Blossomactivitypack

After a long winter, one of the first signs that spring is here is the delicate colours of blossom on trees. Why not try identifying different blossom types, engaging in blossom bathing and enjoying a moment of calm surrounded by spring flowers?

Blossom spotter sheet Blossom comes in many different forms and colours, and can indicate what type of tree you’re looking at. You can use this spotter sheet to help identify and learn more about the different types. Spot as many as you can in your local area or on a walk.

Some types of willow appear in January, but goat willow stands out in March and April. It’s often found in damp woodland areas or near streams and ditches.

Apple blossom is white with a hint of pink. Appearing from March to April, it grows in hedgerows, gardens, orchards and scrubland in moist, heavy soil.

Blackthorn bursts into flower in March with white blossom appearing before the leaves. It’s found in hedgerows and scrub and likes to be in bright sunlight.

Pear trees were introduced to Britain in around AD 995. The delicate white flowers emerge from green buds in March or April, and some varieties grow in gardens, orchards and the streets.

Many garden varieties of cherry blossom are of Japanese origin, known as the sakura or village cherries. You can see wild cherry blossom in woodlands during March, April and sometimes May.

Plum trees can be seen in gardens and orchards, as well as near hedges and areas of scrubland, where plum stones may have been dropped. The flowers are white and bloom around March and April.

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Plum

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Goat willow ü

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Blackthorn

Pear

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Damson trees are small and hardy with leaves covered by a fine down on both sides. They blossom with small white flowers in early April.

The fragrant pinkish-white flowers of hawthorn appear in April and May, so it’s also known as May flower. It’s often found in hedgerows, woodland edges and scrubland.

The clusters of cream elderflowers appear in late May and June, and the trees they bloom on can be found in woodland, scrub and hedgerows.

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Share your images of blossom with us using #BlossomWatch

©National Trust 2021. Registered charity no. 205846.

Spring, An InventoryTo celebrate the start of spring, we asked nature lovers to share their reflections on the arrival of the new season for this poem by nature writer Elizabeth-Jane Burnett. The numbers refer to the frequency of words appearing in the submissions from the 400 people who took part.

Fifty-four hopes in the hardwood held, slow, the hour brightensthrough damp roots and fused shoots the pressure wells,fifty-one blossoms on the cherry swell, tiny beech leaves ripen. Fifty-four hopes in the hardwood held slow, the hour brightens.

Forty-four trees in the waking woods,forty-one spilling gardens.Five cherry trees where the blackbirds stood,thirty-five joys through their gleaming broods,thirty-eight buds nectar-guardingin forty-four trees in the waking woods,in forty-one spilling gardens.

Thirty-four lights in the dark wood spots,thirty greens, fizzily fruitingthirty-five suns in the speckled moss,three daylights, four pink lights blush the docks,twenty-two bees new-moving –thirty-four lights in the dark wood spots,thirty greens, fizzily fruiting.

Twenty-eight songs sing eleven blackbirds,twenty-three mornings in chorus.Sixteen skies, six skylarks stirred,Five rains, four wrens, two herons surge,four bluebells, two curlews, two horses.Twenty-eight songs sing eleven blackbirdsTwenty-three mornings in chorus.

One moon and one mouth, one sea and one star,only one cuckoo, one car.One silence of engines and suddenly choirsin the grass, in the soil, on the branch.Four hundred notes singing out of one bar,four hundred lungs breathing one fresh start,one moon and one mouth, one sea and one star,only one cuckoo, one car.

©National Trust 2021. Registered charity no. 205846Spring, An Inventory © Elizabeth-Jane Burnett

If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the blossom trees in your street or local green space change throughout the day. Drawing, taking pictures and creative writing can help you chart these changes.

©National Trust 2021. Registered charity no. 205846.

How does the light change the colours of the blossom? You could sketch, paint or take a photo of the blossom to record the different hues that you see.

How does the bark feel beneath your fingers, or the grass under your bare feet? Writing a poem or a short paragraph about your experience is a great way to hone in on those senses.

Stay still for a moment. What can you hear around you – bees buzzing among the flowers, the wind rustling the leaves of the tree? Take a voice recording of the sounds or a video of the tree to bring the experience home with you.

Seeing

Feeling

Listening

Noticing nature

Blossom BathingWe invite you to slow down with this mindful ‘blossom bathing’ activity, inspired by forest bathing. Ground yourself in nature, using blossom as a focal point.

You can find blossom in gardens, parks, towns and cities. It might be on the corner of your street or on the way to your local supermarket. You can practice blossom bathing wherever you live.

Look out for nearby blossom

What can you touch, smell or hear when you’re near blossom? Pay attention to the petals, leaves, wildlife or insects you can spot, and the sky above you. How does this make you feel?

Be conscious of your senses

Taking a moment to focus on a blossom tree or shrub, or wander slowly through blossom trees, can be meditative. Press pause on your day to quietly observe blossom.

Take your time

If you pass a tree or shrub in blossom every day, try and stop for a moment to see if there’s something different you notice from the last time you passed it.

Be a regular

©National Trust 2021. Registered charity no. 205846.

Fold a piece of square paper in half

1 Fold the bottom right corner to make a crease, then unfold

2 Fold the top right corner to make an X shaped crease, and unfold

3

Fold the bottom left corner into the centre of the

4 Take the right-hand corner of this fold and tightly fold it over towards the left of the paper

5 Fold the bottom right corner of the X so that the side of the paper meets the fold you made in step 5

6

Finished! Time to decorate it how you like

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Cut or rip the bottom half of the origami in a downwards curved line

8 Unfold the piece you get from the bottom half

9Where the fold in step 6 meets the one in step 5, there should be a crease separating them. Fold along this line away from you

7

Share your blossom creations on social media using #BlossomWatch

Origami flowerDid you know we care for nearly 200 blossoming orchards that help support a variety of wildlife? You can create your very own blossom flower at home with a single piece of paper.

©National Trust 2021. Registered charity no. 205846.