* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia

When I return to the town of Ullastrell, in Vallès Occidental, the almond trees are already blooming in January, as we see in these photographs in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia.

Almond trees bloom much earlier than other fruit trees, which usually wait for the arrival of spring, although with this spring-like winter you never know.

This time of year, in the middle of winter, is ideal to contemplate the beautiful spectacle of this tree from the Rosaceae family. Furthermore, since the weather is spring-like, there are plants and flowers that should not be in bloom and that have already decided to accompany the almond trees.

The flowering of almond trees generally occurs especially around the months of February and March, but it is increasingly observed that it occurs in mid or late January, as has also happened this year.

In most of the almond-producing regions of Spain, you can see almond trees in bloom at this time.

One of its varieties of this tree has been cultivated for millennia to take advantage of its seeds, almonds, as food and as raw material to obtain its oil.

The other, the bitter almond tree, produces seeds that cannot be consumed due to their content of amygdalin, a toxic substance.