The following was sent to The Block Island Times from the Block Island Conservancy:
May 5, 2020 – The Shad are Blooming!
For many weeks now, we’ve been checking the shad buds every morning to see if they’ve bloomed. Finally, after a warm and sunny day yesterday, many of the buds have opened up leaving the shad trees covered in clouds of white flowers.
The shad is a beautiful plant with silvery-gray bark that is often splotched with lighter gray lichen. Though showiest in the springtime, shad are striking in every season – come summer, they’ll produce dark purple berries that are a favorite for both birds and humans; in the fall, their small leaves will turn a rusty orange; and in the winter, their sculptural branching trunks create beautiful silhouettes.
On Block Island we often refer to our shad as trees, but on the mainland most shad don’t grow to be much bigger than a bush. This is because Block Island doesn’t have the tall canopy of trees that is found on the mainland. With no overstory shading them out, the shad are able to grow to be 20 feet or more in height here, allowing Block
