olena
<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
- Joined
- May 12, 2001
State Floral Emblem
Apple Blossom
Apple blossoms have pink and white petals and green leaves. The apple tree is a native of Europe, naturalized in this country, and flowers from April to June. There are, probably, nearly 1000 varieties cultivated in the United States, and all of which are said to be derived from the Wild crab (Pyrus coronaria, Linné).
Lifespan: Perennial
Height: 9 m
Leaves: The leaves are from 2 to 3 inches long, about 2/3 as wide, ovate, or oblong-ovate, serrate, acute, or short-acuminate, pubescent above, tomentose beneath, and on petioles from 1/2 to 1 inch in length.
Flower Size: The flowers are large (4 cm) fragrant, expanding with the leaves, of pale-rose color, and borne in subumbellate corymbs. The calyx-tube is urn-shaped, with limb 5-cleft; the pedicels and calyx villose-tomentose. Petals 5, roundish, or obovate, with short claws. Stamens numerous; styles 5, united, and villose at base.
Bloom Season: April-May
Fruit: 2.5-3 cm in diameter; like a small apple; yellow-green, maturing in late summer
Conditions: Moist soils in openings and borders of forests
One hundred years ago, the scent of fresh apple blossoms filled the state Capitol. Legislators took notice. They named the apple blossom Michigan's state flower.
April 28, 1997, marked the 100th anniversary of this official designation.
Two citizens had eminent roles in the story behind this tribute. One was a northern Michigan legislator with pioneer roots in Michigan pre-dating statehood in 1837. The other was a distinguished 63-year-old woman who pushed a wheelbarrowful of apple blossoms down Lansing's Capitol Avenue and made the Capitol atmosphere fragrant.
The language of the 1897 resolution naming the state flower suggests that little has changed in 100 years. It pointed out that "our blossoming apple trees add much to the beauty of our landscape" --a still-true statement as 58,000 acres of commercial apple orchards and thousands of home-grown apple trees attest. The aroma and delicate beauty of pink and white apple blossoms help make springtime in Michigan a special experience.
The resolution also noted that "Michigan apples have gained a worldwide reputation." This long-running renown is as strong as ever. Michigan now produces around a billion pounds of apples each year, making the state not only a national, but a global leader.
The man who introduced this resolution was William Harris of Norwood, a shoreline community south of Charlevoix where Grand Traverse Bay merges into Lake Michigan.
Harris migrated from New York state with his parents as a four-year-old in 1836 and settled near Battle Creek in Michigan Territory. Thirty years later he moved north with his young family to open a boarding house for dock and sawmill workers in Norwood. Subsequently he was a postmaster and longtime township supervisor before being elected to the state House of Representatives. He became so inspired by the beauty of a large apple orchard across from his home that he decided such lovely blossoms should be adopted as the state flower.
His resolution, introduced February 9, 1897, meandered through the legislative process for a couple of months. The final vote still hadn't been taken when apple trees burst into bloom around mid-April, well ahead of normal, in the southern part of the state.
One colorful site during this early spring was the yard of Anna Eliza Woodcock, two blocks north of the Capitol. She later told a reporter she knew the vote on the state flower was due and was so taken by the beautiful new blossoms on her Snow apple trees that she decided to cut off a few and trundle them in a wheelbarrow to the Capitol. There she located House Speaker William Gordon's desk and chair and decorated them with her blossoms. Both the House and Senate agreed that naming the apple blossom as the state flower was a good idea. The process was completed April 28.
Harris acquired the nickname "Apple Blossom William" for his role. Mrs. Woodcock later learned how to make silk apple blossoms, enhancing her own reputation as "the apple blossom lady," and practiced her art into her 90s.
A century after passage of the 1897 resolution, Michigan residents can still be gratified that the state has such a flood of apple blossom beauty each year to signal a new growing season and a pending bountiful harvest of apples by the next autumn.
Apple Blossom
Apple blossoms have pink and white petals and green leaves. The apple tree is a native of Europe, naturalized in this country, and flowers from April to June. There are, probably, nearly 1000 varieties cultivated in the United States, and all of which are said to be derived from the Wild crab (Pyrus coronaria, Linné).
Lifespan: Perennial
Height: 9 m
Leaves: The leaves are from 2 to 3 inches long, about 2/3 as wide, ovate, or oblong-ovate, serrate, acute, or short-acuminate, pubescent above, tomentose beneath, and on petioles from 1/2 to 1 inch in length.
Flower Size: The flowers are large (4 cm) fragrant, expanding with the leaves, of pale-rose color, and borne in subumbellate corymbs. The calyx-tube is urn-shaped, with limb 5-cleft; the pedicels and calyx villose-tomentose. Petals 5, roundish, or obovate, with short claws. Stamens numerous; styles 5, united, and villose at base.
Bloom Season: April-May
Fruit: 2.5-3 cm in diameter; like a small apple; yellow-green, maturing in late summer
Conditions: Moist soils in openings and borders of forests
One hundred years ago, the scent of fresh apple blossoms filled the state Capitol. Legislators took notice. They named the apple blossom Michigan's state flower.
April 28, 1997, marked the 100th anniversary of this official designation.
Two citizens had eminent roles in the story behind this tribute. One was a northern Michigan legislator with pioneer roots in Michigan pre-dating statehood in 1837. The other was a distinguished 63-year-old woman who pushed a wheelbarrowful of apple blossoms down Lansing's Capitol Avenue and made the Capitol atmosphere fragrant.
The language of the 1897 resolution naming the state flower suggests that little has changed in 100 years. It pointed out that "our blossoming apple trees add much to the beauty of our landscape" --a still-true statement as 58,000 acres of commercial apple orchards and thousands of home-grown apple trees attest. The aroma and delicate beauty of pink and white apple blossoms help make springtime in Michigan a special experience.
The resolution also noted that "Michigan apples have gained a worldwide reputation." This long-running renown is as strong as ever. Michigan now produces around a billion pounds of apples each year, making the state not only a national, but a global leader.
The man who introduced this resolution was William Harris of Norwood, a shoreline community south of Charlevoix where Grand Traverse Bay merges into Lake Michigan.
Harris migrated from New York state with his parents as a four-year-old in 1836 and settled near Battle Creek in Michigan Territory. Thirty years later he moved north with his young family to open a boarding house for dock and sawmill workers in Norwood. Subsequently he was a postmaster and longtime township supervisor before being elected to the state House of Representatives. He became so inspired by the beauty of a large apple orchard across from his home that he decided such lovely blossoms should be adopted as the state flower.
His resolution, introduced February 9, 1897, meandered through the legislative process for a couple of months. The final vote still hadn't been taken when apple trees burst into bloom around mid-April, well ahead of normal, in the southern part of the state.
One colorful site during this early spring was the yard of Anna Eliza Woodcock, two blocks north of the Capitol. She later told a reporter she knew the vote on the state flower was due and was so taken by the beautiful new blossoms on her Snow apple trees that she decided to cut off a few and trundle them in a wheelbarrow to the Capitol. There she located House Speaker William Gordon's desk and chair and decorated them with her blossoms. Both the House and Senate agreed that naming the apple blossom as the state flower was a good idea. The process was completed April 28.
Harris acquired the nickname "Apple Blossom William" for his role. Mrs. Woodcock later learned how to make silk apple blossoms, enhancing her own reputation as "the apple blossom lady," and practiced her art into her 90s.
A century after passage of the 1897 resolution, Michigan residents can still be gratified that the state has such a flood of apple blossom beauty each year to signal a new growing season and a pending bountiful harvest of apples by the next autumn.