It's Springtime, And The Maples Are Blooming!

This post doesn't have anything to do with antiques or olden times. I just thought that I would share with you all something that is most often overlooked.


Did you ever hear the phrase: "You can't see the forest for the trees"? Well, in this case, you can't see the tree for the blossoms.

So, everyone in the United States is familiar with the beautiful pink cherry blossoms that line the tidal basin in the nation's capitol, Washington, D.C. But I would bet that most, if not all, of the readers of this blog have never seen a maple blossom. Yes, you heard, or rather read, correctly ~ maple blossom. You probably believed that when Spring is breaking out all over the place, that leaves just start to sprout all over the branches of maple trees, making them green all over. The fact of the matter is that before the leaves start to come out, the maple tree blooms in lime green blossoms.
 

The photos on this post show the maple tree in my yard completely covered in beautiful maple blossoms. Although all of the types of maples sprout blossoms in the Spring, the Norway Maple, which is the type shown here, seems to get the nicest blooms. One source told me that the "blossom" is actually called a cluster of staminate flowers.

Most people, even those who have maple trees growing in their own yards, never see the blossoms ~ mostly because they have never actually looked at that green stuff on the tree's branches. They probably think that any green color that they see would simply be leaves coming out. And, of course, if the blossoms were white or pink, they would be more noticeable, but being green, they do resemble leaves ~ especially if you see them as you are passing by at sixty miles-per-hour in a car. While it's Springtime, get outside and enjoy your maple trees while they are flowering!