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And so the onslaught begins...

By
Home Builder with Winslow Homes

...Pollen Season!  The time of year here in NC, where everything turns yellow until it rains!What beautiful sky...oh no, pine trees!

 

What do you see when you look at this picture?  A beautiful blue sky?  Me too, and that's why I took the photo.  But I also see some of the most annoying trees God ever made:  pine trees!  As if pine cones and pine straw weren't bad enough, we get POLLEN from these lovely beasts trees.

 

Pollen!!!

Here's the first dusting today on my car.  You can find it in the bottom half of the photo, on the left side of my windshield.

 

I didn't notice it until I used my wipers and the dew dried off.  There it was, the distinctive yellow dust that everyone loves.  The reason that no one around here uses those window screens.  The reason that we have AC standard with every house (yes, AC's not optional around here, for those of you from the Midwest).

The reason that ponds turn yellow, that people wait to clean their windows, cars, and houses for 2 months.  The reason that parents keep their kids inside.  Ok, maybe that last one was made up, but it's about how we feel when we have a bad pollen year.

 

 

So beware, lest your white, red, black, silver, or purple car turn yellow.  It could happen!  It will!

 

Flowers updateOh, and as an update, the flowers in my back yard that I like the best, the ones that were just coming up through the pine straw a few weeks back, well...no flowers yet.  But they are up through the pine straw more.

And you can just see a bud down there if you look close.  See!?  Yippee!

There it is, the flower bud!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sybil Campbell
Fernandina Beach, FL
Referral Agent Amelia Island Florida

Jeremy ~ My two grandaughters have both been really sick this last week because of seasonal allergies!  So I hate the pollen also.

Mar 23, 2011 03:11 PM
Jeremy Wrenn
Winslow Homes - Youngsville, NC
VP of Finance, Winslow Homes

Sybil, it's not a pretty thing!  Sorry about your daughters, I pray they get better soon!

Mar 23, 2011 03:13 PM
Dale Ganfield
Leland, NC

Hi Jeremy, the pine pollen is heavy here, rinsing the cars off every day, a nice yellow color by the next.  Thankful it only lasts a couple weeks.

Mar 24, 2011 01:04 AM
Jeremy Wrenn
Winslow Homes - Youngsville, NC
VP of Finance, Winslow Homes

I bet, Dale!  You have way more pine trees than we do here!

Mar 24, 2011 02:44 PM
Peg Barcelo
Fluff My House! Home Staging Inc. 250.486.6369 - Summerland, BC
The FlufftasticStager from Summerland, BC

Jeremy we had, until last year, 2 massive Mugo Pines, that the previous owners, and then we, never trimmed. They were 30 feet tall by the time we decided they had ruined the soil for long enough and cut them down. The pollen looked like snow when it was windy and yes I had yellow pond syndrome as well! I don't like to cut down trees, but since I did, we have more light, more moisture and will have better soil as soon as I can get out there when the snow melts. And we've already planted some other (deciduous) trees, so different trees, but every tree sheds something...

Mar 24, 2011 05:29 PM
Jeremy Wrenn
Winslow Homes - Youngsville, NC
VP of Finance, Winslow Homes

Peg, my motto is "Pines are fine in someone elses' yard."  Unfortunately, I have about 12 pines in my back yard, and to top it off we have sweet gum trees as well.  Some maples and tulip poplars make it nicer, though.  And a few dogwoods with a black cherry, and some umbrella trees (a type of magnolia).

I think you did the right thing with the pines.  They just aren't good "yard" trees.

Mar 24, 2011 05:34 PM
Jeremy Wrenn
Winslow Homes - Youngsville, NC
VP of Finance, Winslow Homes

And thanks for subscribing, Peg!  You're awesome!  :)

Mar 24, 2011 05:35 PM
Anonymous
Dave Baldwin

I moved down here from Pennsylvania in 2007....don't remember the pollen being quite so extreme where I came from. Looking forward to washing the inch-thick coating of yellow dust off the car after this is over with...

Mar 26, 2011 05:24 PM
#8
Jeremy Wrenn
Winslow Homes - Youngsville, NC
VP of Finance, Winslow Homes

Dave, you said it!  It's pretty extreme around here!

Mar 27, 2011 07:04 AM