Apologies, good people, but I must interrupt my tales of the medlar to update you on my beautiful, blossom-ful, ornamental cherry tree, the prunus autumnalis. This lovely tree has the delightful habit of producing blossom twice a year; in spring and in autumn/early winter. About 3 weeks ago, it was just beginning its late autumn blossoming and I showed you these photos of it in my post Two Seasons in One Tree https://silkannthreades.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/2010/
Since early May we have had many days of rain, and few of sunshine. I haven’t paid much attention to the cherry tree. I have been fixated on the dreary rain and equally dreary skies. So, imagine, my little bounces of joy, when, this morning, I awoke to bright sunshine, a blue sky and the apparition of my prunus autumnalis shimmering all over with delicate, pale pink blossom. And it wasn’t simply the shimmering that made me joyful. The tree was a-twitter of tiny wax-eyes. These little birds, freshly arrived, in my garden, herald the time of colder days. Much as I dislike the colder days, I welcome the winter appearance of these busy, extroverted conversationalists.
I went out to the garden to take some photos and, of course, the birds flew away, but, in the absence of their chatter, I was able to hear the dense, humming chorus of the bees and bumblebees. On closer inspection, it seemed to me that the shimmering of the flowers was not so much from the light, dancing on the petals, but the movement of the bees amongst the blossom. How glorious.
And, how lucky am I to have this loveliness on my doorstep. It’s a sweet gift from Nature to lift my spirits as we head rapidly to the darkest day of the year; the winter solstice.
© silkannthreades
silkannthreades 
Beautiful photos – I especially love the orange leaf which looks like a heart! 🙂
Thank you for noticing. I thought it was cute too even though the photo as a whole was a bit out of focus.
Love these photos! And the tree! And the blossoms! The narrative is lovely too~
Thank you.
Spectacular blooms! What a fabulous gift! 🙂
Indeed, it is.
Your photos are beautiful! You sure are very lucky! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you. I am glad you like the photos.
Thank you – I enjoy sharing how we all experience the seasons, beautiful and interesting posts!
I am so pleased to share my day with you.
Oh, they are so beautiful! Great angles. You can’t see to many cherryblossom trees (or pics..) I hope you don’t will have too much rain from now on.
Thank you. The sun was here today but I believe there will be some snow later in the week.
what beauties!!
radiant-ness was most appreciated before we turn in for the night in this part of the world.
*wavingtoNZ*
_tg xx
Sweet dreams.
What an interesting tree! Having a tree like this blooming during the darkest days of winter must be such a day-brightener.
It certainly is. And today it is sunny again and I could see the wings of the bees sparkling like crystals all around the blossom.
Wonderful photos. I was going to ask if you eat the cherries or if the birds eat the cherries. To my surprise I read in your comments that you get no fruit.
No fruit at all. Imagine the mess if there were cherries. The birds would have such a party.
How strange and wonderful – two times a year!.And beautiful it is. Seems wisely arranged.
Very wise, I agree.
What a glorious macro shot of the cherry blooms you captured.
Thank you. It came out better than I expected 🙂
How beautiful. Our blossom trees are out here too – heading for the longest day. What a nice piece of symmetry 🙂
Isn’t it just? It makes the world seem nicely balanced 🙂
There is a special joy in the unfolding of a blossoming tree, especially in full bloom. Savor the “glory.” Of course, while you head for the darker days of winter, we’re in the early days of spring. Maybe we can shore each other’s light and dark days.
I think we can.
We too are heading towards are our shortest day, but do not have anything as lovely as your blossoms to cheer us up – I adore cherry blossom, how lucky you are to enjoy it twice a year.
It makes me smile 😀 Maybe you have some lovely birds instead of flowers? And you have your beautiful stones and gems!
We won’t have rain now until September, everything is dry and brown…..even all our colourful birds have left us! But, I surround myself with colour indoors – flowers on the table and of course, my lovely array of gemstones and sparklies – and our sun thankfully seldom deserts us!
Ah, so now I know where our sun goes to! Takes a holiday at your place 🙂
….and I thank my lucky stars for it’s appearance every day 🙂
Simply beautiful! (check out my new profile picture! what do you think?)
I noticed it straight away. You look lovely; friendly with a touch of elegance. Is the jewellery from your new work place?
Yes. So nice of you to notice! Have a wonderful weekend!
You too. Memorial Weekend for you; a time for rest and reflection, I suppose.
A big tree with very sweet flowers.
You are right; it is quite a big tree now. I always think of it as a smaller tree compared to others in the neighbourhood but, on its own merits, it is big.
Stunning blossoms – one of my favourites!
Thank you. The blossoms would go with the blossom themed jewellery you made earlier in the year.
That’s what I thought too. Great minds!
Your photos and description are glorious. What a special gift you have in your garden. I had no idea a tree such as this exists. And bees!!!!!!
Thank you. The bees were incredible. It was barely 10 degrees yet they were all over the tree. I wanted to record their hum but the noise from the road traffic made it impossible for me to do so.
we see so few honey bees here these days. Lots of Bumbles. Your tree must be a real boon to honey production.
Most of the time I only see bumblebees in my garden so even I was surprised to see so many bees.
What a wonderful interruption!!! You can’t miss this blooming time! Absolutely spectacular. Our cherry blossom are have vanished until next year!
I am spoilt!
Yes you are!!! But I think you deserve to be spoilt…
Don’t we all? 🙂
Wow, blossoming twice a year – that’s lovely. Do you get cherries twice a year as well?
Sadly no. We only get flowers.
Well, I guess the double flowering makes up for the lack of fruit then 🙂
Absolutely.