Nature and Her Miracles

Bumblebee pollinating swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

​One thing that I never take for granted - nature and her miracles that appear each and every moment if we are willing to take the time to stop and gaze at a bumblebee pollinating swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) or a tiger swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar from a bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora).  Things that seem to be small which happen to be much greater than we could ever imagine.  Just the mere act of a bee transferring pollen from one plant to another sets in motion an action that could create the next resistant plant, or one with a new colored flower.  Things that we should not take for granted.  

​Or it could be the quick dip in temperature that shifts a cell division to create an entirely new DNA with in a plant’s cell creating an entirely new variety. The tiny unseen things that occur in nature – later appearing as a new and 

marvelous variation of the species.This year we had many plants blooming out of synchronization.  Some plants blooming earlier or later than usual while others blooming at the same time with plants that they never bloom with. This I believe can trigger additional variations within species such as interspecies crosses that may create new lines of plants.  I think of the London planetree (Platanus x acerifolia) which is a great example of this action – a naturally occurring interspecies cross between the American planetree (Platanus occidentalis) and the Oriental planetree
​(Platanus orientalis). I sometimes wonder what would happen if the California planetree (Platanus racemosa) crossed with the American planetree (Platanus occidentalis) – would the tree be hardy on the east and the west coasts?  Would this tree be bi-coastal? If I were a bee or if I were the wind, who would I help cross pollinate to come up with the next tree resistant to the emerald ash borer. Wouldn’t that be grand!!