jml297

My gnarled branches reach out across the garden, soft green leaves fluttering in the late summer breeze. In this season, I offer dappled shade for birds to rest under, on their way to somewhere else.

In autumn, I will shed my leaves. They will tumble softly to the earth, eventually composting around my roots. This will help to fuel the buds, which will form tight nodes along the branches. As the warmer days of spring make their presence felt, my leaf buds will unfurl and on the end of twigs flower buds will begin to grow.

Each year I spend spring wearing the white blossoms, tinged with pink edges, that beckon honeybees. They help the seeds to form, around which will grow the green fruit. Through late spring and summer they will grow and ripen until they are picked by hand, pecked by birds, or fall back to the earth.

I’m participating in this blogging challenge for the month of January, which supports starting the year on the “write” track. You can find out more about the challenge, join in and read other posts here.

Photo: green apples on a tree