Leaf-Out
(Back to Signs
of Spring Everywhere Home Page)
Background
How do trees know it's spring? What happens if the leaves come out too early? How do my leaves fit into
the food chain? Is it true that some songbirds arrive from the Tropics just as the leaves emerge on my trees? We
hope you'll explore these and other questions by reporting when leaves emerge on your trees.
How to Participate in Journey North's Leaf-Out Study
- Adopt a local tree of one of the following species.
- Visit your adopted tree on a regular basis. Sketch the buds on the same small branch each time you visit.
- Watch the bud open, the tree bloom and the leaves emerge.
- Report to Journey North when its leaves are the size of a U.S. (or Canadian) quarter--that's our definition
of "leaf-out".
Maps courtesy of:
Macalester College Geography Department,
and students Uriah McKinney and Debbie Bojar
Sugar Maple
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Please report to Journey North when leaves on trees of any of these 4 species
emerge.
Our definition of "leaf-out"?
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Flowering Dogwood
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Redbud
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When leaves are the size of a quarter.
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Quaking Aspen
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Copyright 2000 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions,
comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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