 By the beginning of Shevat, one-third of the year has elapsed. Now that the first four months have past, the year has reached a state of physical maturity. Indeed, by this time, most
of the winter rains have fallen in the Land of Israel, and the sap is beginning to rise in the trees, ready to produce the fruit of the coming season.
Since the physical world is a reflection of the spiritual world, a person's development must correspond to this physical reality.
On Rosh HaShanah, we all receive a new life force to utilize for the year ahead. But, just as with all other new lives, as we have seen, we require time to mature and be able to actualize our potential. Once a third of the year has passed, the spiritual capacity latent in all of us has reached its full power and is ready to burst forth and bear fruit.
We can now understand the view of Beit Shamai. Once four months of the year have passed, the potential of the tree and, by extension of man, are unleashed. The New Year for trees is therefore celebrated on the first of Shevat.
Why does Beit Hillel hold that we do not celebrate the New Year for trees until the fifteenth of Shevat- Tu B'Shevat?
The counting, according to Beit Hillel, doesn't start until Succot, the fifteenth of Tishrei. "Four times a year, the world is judged, and on Sukkot, it is judged for water" (Mishnah, Rosh HaShanah 1:2).
"Why does the Torah require us to bring a water libation on Sukkot? Says The Holy One, Blessed Is He: Offer water before Me on Sukkot so that the year's rains will be blessed for you" (Rosh HaShanah 16a).
Although we are granted a new life on Rosh HaShanah, the ability to activate our blessing for the year does not begin until Sukkot, two weeks later.
Therefore, according to Beit Hillel, both in terms of the development of the fruit of the tree and a person's development, the new year- the moment that the potential becomes actualized- is the fifteenth of Shevat.
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