Species Of The Week Number 24: Cherry-Plum Tree

Despite the snow, Spring has stared its battle with Winter for seasonal superiority. One of the first to come out fighting for Spring is the blossom of the Cherry-Plum Tree like the gorgeous Meanwood in our species list that has started blooming over the last few days. It is particularly striking because the white flowers come out before its green leaves.

Cherry-plum blossom is cool in Meanwood but is massive in Japan. A symbol of the impermanence of life, it is celebrated during the annual Hanami festival when people go and look at wonderful forests of blooming trees. They take it so seriously that the Japan Meteorological Corporation even announces the official predicted date for blooming to begin. Which, if you are interested, is March 16th this year. So Meanwood has beaten Japan to it in that respect.

The fruit appears later in the year. It is edible and can be used to make jams, jellies, and other preserves. It is also particularly popular in Georgian cuisine (thats of the European country, not in the time of King George). The Georgians use it to produce tkemali sauce, kharcho soup and chakapuli stew. Sounds yum.

The wood of the cherry plum is hard and durable, making it useful for woodworking projects. It is also used as firewood in some regions.

Cherry plum flowers can also come to the rescue for people "in fear of losing control of their behaviour" -and tbh who hasn't been there at some point? I know I have. Dr Edward Bach used the flowers to create a remedy for this affliction, and they are still used in Bach Flower Remedies today.

Outside of the Meanwood project patch, nip over to my Insta page @ClunyM to see a flock of 20,000 starlings near Ripon. An awesome sight and sound.

Posted on 08 de março de 2023, 03:10 PM by clunym clunym

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