Pink and blue from me to you
Behold the blossoms of a redbud tree (Cercis canadensis var. texensis) along Williamson County Rd. 110 in Round Rock on March 9th. By then the redbuds in and around Austin had finally begun to flower. Let’s hope that today’s early morning freeze hasn’t done the blossoms in—or if it has, that new ones will soon appear.
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Check out a clever video parody from the Babylon Bee called
“Brave Great White Shark Allowed To Compete In Women’s 500 Freestyle.”
There’s also this take on an actual occurrence:
“Ron DeSantis Bullies Kids Into Doing Whatever They Want.”
And an article in the Babylon Bee on March 7th bore the headline
“Biden Sells Alaska Back To Russia So We Can Start Drilling For Oil There Again.”
The strangest thing about it is that USA Today went through the motions of fact-checking it.
The newspaper found that the article was indeed satire, yet still felt the need to add:
“There is no evidence Biden plans to sell Alaska.”
Sometimes reality writes the parodies for you.
© 2022 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Super post
prejila
March 12, 2022 at 6:03 AM
I won’t deny it.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 6:40 AM
Beautiful colour against the blue sky.
Heyjude
March 12, 2022 at 6:17 AM
Agreed: pink and blue make a great combination.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 6:47 AM
You deserve some vibrant color, and this is glorious. Thinking about it, I don’t remember seeing a blooming tree of any sort around here at this point, but I suppose after this last little cold snap they’ll finally appear. The pink and blue combination reminds me of seeing the so-called grass pink orchid (Calpogon tuberosus) against the sky.
shoreacres
March 12, 2022 at 6:20 AM
Our outdoor thermometer reads 31° now. Hope the brief freeze won’t have killed off many of the blossoms that had finally begun appearing here after an unusually long delay. It’s strange that you’ve had wildflowers coming up but not yet trees blossoming.
Pink and blue do go well together. Calpogon reminded me first of Caltech, with which I have no personal acquaintance (as also with your orchid), and then of a brand of gasoline I grew up with: Calso, which stood for California Standard Oil Company. (25.9¢ per gallon, anyone?) The Calso gas stations eventually changed their name to Chevron.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 7:00 AM
I thought perhaps this was an image from last year, but no! Our elm trees show signs of leafing out soon, and the squirrels are going to town munching away! Our redbuds are still winter-bare. I do believe we will see a rapid onset of spring in the next couple of weeks with the promise of warm temperatures returning. The deer have been shedding hair for a couple of weeks now. Soon the red coats will return and they’ll be spotted babies running around!
Littlesundog
March 12, 2022 at 7:22 AM
I just looked back at some past posts and found I’d shown redbuds flowering here as early as February 13. This year marks the latest first appearance or redbud blossoms I remember. I’m assuming that you, being hundreds of miles further north, wouldn’t expect redbuds yet, and that matches what you’re reporting. I like your deer-shedding-hair and spotted-babies-running-around sort of a calendar.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 7:32 AM
Redbud is past its prime here! Beautiful plant.
Alessandra Chaves
March 12, 2022 at 8:52 AM
I’d never have expected redbuds to be past their prime this soon in any part of the country. Live and learn. A lot of the ones here get planted specifically because the landscapers want the gorgeous spring floral display.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 9:56 AM
they have leaves already, most of them.
Alessandra Chaves
March 12, 2022 at 2:33 PM
They really are advanced, as you said.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 2:41 PM
Both the Eastern and Western redbud are more advanced there than they are closer to the coast because of the lack of wintry weather during the daytime. I know that it has been cool at night, but it has also been nicely warm during the day, which is why the surrounding orchards are already finished blooming and are now foliating. Although we experience the same lack of wintry weather closer to the coast, the weather is milder, and sometimes cooler (during the day) with the coastal influence. The Western redbud still had color on it just a few days ago. Eastern redbud, although popular, does not bloom as spectacularly, and may still be in bloom. Because they respond slightly differently to different components of the weather, one does not always bloom prior to the other. The Western redbud likely blooms first for most years, but not always. It could bloom after the Eastern redbud, according to the weather.
tonytomeo
March 13, 2022 at 11:54 AM
So it’s complicated—like life itself.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 9:29 PM
well, . . . yes.
tonytomeo
March 14, 2022 at 3:13 PM
Oh wow, that’s beautiful! In No. Calif. where I just came back some of the fruit trees are in full bloom, but I didn’t see any Redbuds in bloom. This is lovely!!
circadianreflections
March 12, 2022 at 9:55 AM
Thanks, redbuds do put on quite a show.
I just looked back and found that last year you commented about redbuds in northern California. It was later in the season, on April 1:
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 10:01 AM
Yes, it’s April/May when they bloom along with the Dogwoods. 😀
circadianreflections
March 12, 2022 at 10:04 AM
Maybe you’ll get a chance to go back up there then for the mixed display of pink and white blossoms.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 10:07 AM
Most likely as my grandsons live there and I can’t go a month without seeing them. 😀
circadianreflections
March 12, 2022 at 11:04 AM
So much the better.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 11:50 AM
Looking at the flowering bush is proof of the big climate difference between your and my region. When I find the first flower here at the Arrow Lake, I will make it known to all in my blog. The buds are swelling, Nature’s promise to us.
Peter Klopp
March 12, 2022 at 4:40 PM
Given how far north you are, I’ve been surprised by how early you’ve occasionally found flowers. Austin is late this year.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 5:53 PM
From me to you, thank you. The ‘from me to you’ and the blossom made me think of Japan and a Japanese ‘city pop’ song by Hiroshi Sato which gets a lot of play in my house at the moment. His other songs get plenty of play in my house, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Sato_(musician)
Gallivanta
March 12, 2022 at 6:54 PM
“City pop” is a kind of music I knew nothing about. Is there a reason why a (presumably) old song by Hiroshi Sato is getting a lot of play in your house now?
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 10:03 PM
His Blue and Moody Music was mentioned in this New Yorker article so I investigated and decided I liked the vibe. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2021-in-review/the-year-in-vibes
Gallivanta
March 12, 2022 at 11:10 PM
That article in turn taught me about something else I hadn’t heard of, the Strasbourg dancing plague of 1518:
https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-dancing-plague-of-1518
The word “vibe” used as “a linguistic shortcut for the ineffable” strikes me as a good analysis.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 9:41 AM
Hmm…… I rather like the word ineffable though. I don’t hear it enough these days.
Gallivanta
March 13, 2022 at 5:12 PM
These days we’re more likely to hear the F-word than the word in-F-able.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 5:25 PM
True. However I might amuse myself by throwing out an ineffable or two today. I am also wanting to try ‘cunctator’. I excel at being a cunctator.
Gallivanta
March 13, 2022 at 5:39 PM
We’ll look forward to catching any ineffables you throw out. As for the other word you lay claim to, it’s better to be a cunctator than a dictator.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 8:18 PM
It certainly is.
Gallivanta
March 13, 2022 at 8:26 PM
Although the first Cunctator did become a dictator, which you probably already know.
Gallivanta
March 13, 2022 at 8:26 PM
If I did, I’d long ago forgotten.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 8:32 PM
Cultivars of this are popular as small trees here. ‘Forest Pansy’ is something of a fad, but is also the one I dislike . . . because it is a fad. The native Western redbud is blooming now.
tonytomeo
March 12, 2022 at 8:26 PM
You may have cleared up a mystery. Alessandra Chaves reported the redbuds near Sacramento are past their prime already. I wonder if those are the native redbuds you mentioned rather than the canadensis that grows in the central part of the country.
Steve Schwartzman
March 12, 2022 at 10:06 PM
Eastern redbuds are available here as well, and are probably more popular near Sacramento than they are here. They are more popular in landscape situations than Western redbuds are. Redbuds that are growing wild would be Western redbud. They bloom with a deeper almost purplish pink bloom, and generate more seed pods. Eastern rebud typically grows as a small tree. Western redbud typically grows as a smaller shrubby tree with multiple trunks, or as big shrubbery.
tonytomeo
March 13, 2022 at 1:44 AM
She didn’t give details about which kind of redbud she’d seen in the Sacramento area.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 9:55 AM
I’m crazy for redbuds and so enjoy plucking a branch or two to liven up the house.
lulu
March 13, 2022 at 8:41 AM
It’s easy to see why you’d be crazy for redbud blossoms.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 9:56 AM
Wow, an illustration for “vivid!”
Robert Parker
March 13, 2022 at 10:03 AM
Maybe we could change the the name redbud to vividbud.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 10:26 AM
Old Redbud trees lined my parent’s drive, and I was always thrilled to view such vivid (but fleeting) color when Springtime approached. Bringing branches inside was always a poor attempt to extend the joy – they were never as lovely as when viewed in person.
But – ah, through your photos – the season lives forever!
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
March 13, 2022 at 11:32 AM
I can see how you’d feel nostalgia for that redbud-lined drive. So much is gone, never to return.
With as delayed a spring as we’ve had so far in Austin, we naturally welcomed the redbuds that finally began blossoming around town a few days ago.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 4:55 PM
lined.. perdon!
Playamart - Zeebra Designs
March 13, 2022 at 11:32 AM
Te perdono. I fixed it.
Steve Schwartzman
March 13, 2022 at 4:53 PM
Gorgeous blossoms .. wonderful against the sky
Julie@frogpondfarm
March 21, 2022 at 9:24 PM
The redbud blossoms are still with us, even as some are beginning to look old and leaves are starting to come out here and there.
Steve Schwartzman
March 22, 2022 at 5:20 AM