Spring buds

Buds, which are helpful in identifying plants and trees, come in many shapes and types, including: scaly, covered, hairy and naked, as this chart shows beautifully:

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud#/media/File:Plant_Buds_clasification.svg)

Spring is on the way and many buds are popping on this cool, foggy morning.

Magnolia: hairy, covered, terminal

Plum: covered and dew kissed

Red maple: scaly, rounded

Crabapple: scaly

Blueberry: scaly

unidentified: scaly and rounded

Autumn delight!

Throughout the day, deer come to browse the fallen fruit from our mature crabapple (Malus) tree. The tree is at least 20 years old, has rough gray bark, has a round habit and blooms beautiful deep pink flowers in the spring. It produces literally tons of 1” diameter glossy reddish yellow fruit which I finally sampled and found to taste quite good. It is an excellent food source high in sugar for our local deer who keep our yard spotless of apples year round and it provides nectar for our bees and local pollinators in the spring. With 35 species of crabapples with 700 varieties, it is no wonder I can not quite identify it even after perusing Michael Dirr’s amazing: Manual of Woody Landscape Plants for awhile.