The Alpha Males and The Ladies of a Red and a Silver Maple (A Post for Sarah)

Red Maple Male Flowers, Last year, March 20th, 2011, Prospect Park

Last year when I saw this flower, I joked about it being a possible pink maple if there was such a thing, but that I really thought it was a Red Maple with only male flowers. (the leaf nearby on the ground helped with identification) I had read that Red Maples could sometimes have both types of flowers on the same tree, but that more often than not a tree had either male flowers or female flowers and since I only saw stamens and anthers on this tree's flowers, it seemed like a tree that produced only male flowers. The female flowers or rather their parts are what form the fruit, the samaras that are associated with maples.

Below is a picture of a different tree that very same weekend last year. I assumed that it was also a Red Maple, but that this time it was a tree with only female flowering parts. Now, I am still unsure of whether the tree below is a Red Maple or a Silver or a hybrid of the two (I had forgotten that I'd gone back to watch the leaves unfold about a month later in April and that they looked more like a silver than a red maple and I don't remember checking again when the leaves were completely open. I'll do it this year though.) At the time, I'd read that they are closely related, that they do hybridize (into the Freeman's Maple in the trade) and that their bloom times can overlap. Either way, though, the flowers below don't seem to have anthers at all and this same tree is blooming now this year. (I haven't checked on the one above in Prospect Park though.)

This post is for Sarah over at her blog, musingsfromdave. She's got a nice new camera, so perhaps she can get some really good closeups of these flowers up in Vermont, where they should be behind us a bit. Thanks for making me go back through my pictures. I think the picture below and the one from my recent post is actually a silver maple now.

Female flowers, (possibly Silver Maple, last year, March 19th, Floyd Bennett)

Following The Seasons in Your Own Way

Female flowers Red (Or is it a silver maple? What I know is that the flower appears to have only female sex parts.) Maple, March 10, 2012 Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn. Same tree last year , a bit later.

There are lots of good reasons to pay attention to trees and the other plants around you as winter gives way to spring. If you've already learned what a tree's flowers look like, you might then begin to track its bloom time in your own way throughout the years. Last week on Brooklyn Botanic's news blog, arborist Chris Roddick explained a little bit about the complexity of factors that effect the variability of the exact moment of bloom from year to year among species. I enjoyed his post not only because it offered some insight from someone who has spent two decades observing and working with trees, but also because it speaks to the power of observation. And paying attention is something that anyone with any level of botanic knowledge can do. I don't expect to solve any great scientific questions by paying attention to seasonal cues and clues in my own small way, but this small act does make me feel connected to a broader scientific community that is always asking questions and trying to figure out the connections between complex factors in a changing world. And of course, it's incredibly convenient that there is always also the simple joy in celebrating the moment and its beauty.

Riding in Circles

Red Maple Flowering as winter turned to spring, Prospect Park

You don't get anywhere riding in circles in Prospect Park, but getting somewhere isn't the point of every bike ride. I ride in the park to train primarily, and after hundreds of laps through the years, the loop is like an old friend. Now that I garden though, rides have another purpose and there are certain trees I keep an eye out for through the seasons. Here's one from this year: A Red Maple (Acer rubrum), one of the earliest blooming trees as winter gave way to spring this year (March 20th), and again, this week as the leaves on that same early bloomer are changing and falling.

Some Natives at the Nursery

This one Redbud in particular seemed to be hosting a lunch party for the bees, while down the aisle a Red Maple was dangling its samaras.



And a Dogwood pictured below, just leafing out. Spring in New York. Today's show mostly featuring pink.

What's Leafing Out

The Sweetgum around the corner. I did manage to catch it with the leaves just opening. I wonder how many springs in the rest of my life I can manage to do that. It happens every year, but I bet I'll probably miss it more times than not, so I'm happy I remembered to take the alternate route home from work and look for it this evening. And below what I thought was the Red Maple from the community garden down at Floyd Bennett, although at this point, the leaves seem finely dissected and look more like a Silver Maple. Hhhm.

Late Winter Blooms at Floyd Bennett Field

Looking up at a Red Maple, Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NYC

A fierce wind was whipping as usual for this time of year and it was probably 5 to 10 degrees cooler than inland, but a fine day for weeding, fertilizing and planting some Lathyrus odoratus, (Sweet Pea Vine) I hope. It was certainly a good day to check out the bloomers in the last days of winter. Up in the sky the Red Maple was blooming and down at the ground some crocuses from Joe's garden. All over there were bulbs in bloom and familiar faces to greet again after a long winter. It's good to be back.