Mrs Becher's Diary

 

Cherry Trees

There can be few sights more lovely in Tylers Green than the cherry trees in the spring. Single trees spreading their whiteness beside old brick cottages.   Great clouds of white in the orchards standing out against the blue of an April sky, the sun making the blossom a dazzling contrast to the fine black -. [illegible].

Across the fields in the distance, the wild cherries are like smudges of white over the distant woods. The cherry trees seem to be things of perpetual beauty. Gaunt and stark throughout the winter, the swelling buds in spring shroud the trees in a dusky rose colour.

The blossom is a magnificent sight. Trees in full bloom rioting like spray over the countryside ­festoons of glowing white tossing themselves against the blue or glistening like broken lines of surf against the rain clouds.

Lovely they are too in the evening when they reflect the colours of the setting sun and take on an unearthly beauty in the fading light.

The fruit comes early and is of great variety and colour from cream tinged with pink through rose colour, crimson and there is a variety which is almost black. In Autumn, when the first frosts come, these cherry trees of ours change colour quickly and stand out covered with tongues of scarlet flame all over the countryside.