It was 23 ° C in the Pink City on Monday afternoon and
Meteo France even forecasts a summer 25 ° C for Wednesday. The famous Indian summer is particularly pleasant. To the point that, looking closely, lilacs have bloomed again in certain hedges in the metropolis, in Labège on the edge of the departmental road for example. “There is white mustard on the banks of the Garonne, Cape groundsel, red valerian and even cherry blossoms”, observes Boris Presseq, botanist at
Toulouse MuseumAnd a keen observer of the urban flora that he has for a while allowed to discover by tracing their name in chalk on the sidewalks.
And the specialist is not very surprised by this spring for the eyes: “We are at a season where the days have exactly the same length as the days of spring,” he explains. Between a fairly rainy month of September and mild temperatures, especially in the city, with the heat islands favored by the bitumen, all the flowering signals are there for these plants ”.
But, all the same, isn’t it one too many blooms that could jeopardize that of spring? Here too, the botanist is reassuring. “This flowering will have no impact on their survival. If these plants are flowering, they have enough energy to do so. And they will do it again in the spring, even if for some, it may be less exuberant ”.
Do not prune your garden yet
And these wasps, these hornets which come back to buzz us very late in the ears then? Our phobic side is delighted to see them mown down in mid-flight by the first frosts, cruelly but secretly hoping for consequences for the colony. Missed. “The queen is already warm,” explains the botanist. And for the workers, who in any case would not have spent the winter, it is a period of strategic reserve with apples and spoiled figs ”, assures Boris Presseq.
So we just have to take advantage of this beautiful Indian summer. But not to the point of pulling out the secateurs at the bend of a sunny Sunday. “Since nature is not yet at rest, there are still fungus spores in the air and pruning a woody plant or tree can create an entry point for disease,” warns the botanist.