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Almond Day
“Almond blossoms wake,
Whispers of pink in spring's breath,
Nature's soft caress."
~ Almond Blossom Haiku
Bloom, almond trees, bloom! If you love almonds or the sweet delight of marzipan, or simply look forward to the early-spring delicate blossoms o the almond tree, this warm, rosy tartan (with its almond colored stripe), is perfect for a cold February.
Though we treat almonds as nuts, they are actually "drupes"—stone fruits related to coffee, jujube, mango, olives, most palms (including açaí, date, sabal, and oil palms), pistachios, white sapote, cashews, and familiar favorites like apricots, cherries, damsons, peaches, nectarines, and plums.
Domesticated almonds date back as early as the Early Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC) and were even discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, a fitting treasure for the afterlife. And while almonds have been cultivated as far north as the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and even Iceland, today’s largest producers are California, Spain, and Australia.
Almond trees thrive in hot summers and cool winters and depend on both wild and domesticated honeybees for pollination. In California, almond growers go so far as to rent bees for the season, with beekeepers transporting billions of them from as far away as Florida to the orchards of the Central Valley. Buzz, buzz! 💗 🤍 🤎 🖤 💗 🌸 🌸 🌸 🐝
By designer Carol A.L. Martin, this tartan reflects the colors of a young almond bush.
Native to the Mediterranean climate region of the Middle East, it was spread by humans in ancient times along the shores of the Mediterranean into northern Africa and southern Europe, and more recently transported to other parts of the world, notably California, United States.
The pollination of California's almonds is the largest annual managed pollination event in the world, with close to one million hives (nearly half of all beehives in the USA) being trucked in February to the almond groves. Much of the pollination is managed by pollination brokers, who contract with migratory beekeepers from at least 49 states for the event.
Greek mythology tells a tragic love story about the creation of the almond tree. It begins when Phyllis, a beautiful daughter of a king of Thrace who fell in love with Demophon of Athens, the son of Theseus, as he traveled though Thrace on his return from the Trojan War.
After a period of happiness, Demophon, duty bound to Greece, returned home to help his father, leaving Phyllis behind and forgetting her. Phyllis waited hopelessly for many years for his return, and eventually, forlorn and heart-broken, died of a broken heart. Out of pity, the gods transformed Phyllis into the almond tree. When the errant and remorseful Demophon returned, he found the Phyllis tree, naked without leaves and flowers. Desperately, he hugged the tree, which suddenly flooded with flowers, showing that love cannot be defeated by death.
Click the picture for information about the sugared almond and its use in modern Greek rites of passage.