Kōwhai blooms a sign spring is on the way

The bright flower of spring - a blossoming kowhai, with (inset) its small green leaves bursting out to make the most of the sun.Picture supplied

All the signs point to spring having arrived -—particularly the budding and flowering of the yellow-blossomed kōwhai tree.

In Māori, spring is kōanga, and it is of significance that both kōwhai and kōanga share the word kō.

Kō is the Māori word for a digging stick, and spring is the time to get out and start breaking up the ground to prepare for the planting of kūmara.

Many trees and plants were affected by waterlogged soils and cold, drowned roots, and not a few have wilted, shed their leaves and died. So it is a relief to see the kōwhai starting to break into bloom, a couple of weeks later than usual.

This is an indication that soils are drying out and warming, and a time to prepare gardens while the ground is still soft and workable.

Modern weather measurements confirm the local entry into spring, with the grass minimum temperature rising to 10 degrees on one night this week.

This is when grass starts to grow again, stimulated by increased sunshine hours and warmer soils.

For the first half of the—month, Gisborne’s daytime temperatures have risen to almost a degree warmer than the 30-year average.

Unfortunately, clear skies mean the heat is quickly lost overnight and night time minimums are about a degree colder than the 30-year mean, balancing out the daytime gains.

Another factor is the developing El Nino, with northerly and westerly winds now dominating this region.

After a record wet first half of the year, the rain taps appear to have been switched off, with this month so far well down on the norm.

It is interesting to note that Māori lore is that kōwhai blossoms herald spring showers, and if the trees blossom from the ground upwards, a warm fruitful season should follow.

However, if the trees flower from the crown down, a cold, wet season will follow.

The tree this writer has used as a monitor, has just started flowering at the top — but this may be the effect of the drowned first half of the year.

As to when spring actually starts, various pundits promote their own beliefs, such as TVNZ1’s weather man Dan Corbett constantly referring to meteorological spring.

This is actually not determined by the weather, but by the convenience of having fixed seasons according to the Gregorian calendar we use.

For astronomers, the spring equinox on the 23rd is the true marking point, when the Earth’s orbit means the Sun now shines more in the Southern Hemisphere than the north.

The equinox occurs this year on the 23rd at 6.49pm.

Still others use arcane systems of calculating the coldest, darkest days of winter.

Scientists also point to the fact that it takes time for thermal distribution in the oceans, and water temperatures lag behind the Sun’s movement south of the equator.

In the end, many people still rely on nature to provide what they consider the best and most easily understood signs of the spring season — the behaviour of birds and plants, and trees like the beautiful kōwhai.