Ash before Oak

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Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, has the symbol of the apple. When an apple is cut diagonally it shows Aphrodite’s 5 pointed star. Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning." This proverb is used since sunrise and sunset to point out to the changing sky, originally known to aid shepherds preparing for the next day. According to the Met Office, when the atmosphere traps dust and dirt which scatters the blue light, it may give off the red light that creates a reddish sky. Up on ash trees you will often spot round clusters, these are galls, distorted flower growths, caused by mites which do no serious harm to the tree. Then we’ll surely have a soak! An oak tree (bottom left) in leaf earlier than three ash trees at different leafing stages The people behind this celebration of the uncelebrated say that dandelions “have importance for biodiversity around the world, yet it is also sadly one of the most hated ‘weeds’.” They will therefore be delighted to know that the dandelions of Roundshaw appear to be on their second flowering of the year now.

If oak comes before ash we’re in for a splash, if ash comes before oak then we’re in for a soak - a common saying as the timing of bud burst of ash and oak trees is supposed to be an indicator of the coming spring weather. John Casey Forestry Development Officer is full of the joy and hope of spring

Forest - Health benefits

And so the seasons here will no longer be measured by the turning of the Oak and Ash, but instead will be dominated by our Oak tree. No doubt the other trees growing in the wild edge of our garden beside it will in time take their place. Holly, Hawthorn, English Elm, Willow, Beech, Birch and Apple …. but it will take many decades for them to reach the size and majesty of this Ash standing here in its last hours. The ash tree was thought to have medicinal and mystical properties and the wood was burned to ward off evil spirits. In Norse Viking mythology, ash was referred to as the 'Tree of Life'. In Britain we regarded ash as a healing tree.

So the increasing occurrence of Oak coming into leaf before Ash appears to be result of warmer spring temperatures. Kate Lewthwaite of the Woodland Trust says “For every 1°C rise in temperature Oak gains a four-day advantage over Ash.” This book was really really good, I really loved the journal entries which I was surprised at because this is a style of book I normally don’t read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. In the afternoon I cleared the garden path inside the wall to the lane, so overgrown that few signs remained of it having been a way to walk. The revelation of distant lives, the uncovering of previous care for this place by people past, brings me satisfaction. And meaning. Yesterday I dug down below the bottom garden gate to unveil a grey-stone step. Earlier lives are exposed also in renovation of the building. In construction of the new chimney in what has been a barn for a hundred years or more, I found in the wall the contours of an old hearth, confirming the belief that my to-be-home was once part of a row of four farm worker’s cottages. Một số từ vựng nên học trong đề IELTS Reading Cambridge 16 Test 3 Passage 3: Plant “Thermometer” Triggers Springtime Growth By Measuring Night-Time Heat to trigger

History of the Expression

In Leicestershire the Topless Oaks in Bradgate Park were said to have been pollarded as a sign of mourning. This was due to the beheading, in 1554, of Lady Jane Grey who had lived nearby. After the battle of Worcester in 1651 King Charles II hid from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel. In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May as Royal Oak Day to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. As our climate changes, Britain is experiencing increasingly warm spring months, which has a marked effect on our woodlands. Oak trees have recently been leafing around two weeks earlier than they did 30 years ago, while ash trees are leafing just 7-10 days earlier. While historical data suggests that ash used to leaf before oak at least 30% of the time, recent studies in Surrey suggest ash won the race on only three occasions in 39 years and in Northumberland on only three occasions in 28 years. Last year, a Woodland Trust survey showed the first observation of oak leafing was recorded on 21 March 2011 in Essex, while the first ash leafing wasn't recorded until 4 April in Cardiff. If such homespun hokum is to be believed, then we could be in for a relatively dry summer: our garden’s ash tree is only now, oh so reluctantly, opening its leaves, while the oaks in the Roundshaw woods have been in leaf since Easter. But it is not going to be easy. It is going to be emotional to say goodbye to this tree which has stood on this hill overlooking the town of Glastonbury and the Somerset levels since it germinated around a hundred years ago. Oak and Ash the Season Turns… Hawthorn is regarded as a sacred tree, great misfortune was threatened to come to those who destroyed it.