Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Dazed and Confused

It's been so dry and so hot for so long (it's not true, wanted a woman, never bargained for you-ou...), that my Okame Cherry doesn't know its asshole from its elbow.

Or more appropriately (and less crassly) whether it's spring or fall.

It has blooms sprinkled throughout the top. In mid-September.



Normally this tree has beautiful, light pink flowers in very early spring. In fact, mine is an earlier bloomer than other cherry tree varieties.

Why the blooms?

This tree has basically been tortured. Fried under the scorching sun for 6 months, deprived of water, bits of it have been consistently falling off. I tried to sneak it water once in awhile, but it wasn't enough.

Suddenly, the reverse happens.

The tree thinks,'Shit! (because my tree swears just as much as I do) Did we skip winter?' and squeezes out a few flowers, trying to get with the program.

My magnolias do this a lot as well. Maybe it has nothing to do with torture.

*whispers* I think my trees are all smoking crack.

OR, there could also be some rational, scientific explanation. I just prefer to anthropomorphize my trees. And use big words.

I've also been getting these creepy dragonflies all this week.

Usually I think dragonflies are kind of pretty, but these ones are sort of nasty and seedy looking...like they'd take all your money and stab you in a dark alley and leave you for dead.

This is the best picture I could get of one...


Speaking of being dazed and confused, I feel that way myself. Can you tell? This post is all over the place.

I've done a couple of overnight shifts at work (I was supposed to do four, but we got everything done early because we're awesome!). I swear have to keep checking what day it is.

*squints* Oh look, it's September 13th...it's my stepdaughter's 15th birthday. That makes me feel old. Ooooooooooooold. When I met Chuck, she was 8.

Freaks my shit out.



She wanted 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' for her birthday. And being the cool stepmum that I am, I bought it for her.

That girl loves a drag queen as much as I do. She's awesome.

9 comments:

Liz said...

Hi Kyna,

I would've suggested that you have an Autumn Cherry... But since you know it not to be, clearly I'm talking outta my ass...

Even weirder than having a cherry coming into blossom is the fact I have Muscari growing! Like, wtf's that all about? I wonder if they'll also begin to bloom. It's not even like we've had a cold summer; it's been mostly 20+c for months now and very, very dry.

Chad B said...

I can't help you figure out the mystery of why your cherry tree is blooming now, but I had to stop in and ask: where in the world did you find that awesome picture of the squirrels with the light sabers?

Kyna said...

Liz: My mum left a comment about my blog post on FB today, saying similar things. Spring things are growing in the fall there too.

Crazy shit!

Chad: I probably found it by accident. I find most of the funny pics I find by accident.

You might be surprised at all of the weird things that squirrels are doing in pics all over the internet.

Or you might not. And in that case, I'm just going to back away slowly...*phones police*

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

Our Ceanothus trees did the same thing. Two weeks ago the blasted things were trying to bloom, at the same time they were spitting seeds all over the back deck. The weather is seriously messed up this year, and confusing the beejeezus out of everything!

Anonymous said...

You entry title reminded me of a song I haven't heard for a long time...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoA8GwHQJgw

That said, we've had a miserable, wet summer in Denmark, and our plants seem fully tuned in to autumn.

biobabbler said...

I'm not a botanist (a mere conservation biologist), and hybrids are frequently different from wild plants in LOTS of ways, but I'm guessing if they didn't get to bloom much this spring, with the shortening of the days, they're thinking, well, we've been waiting for good conditions to bloom, but they're not going to happen, and now winter's comin', so it's NOW or NEVER. The old better late than never approach to reproduction.

Just a theory. =)

OR they're going to die and it's a last ditch effort to reproduce self before death. Hoping it's not that. =)

Benjamin Vogt said...

Ha! One of my fave posts thank you very much. Seedy dragonflies? And I bet your tree went dormant, had enough dormant days down south, and thought it's spring. Trees up north wouldn't have done that because their dormant clocks are longer. And hey, I feel old at 35--I'm 50% grey hair already. Sucks like sump pumps.

Kyna said...

Clare: It feels like the weather is getting weirder and weirder every year. I'm hoping next year we get more rain than we did this year.

Soren: I've never heard that song before, it was pretty cool. :) Sorry your summer weather was so shitty, you could have just sent us some of your rain...:P

Bio: Thank goodness reproduction doesn't work like that in humans. Or at least it doesn't in most cases... :P

Benjamin: I have pretty good anti-grey hair genes in my family, so I won't have to worry about that for awhile.

But then again I'll be one of those old ladies that dyes their hair bright red long past when I should stop, so it'll never matter. 'Old age' in my family shows up in arthritis form...my back and joints are feeling it already, and I'm only 30.

Competetive sports might have had some hand in it though...

Starting a Garden said...

Interesting! Cherry tree blooming in the falls. Thanks for sharing the image.