Sycamore Flowers & Seeds

It was back in April when I watched the sycamore buds break out into leaf. We've moved a couple of times since then, so i haven't been able to follow the progress of any particular flowers...

The variation between trees along the same row can be huge, with some trees in flower before others have barely opened their leaves. Flowers & seeds develop at different rates across the sycamore community, spreading the risk of hitting adverse conditions that could hit fertilisation or the spread of seeds.... increasing the chance that some of them will mature under optimum conditions. Thus the species as a whole has a greater chance of new growth & continuity.

We humans develop at vastly different rates too... for some everything clicks into place early on, for others it is much later in life... whenever.... it is the right time for each individual, just as it is right for each tree. Our inbuilt urges to travel, settle, have families, create, pursue ambitions, give it all up, explore spirituality etc etc cover years & generations of human life. Depending on conditions around us & our own make up, some are more successful in certain areas than others... but it is that diversity that allows our species as a whole more chance of growing & continuing.

By the end of april all the sycamores were full of pendulous flowers... masses of them... some will produce seeds, some will be blown adrift, but they all play their part. Just as we are filled with a mass of flowering potentials within us... some come to fruition, some are cast aside.... all play their part in giving us opportunities to develop.

male sycamore flowers

Some sycamore trees produce only male flowers, some only female... and some produce both male & female flowers that grow side by side within one flower spike. The sycamore will retain the same sexuality throughout its life & this is the case for many other tree species, but some, the ash for example are known to change their orientation.

female sycamore flowers

It's quite easy to accept that this is just how things are... for trees... but some have tremendous difficulty accepting that this can be the case for humans too.  Everything that we are is seen in nature.... 

male & female flowers together

Perhaps our attitudes, both as individuals and collectively, are like the flowers on a tree... some seem to flourish for a while... then wither... or don't withstand the wind of change that blows through them... or simply give way to allow other, healthier ones to survive...

Perhaps as we approach the Solstice, it is a good time to assess our own attitudes... to examine them & decide whether any should be cast away... to allow the the celestial winds to blow through our minds & refresh us... to ask that healthy attitudes & practices enrich our lives.... as the year turns & moves into the next half of its cycle & breathes life into the seeds of potential within us...