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Early Bird Special: Catch the 4:02 to the Vernal Equinox

DSC_0033It’s here.  Well, almost here.  The first day of spring. The day we gardeners dream about.

If you live on the west coast of North America like I do, spring officially arrives at 4:02 am. When I worked full-time, I used to try to take the first few days of spring off so I could start a garden. This year, I’ve rearranged my schedule to attend the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. I am so excited.

The show opens tomorrow, March 20th and runs through Sunday.  It’s exciting to be among the first to arrive when everything is still fresh. This year’s theme is Gardens Make the World Go Around.  Frankly, I couldn’t agree more!

I’ll be taking photos galore to share with you later in the week. And…guess what?  It’s raining!  (Shhhhhh….we don’t want it to stop).

Ah, spring, how I love you so.

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What is a Vernal Equinox?

An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth’s equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, night and day are about equal length.

At an equinox the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points: classically, the vernal point (RA = 00h 00m 00s and longitude = 0º) and the autumnal point (RA = 12h 00m 00s and longitude = 180º). By extension, the term equinox may denote an equinoctial point.

The equinoxes are the only times when the sub-solar point is on the Equator. The sub-solar point (the place on the Earth’s surface where the center of the Sun is exactly overhead) crosses the Equator moving northward at the March equinox and moving southward at the September equinox. (Since the sun’s ecliptic latitude isn’t exactly zero it isn’t exactly above the equator at the moment of the equinox, but the two events usually occur less than 30 seconds apart.) – Read more at Wikipedia

9 thoughts on “Early Bird Special: Catch the 4:02 to the Vernal Equinox”

  1. Ooooh, lovely! I am hosting a giveaway on my blog to celebrate the vernal / autumnal equinox. I will post it in a few hours (on the official equinox, geeze, lol), so feel free to drop by and enter if you like. I am madly in love with the equinoxes, spring and fall being my fave seasons. And, shhh, I’m being very quiet so it doesn’t stop raining and encouraging spring blossoms. (Here, it is currently snowing, just FYI, so make ALL the noise you want to get it to stop :P)

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  2. Whispering…yippee! Finally your rain has arrived, so happy for your garden and the trees and all the wildlife too. I watched the video over at your link to the flower show. Amazing what they can build indoors. It’d be awesome to have them landscape a yard. Looks like there are some fun seminar’s too. Are you staying over in San Francisco? I know you’ll be in your glory! Have a great time! Happy Equinox!!!

    PS. The blooms on your tree are fab, is that a plum? So so pretty. xoK

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    • Thank you, Boomdee! Interestingly, the SF garden show is now in San Mateo! It was a bit disappointing to see how much smaller the show is these days, by nearly half. We had fun, but were a bit underwhelmed this year. Perhaps it is a sign of the times.

      I took lots of pics to share soon. It is amazing what some of these designers do.

      Mike was able to cover early pick up for me so I could go for the day. We were back by 5:00 so I could be proud mama and watch C. at the honor roll assembly.

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      • Wonderful! Bravo C. You mentioned a bit back that C was in his room reading history and I thought then….wow! Way to go mama! Your young man enjoys school, awesome.

        Too bad about the show being edited, I’m sure everyone is pinching corners now. I’m really looking forward to your share though, at the risk of sounding like a broken record…”it’s snowing this morning”….and they are reporting we’re ‘IN FOR IT’ all day. I may be slightly ‘nutty’ by the time we arrive on your doorstep my dear, ‘Cabin Fever’…LOL

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