No flowers. We inspected the trees more closely. No sign of flower buds. They bloomed to our south and to our north, but not in our town. What's going on? Do any botanists out there have a solution to the mystery of the disappearing edibles.
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Black Locust and Basswood are two of the best tasting sources of honey in our area. So Denny and I really pay attention to the blooming of those trees. Charlie Andros, another local beekeeper, has records that go back for decades. He can tell you what years they bloomed in his town and how good the nectar flow was from them.
ReplyDeleteDenny noticed that in Williamsville there was a hard frost that killed the young Locust leaves and also the Japanese Knotweed shoots. The trees recovered but missed their bloom time. We kept noticing the places where plants had died back and then places a few miles away where the plants and trees weren’t effected at all.
Also trees cycle from year to year in their blooming, nectar flow, and abundance of fruit and seed crops. Sometimes they take a year off. Every so many years there is a mast crop. Likewise with mushrooms. Hopefully Putney and Williamsville will have an exceptional Black Locust bloom next year!
I’m sorry that you were away for the oyster mushroom flush. All this rainy weather portends more mushrooms.