The May tree

A few days ago, dad reminded me that just outside our old house there was a hawthorn tree that flowered every spring. Once he started to talk about it, I could remember it being there, just beyond our garden fence. Being a child, I never paid much attention to it. I was too busy climbing trees to notice if they flowered or not !

Usually it was a blaze of frothy white but every seven years or so, he told me, the flowers turned pink. Now I definitely don’t remember that and I’m not sure how true the latter is. Perhaps dad’s memories have somehow become intertwined with the folklore that surrounds the hawthorn tree.

However, my chat with him prompted me to have a walk around the neighbourhood where I live now.

One of the streets here is lined with hawthorn trees. And so I stopped this time to look a little bit closer. I noticed that ,while most of the trees had white flowers, the blossom on some was indeed a delicate blush pink. And around the edges it was tinged a deeper pink.  

I walk past these trees all the time. But until now, I hadn’t really noticed how pretty the blossom was. Whether the blossom turns pink every seven years remains to be seen!

After conducting a bit of research on Google, I discovered the hawthorn tree is also known as the May tree. It is the only British plant named after the month in which it blooms (reference The Woodland Trust website).  

So much seems to come to life in May,  it might just be my favourite month !

Paula x