Winter is turning into Spring like death turns into life. The new hope and rebirth of the season brings life into the trees and flowers. It is a wonderful excitement to see barren bushes go from leafless to blossoming in a matter of days.
Pinehurst Arboretum is no stranger to a transformation of the seasons. Having opened in 2003 it has seen a lot. Not only has it changed seasons for over a decade but it has also seen changes of Pinehurst Arboretum’s offerings. From the new Native Pollinator Garden, to the construction of the Pavilion, to all of the growth that the plants have gone through, changing is something that Pinehurst Arboretum is used to.
Spring has brought all sorts of new changes. Birds are migrating back to the north, bees and butterflies are flying through the trees and the weather brings warm hope for the new year. Every year I look forward to the changes that awaits spring, in all its beauty.
Transformations can be slow at times that makes it all the more exciting to wait for the beauty. Pinehurst Arboretum’s Magnolia Garden took weeks to transform into a flowering wonder. Bit by bit you can see the buds develop then start to break free from the hold of the cocoon then open into a gorgeous sweet smelling blossom. Once one starts they all do and soon the Southern Magnolia tree is filled with blossoms that cover the trees branches in delightful petals.
But transformation can be more about the changing seasons, it has formed itself into the creek at Pinehurst Arboretum. One visit to the creek and I saw something unexpected, algae floating in the water, that covered everything except a few sandbanks. It was a rather unusual sight, algae didn’t grow before in this creek and I was disappointed because you couldn’t see any of the plates and pottery that the creek holds. However the algae was a new transformation that while unusual it made the creek look like a sea of floating grass, waving along with the slow ripple of the creek, it was quite extraordinary. Yet the algae did not last as soon as it appeared it disappeared within a week and it hasn’t returned since.
Another transformation at the creek happened at the same time was the shifting of rocks around the creek. While the creek has unnatural shifts because of human and animal interference, this was a natural shift. The transformation in question was the development of a waterfall. Rocks at the end of the creek shifted ever so slightly to change the usual pattern of water flow into a waterfall. The waterfall created the most beautiful picturesque scene with the babbling of the water hitting the bottom it was a transformation into peacefulness.
The last transformation I have seen is a more traditional one. Right before the Woodland Garden there is a patch of daffodils and in a short amount of time they have gone from bulbs, to miniature leaves to blossoming beauty. It is the traditional spring that we all see every year. Flowers blossoming is the mark of change into a new season. Those blossoms will be gone in a matter of days but they still show the transformation into a new.
