Saturday, March 23, 2013

Stamps of the Day: Birches (Betula, björk)




Birches for me is a real spring sign - small tiny leaves coming out in spring green, and in Sweden we have a saying "the birch leaves are the size of mouse ears', that is the sign of spring.  The leaves on our birches are not out yet here in New Jersey but I can feel it coming.  The hazelnut shrubs are about to flower, and then the birches come soon after.  Finally spring (well, we still have freezing at night), and it feel like this winter has been too long.  The stamps are from Sweden and Finland, and all for feature the birch tree (Betula is the genus, and it is in the family Betulaceae). 

2 comments:

EH said...

Here in the midst of Sweden it is still winter, although the sun and light is back and morning and evenings are bright. Snow is still all around, a few sunny spots have melted, but the rest is here, and more is coming during the Easter if the meteorologists are correct. We got the first snow that stayed on the 29th of November. We are close to 4 months now and counting. Nights are cold and days are warm, so the snow heaps turns into icy rocks.

LS said...

I am so tired of snow too and it snowed all day. I refused to look out the window and wrote about rainforest plants instead. But most is already melted, and now it is raining. Sunday should be sunny and 13 degrees Celsius here! And no snow in sight then! Perfect timing for a visit from Sweden.. :)