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<\/a>Live Oak leaves and pollen. Spring 2020. Photo SC<\/p><\/div>\n
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Tree pollen, mostly live oak, is generally highest in March in Houston. And yes, we have had record amounts of oak pollen, which comes from the long dangling male flower of the tree spreading its seed<\/a> and causing lots of alarming coughing, sneezing, and brain fog. Though it seems that based on a perusal of City of Houston Health Department records<\/a>, which go back online only to 2013, tree and oak pollen in March 2019 was way worse.<\/p>\n The male live oak flower pollinates the much smaller female flower, but it\u2019s the female flower that turns into acorns<\/a>. (Yes, we’re talking about tree sex.)<\/p>\n By the way, native live oaks<\/a> support 425 different species of creatures compared to our beloved but basically useless non-native crepe myrtles, which support only FOUR (4), according to Kelli Ondracek, manager of Natural Resources for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department<\/a>, who spoke about the City\u2019s riparian restoration projects at a recent Houston Sierra Club<\/a> meeting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not to Panic<\/strong><\/p>\n Watching leaves fall in the spring (and pollen raining down) may be confusing to people who aren\u2019t familiar with live oaks. \u00a0As if we don\u2019t have enough to panic about. (Use your elbows!) But live oaks naturally lose their leaves in the spring when new, green leaves push out the old ones. (Hmm, sounds like some politician\u2019s COVID-19 plan<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Which brings us to meteorological spring<\/a>, which meteorologists established some time ago based on temperature patterns. Meteorological spring began on March 1 in the Northern Hemisphere and runs through the end of May. Since we\u2019ve been having record warm weather<\/a>, with an abnormally warm spring predicted<\/a>, they may have to change that date. Maybe eliminate winter altogether. Just go right to summer.<\/p>\n Astronomical spring<\/a> came early too, the earliest in 124 years. This arrival of spring is determined by the vernal equinox, which happens when the sun is directly over the earth\u2019s equator, creating a day that is the same length as the night. Astronomical spring arrived Thursday, March 19, at 10:50 p.m. CST.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spring on the Bayou<\/strong><\/p>\n So it was spring and time for the Spring 2020 photograph in our ongoing series documenting the same bend in Buffalo Bayou throughout the seasons<\/a>.<\/p>\n Except that due to the new and different coronavirus COVID-19, our world-renowned photographer, Jim Olive<\/a>, was on general lockdown with his beloved in the state of California. So we set out to the woods on our own.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember to turn your iPhone horizontal,\u201d Jim texted helpfully from Palm Springs.<\/p>\n