About a month before Tu Bashvat they are already blooming. Where will you see almonds in Israel? - Voila! Tourism

Shakdia, Ein Kerem National Park, 11.1.23 (Photo: Eyal Shapira)

Tu Bashvet will be celebrated this year in about a month (February 5-6, 2023), but already now you can find blooming almond trees all over the country. In recent days, members of the Society for the Protection of Nature have documented the blossoming of the almond trees found in various places in the country, including the slopes of the Gilboa, the Shefala, the mountains Jerusalem and the Carmel.

Yael Zilberstein-Barzida, director of the Urban Nature Unit at the Society for the Protection of Nature, explains that the common almond tree has a relatively long flowering period, and the flowering time depends on the climate in which the tree grows and the number of warm days between the cold rain events. "The flowering these days is a response to the rain systems we have experienced So far, and the sharp transitions between cold winter days and warm sunny days.

The warm temperatures trigger the mechanisms of the fragrant and colorful flowering, which is designed to attract pollinators who are active during the winter - mainly wild bees whose value and importance to nature and agriculture are very high.

They use nectar and pollen to raise a new generation," she says.

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Shakdia on the slopes of the Gilboa, this week (photo: Society for the Protection of Nature, Avner Rinot)

Shakdia in Ein Kerem National Park, 11.1.23 (Photo: Eyal Shapira)

"In Gilboa the flowering is early due to the climate conditions"

Avner Rinot, a senior surveyor in the Urban Nature Surveys Unit of the Society for the Protection of Nature, adds that "the subspecies of the common almond, which grows in the wild in Israel, always blooms earlier than the cultivated varieties. In Gilboa, for example, the flowering is particularly early due to the climate conditions because in such a year, which is considered to be relatively mature with many sunny days, there are individuals that precede flowering after a lot of precipitation. A noticeable advance sometimes happens when the trees are close to a source of light pollution," he says.

Nahal Kus in the Jerusalem mountains (photo: Society for the Protection of Nature, Avner Rinot)

Shakdia in the Golan Heights, last year (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Where do you see almonds now?

You can see wild almonds blooming in the Umm Zoka reserve in the Bekaa, on the eastern slopes of the Gilboa on the road that goes up from the Merev junction, on the slopes of the Golan Heights on the road to Hamat Geder and Susita, and more.

Cultivated almonds that grow in the wild can be seen mainly in the Jerusalem mountains.

Reserve in the Bekaa

The slopes of the eastern Gilboa on the road that goes up from the Merav junction

The slopes of the Golan Heights on the road to Hamat Gader

Susita, the Golan Heights

Castel

Steph National Park

Mitzpe Naftuh

Lipta

Ein Kerem National Park

Blooming almonds along the pits and wells, Britannia Park (Photo: Society for the Protection of Nature, Barak Bichler)

First almond blossoms in Carmel this week as well (photo: Society for the Protection of Nature, Shaf Reter)

The nymphs are here

It's nice to know, because one of the first butterflies that can be seen around the almond trees is the nettle nymph, in black-brown-red colors, and also the common nymph, and the blossoming of the almond tree heralds the beginning of the anemone season, as we posted here last week.

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