Алексей Угальников в Threads: @alexuhalnikau
Belarusians are posting captivating photos of cornflowers in frosty mist on social media: blue fields against a backdrop of yellow, half-bare trees. Cornflowers usually bloom from June to August, and in rare cases until early October, but this autumn has been warm and prolonged, and the deceived cornflowers have bloomed for a second time.
“This is the first time in my life that I have seen anything like this. It’s November, and against a backdrop of yellow trees there is an entire field of cornflowers instead of ploughed land. Nothing short of a miracle”, Aliaksei Uhalnikau captioned his captivating photos of cornflower meadows in the Mahiliou district.
According to Belhydromet, this October has every chance of becoming one of the five warmest Octobers in Belarus’s recorded history, while the final week of the month was 3-5°C warmer than the climatic norm, with daytime temperatures in the south reaching +16°C.
However, forecasters expect frosts of up to -3°C in the coming days, and the November cornflowers will not have time to produce mature seeds. The more energy a plant has invested in late flowering, the less likely it is to survive the winter — and it may not survive at all. But that does not diminish the unsettling beauty of what is happening.
“Hello, everyone in Mahiliou! Look at this beauty just 10 minutes from the city. Get in your cars and make your mothers, wives and daughters happy. Or treat yourself to this beautiful bouquet. Remember, we are Belarusians, we are very cultured, so please do not trample the field,” photographer Uladzimir Pazdniakou recommends in his video. “I brought scissors and rubber bands with me, carefully trimmed the bouquets — and that’s it. They will delight us for at least another week.”