Battleangel

I have a tradition that I must go thru every spring. It is one of those little things that make life meaningful. What I do is I bring a hand pruner on my walks in the nearby forest. I then venture forth to one of the old and long gone abodes that can be found throughout the would-be wilderness, seeking to reclaim what once was. These sites are often rich in cultivated plants, such as Prunus avium (”Sweet” or “Wild” Cherry), which is normally not endemic so far north in Sweden.
Carefully and with a skilled hand I clip no more than four or five short branches in such as way that it will not harm the organism nor deform the esthetic qualities. Once in a while you might even find a cardinal branch that has been caught and broken off by the wind.
It is something special to bring wild cherry and artificially induce flowering a month or two early. Somehow it gives a taste of things to come and it is a bearer of good news. What can be more beautiful than the short lived but spectacular blossom of wild cherry …

Den virtuella floran: linnaeus.nrm.se
Distribution map for europe: euforgen