Czech Yamadori

  You never know.      Just imagine.  You  have a very old larch.  Each autumn you eargerly check the buds to see if there is any that could possibly develop into the blossom.   And year after year there is NO SINGLE ONE. Then you pass by a neglected small something that is much closer to a seedling than to a reasonably sized tree.   Gosh.  You can't believe your eyes.  The little blooming bastard is in bloom... So it is now proudly sitting on a prime position next to a sizeable mahaleb.   Let it enjoy a few moments of glory. Note: This small larch was collected just few years ago just like 2-3 years old seedling.  Years from collection 3-4 ?   How old it could be then?   Definitely less than 10 years. Most of the scientific papers would quote the age of 15 as a point when larches reach their sexual maturity.   See below one of them.  Jan Matras1 and Luc E. Pâques2...

Mahalebs are hard working trees.   They tend to keep their leaves till the first harder frost night and then they simply drop them.   At least this is very often the case with mahalebs in our place.  And I think this is also the case for some other species from the Prunus Genus like apricot for one. But sometimes for unknown reasons they could present some splendid colours.  Like this little mahaleb.      Height: 34 cm Collected: 2012