Tu Bishvat will be celebrated in Israel in about a month, but already one can spot blossoming almond trees throughout the country. In recent days, members of the Society for the Protection of Nature have documented the blossoming almond trees found in Modi’in, the Carmel Ridge, and the Jerusalem Mountains.
Yael Zilberstein-Barzida, director of the Urban Nature Unit at the Society for the Protection of Nature, explains that the flowering of the common almond tree depends on the climate in which the tree grows and the number of warm days between the cold, rainy days, so each individual tree blooms at a different time.
“Watching the blossoming of almonds in nature lifts one’s spirit and gladdens the heart, especially in this difficult time. The current blossoming is a response to the rain systems we have experienced so far, and the sharp transitions between cold winter days and sunny and warm days,” Zilberstein-Barzida says, adding, “The warm temperatures trigger the mechanisms of the fragrant and colorful flowering, which is designed to attract pollinators who are active during the winter – mainly wild bees whose value for nature and agriculture is very high. They use the nectar and pollen to produce a new generation of almond trees.”
The subspecies of the common almond, which grows in nature in Israel, which is a small-leaved almond, usually blossoms earlier than the cultivated varieties. The common almond tree is a shrub, but under optimal conditions, old trees can reach a height of about 10 meters. It loses its leaves in late autumn and its impressive flowering show begins in the height of winter before the leaves grow anew. The common almond tree is famous for its beautiful and dense, white to pink blossoms. Being the first tree to blossom in the warm Israeli winter, it heralds the spring.
Avner Rinot, survey coordinator at the Urban Nature Unit of the Society for the Protection of Nature, reports that “These days you can see the first wild almonds blossoming mainly on the slopes of eastern Samaria, on the slopes of the eastern Gilboa, on the slopes of the Golan Heights, on the Carmel, and in the Jerusalem mountains.”
“In addition, one of the first species of butterflies that can be observed around the almond trees at the beginning of flowering is the nettle nymph, in its black, brown & red colors, which enjoys the nectar of the flowers together with nightingales and sparrows.”
