What the spring Leaf Out can tell us about how well the season is going
Nadine Powell
Thursday, April 15th 2021, 2:40 pm - From early blooms in Victoria to the long-awaited sakuras at Toronto s High Park, the first blossoms in a given spring have a lot to teach us.
There are few better, and more welcome, signs of spring than seeing the first buds gently emerge, whether it s on the branches of trees, or ground-level early-bloomers like crocuses or tulips.
But they re not just pretty to look at. For scientists at the U.S. National Phenology Network (NPN) – phenology being the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life – they re important markers used to track the progress of the season as it progresses.