Tom Brownby Daniel A. Neary Jr.
Between the whites of the melting snows and the whites of blooming apple blossoms, the green comes to Vermont. Usually in late April and early May, it rolls northward and upward, saturating the fields, bushes and trees with verdure.
Naturalist Edwin Way Teale says spring creeps northward at the average rate of about 15 miles a day and climbs mountain sides at the rate of about a hundred feet a day. It is an annual event of striking visual beauty in Vermont (a state which many believe owes half of its name to the color green).
Over the years, I have noticed that this natural phenomenon, the coming of green, has attracted little attention. It could be another asset for the state’s tourist industry at a time when visits to Vermont are relatively low. I propose having the state issue periodic maps on the coming of green foliage, using similar methods used by the state during the fall foliage season.
