From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [permaculture] Phenology: Article by Lee Barnes
Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:32:49 -0400
Phenology: Article by Lee Barnes
"Phenology" is the study of periodic biological phenomena, such as
flowering, breeding, and migration. Observation of growth and flowering
times of native and common "indicator" plants is useful for timing your
garden planting times or wild food harvesting. One should begin with a
medium sized calendar on which you may make notes. (many calendars are
on sale now, many at 1/2 price!) Learn to observe and note flowering
times of showy native perennials, and common trees and shrubs. Good
indicator plants include redbud, dogwood, and sourwood. Note any
wildlife migrations such as the passage of spring robins, hawks and
geese. With this accumulated biological time-piece, one can make better
regional planting decisions such as, "plant corn when the leaves of the
hickory are the size of a squirrel's ear." - useful guide since hickory
are one of the later plants to "break" bud, perhaps helping planters to
avoid late frosts or cold soils. Listen for local "lore" on planting,
weather changes, etc. for your micro-region, and correlate this with
your seasonal notes.
We should accumulate this information for our micro-regions and share
the findings - please send me your comments and recommendations so that
we can develop a master list of plant phenomena and guild
interactions.-- Lee Barnes
[permaculture] Phenology: Article by Lee Barnes,
Lawrence F. London, Jr., 04/07/2010