The Shadblow Serviceberry bushes and trees and Flowering Plum trees are blooming now, finally making us feel like Spring has arrived.
The white Shadblow flowers and their tan leaves are on cultivated and wild plants here:
The pink Plum flowers and their dark red leaves are found only in cultivated trees that bear no fruit, but compensate for that with their delicate flowers:
The name plum, by the way, is thought to derive from the 18th Century word for something desirable, as in “this fruit is plum.”
The name Shadblow is an old name derived from the fact that this species usually blooms when shad fish begin to run in New England. The name Serviceberry was given to a group of trees and bushes by our founding settlers because they bloomed when the ground became soft enough to bury those who died in winter – the time when burial services would occur and blossoms and berries could be used for decoration.
(Brooklin, Maine)