Up north, there are stirrings under the snow. Can crocus
blossoms be far behind? Here, in Florida, the changes are more subtle, because
plants and trees bloom in sequence all year around. Even in January, the
hibiscus sport some blooms, although not, perhaps, as extravagant in number as
later in the year. Live oaks and palms, of course, look just about the same January
through December.
We have very few plants that are deciduous, losing leaves
and flowers when the chilly weather and shorter days combine to say, “It’s
winter; look dead.” Two of those deciduous plants are the bald cypress and the
frangipani, (otherwise known as plumeria) which is naked from about December to
March or April.
(The kind of frangipani grown in Hawaii is evergreen and
ever-blooming. The flowers are the basis for the lei presented to arriving
visitors. We in Florida couldn’t reliably make leis with our frangipani.)
And, apparently, we can’t count on our frangipani to start
leafing out in mid-March or in April as usually happens. In the past couple of
days, I have noticed that leaves are starting to sprout right now.
 |
| Plumeria or Frangipani |
Some snowbird friends of ours will be thrown off by this
early sprouting; they used to say that it was time to head north when the
frangipani began to do its springtime thing. Now, they will have to rely on a
more certain date to join the I-75 and I-95 parade of RV’s and passenger cars and
vans heading north. That date certain is April 1. There’s still time after that
to find all the paperwork needed to prepare income tax returns.
P.S. Sales of my book Goat
Water Is Not What You Think about our adventures on the Caribbean island of Montserrat and the build-up to the volcano which destroyed our house are going well. I am pleased by the response.
Buy a copy at:
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