One of my favorite poems by Robert Frost is Nothing Gold Can Stay. He employs the color of tree flowers and leaves as a metaphor for a much deeper message of life anew and life at end. To me his simple opening lines to the poem perfectly describe what I love about the month of May.

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

This month I will be looking at the hills and valleys when our region’s flora will bloom and leaves unfurl, reminding us again that we live within an emerald-green island comprised of 84 percent forests and farms. Over the next few weeks, the colors of spring will be moving over the landscape and our natural world blooms right before our eyes. When we think of the foliage season we immediately think of autumn and the month of October when the leaves are ablaze of bright red, orange and yellow. Those same deciduous trees, our native maples, oaks, hickory, beech, birch and ash that paint the hillsides a bright autumn color, will also produce beautiful softer pastel hues of spring. They lack the sharpness of autumn but inspire us even more with the shades of emerging life.

Nature’s first “green is gold” is seen especially in the color of flowers on the sugar maple. They appear gold in color with a mixture of yellow and green flowers on long thread-like stalks that appear along with the leaves. In contrast to the sugar maple, the flowers of the red maple tree are a deep red with blooms in a dense cluster appearing before the leaves fully develop. Just as the red (or swamp) maples are the first to show color during the fall foliage season, their blossoms are among the first to flower in the spring, making their appearance in mid-April. They are easy to spot growing near wetlands. Along with maple trees, our native cherries and dogwoods also have colorful flowers.

Other hardwoods such as oaks, hickories, elms, ashes, walnuts, beech and birch have light green and yellow flowers that are less conspicuous. The emerging leaves of the oaks produce soft colors, especially the newly unfolding leaves of the white oak (our Connecticut State Tree) with its shades of silvery gray and yellow.

Deciduous trees are predominate in our southern New England forests, and because of this, early May in The Last Green Valley is a perfect time to revel in the colors they reveal as blooms and new foliage bear witness to the changing season. Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the flowers will be gone, the leaves full-size, and the varied hues change to a single shade of bright green mixed with the darker green of conifers, such as white pine and hemlock.

One of my favorite publications is Northern Woodlands and a recent edition included an article “Tree Flowers Color the Hills” by naturalist and writer Susan Shea. Here is a link to the article that describes in detail the many ways trees flower.

https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/tree-flowers-color-the-hill

I hope you’ll make time to explore the outdoors and our forests and trails. The month of May is here, and our region’s deciduous trees are beginning to bloom. Look carefully, revel in the many hues of spring and welcome the season of renewal.

Edwin Way Teale wrote “The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.” His words ring true today as we enjoy May and consider all the possible ways we can enjoy, share and pass on this beautiful place we call home – The Last Green Valley.