Tree Buds Waiting for Spring
Take a fresh look at winter trees. Anyone living in a temperate area like England can see that some plants get ready for Spring long before Winter has even bitten. Trees form buds in late Summer, even before the leaves fall. Inside each bud is a miniature ‘embryo’ leaf or flower, waiting.
This winter dormancy lasts for months, and most native trees will not break dormancy during a short thaw, a useful survival trick. Buds and seeds both contain a hormone called Abscisic Acid; this switches off all metabolic activity. In Spring, the hormone becomes increasingly dilute, losing its ability to inhibit growth, so that buds burst open at the right time.
Buds are protected by a hard cover called ‘bud scale’. While closed, this protects the bud from frost damage. These protective mechanisms mean that woody plants like trees can get ahead quickly in the Spring, and complete their growth in a relatively short growing season.
Lawrence Edwards found some startling facts about tree buds. Edwards (1912-2004) was a teacher and worldwide lecturer in mathematics. For over thirty years, he researched the forms of living nature, using geometrical analysis.
In 1983, he was measuring Winter tree buds and found they were not as dormant as we had imagined, but changed shape and size in a regular cycle all through Winter. Even more surprising, this cycle was different for each tree species. Painstaking measurement and investigation revealed that the cycles corresponded not to solar cycles, not even to lunar cycles, but to conjunctions or alignments between the moon, earth and various planets or the Sun. For example -
Oak: Mars
Beech: Saturn
Cherry: Sun
Birch: Venus
Walnut: Saturn
Edwards also found that overhead power lines disrupted this planetary influence, something which gives even more pause for thought.
Further research by Edwards, and others since his death, has confirmed his findings. Work continues in the UK and USA around planetary and other influences on bud form. The effect of comets such as Shoemaker-Levy (1994) show clearly in abnormal bud growth.
We have much to learn about our relationship with the wider universe. Not magic, in fact totally scientific, but still magical!
Refs
The Vortex of Life: Lawrence Edwards, Floris Books, Edinburgh,1993
A description of the influence of celestial motion on living forms.
science.anth.org.uk/sgnl304.pdf
Obituary of Lawrence Edwards
budworkshop.co.uk/index.html
Ongoing research and some mathematical explanations
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Recipe: Smoked Haddock Patties
This is a tasty and simple Nigel Slater recipe. Makes about 9 patties, serves 3.
 You need:400g smoked haddock
400g potatoes
milk to cook and mix, or milk/water
saffron stamens – a large pinch
chopped parsley – 2 tbs
seasoning to taste
oil for cooking
What to do:
1. Set the oven on 200˚C/Gas 6.
2. Put the haddock in a shallow baking dish, or a pan, and pour in milk to just cover. Bake or simmer 20-25 minutes until tender. The fish should come away easily from its skin.
3. Peel, chop and boil the potatoes, drain and mash. Works best mashed roughly, not too smooth.
4. Soften the saffron stamens in a little of the milk from the fish.
5. Prepare the fish by skinning it and breaking it up with a fork, checking for bones.
6. Mix the soaked saffron, potato, seasoning and parsley. Add more milk if needed, but don’t make it too wet.
7. Shape tablespoons of mixture into ovals. Some flour on your hands stops it sticking too much. Place in fridge for half an hour to set. You should have enough mixture for nine croquettes.
8. Fry in shallow oil, quite hot, 3-4 mins each side till brown (you may find they have 3 sides). Turn with great care or they break up.
9. Place on kitchen paper to drain, then serve.
What to serve with them? In Nigel’s own words: “I know I should have some seasonal winter vegetables with these soft little cakes but somehow nothing seems to work quite as well with them as frozen peas”.
please visit www.nigelslater.com
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