The Landscape Awakens

The nights may be cold, the days may be dreary, but spring has crept in nevertheless — slowly this year, not in an explosion of buds and blooms, but incrementally until I am forced to concede the season has overtaken winter. What winter? We hardly had one this year. Lou was outside yesterday, and mosquitos the size of land rovers bludgeoned him. With exceptionally mild winters two years running, the bugs have continued to breed, and I am left wanting at least a month of hard frosts. Too late now. 

But joy! The landscape is awakening. Cheery daffodils are always among the first blooms, and other flowers are joining them in the early spring garden.Clockwise from top left: Daffodils, candytuft, flowering quince, and snowflakes (Leucojum)

Edgeworthia is has been blooming with the daffodils for several weeks now. They remind me of ballet tutus!Above is what you see from the topAnd this is what you see from below!

Hellebores continue to amaze me. They are meant to be studied. Mine were once named varieties, but they have wantonly mated with each other and produced babies of questionable heritage. I love them all. (But I still ogle new hybrids with all sorts of frills and uppity pedigrees and prices to match. I would love to have some of those too!)

This is the year of the birdhouse. Among others, I recently refurbished an old cabin style birdhouse, and it has found a new home in the front garden in the area formerly inhabited by the cancer tree. I planted several shrubs in this area, unseen in the following photos and still dormant. I also plan to put flowers around the base of the birdhouse. The old iron stand once belonged to my father, who used it in his workshop with a piece of machinery bolted to it. I buried its heavy cross shaped bottom so that the appearance is more of a traditional post. The cancer tree, by the way, hasn't given up. Already I have found several sprouts insidiously snaking out of the ground, and I suspect I will be battling it with herbicide for a while.

Forsythia, seen above behind the birdhouse, is another early spring bloom that brightens even the gloomiest day. Another one is located at the edged of the woodland garden:

Camellias are blooming in several areas. The lovely shell pink one below is a mystery. Long ago we had to move a red flowering one from its spot behind the mailbox because of nearby construction. Some years later a new one sprouted in its old place, coming up through the low growing junipers that now occupy the site. I let it grow, and I was surprised when it produced a completely different and more beautiful flower than its presumed parent.

Top photo is the gorgeous mystery camellia. Below are two photos of another lovely camellia, Taylor's Perfection, located in the woodland garden.

Finally, here is a peek at a meandering moss path in the woodland garden, just as morning sunlight comes streaming through the trees. I hope to see more of this sunshine, now that spring is here!

May your heart be filled with sunlight, no matter what the weather may be....Deborah 

Serviceberries For the Birds (And Me!)

One day last year I found myself driving down the road with leafy stems bouncing around my head, wondering what I would say if I were pulled over by a state trooper. Tree branches filled the front seat of my car, reaching out to explore the front windows and seeking to find escape through the roof. Two slender trunks occupied the center space between the seats. At the very back of the car their roots were contained within large plastic pots, lying on their sides and wedged against the rear lift gate. 

When I purchased the two Serviceberry trees, I asked the attendant if he thought he could fit them into my mini van. No problem, I can do it, he said.

And he did. Yes, he did.

Amelanchier, AKA Serviceberry or Juneberry or Shadbush and a few other names as well, is a small tree with many North American species and some European ones. The fruit attracts bluebirds, cardinals, robins and other songbirds. The sweet, juicy berries look a lot like blueberries, but, unlike blueberries, they contain soft, almond flavored seeds. Humans like the berries, too, and they can be used instead of blueberries to make muffins, cobblers, preserves and jam. The berries are not often offered commercially, and it's not so easy to find the trees, either. So I was happy when I found two locally at a reasonable price. 

I hope I will soon have berries like these, shown in this public domain photo.

I haven't personally tasted the fruit yet. My two young trees produced only a handful of berries last year, which quickly disappeared. This year my trees are filled with blooms, so I am hoping for a more abundant crop. I am thinking one tree for the birds and one for me, though I suspect the birds won't abide by my thinking.

Serviceberries add ornamental value to the garden year round. Species may grow as shrubs or as small trees up to 25' tall. The branch structure is beautiful and the tree bark is often distinctive, with vertical fissures developing with age. In early spring, the branches are filled with clusters of white, five-petaled flowers, each bloom about 3/4" across. The flowers are followed by shiny green, 2" long leaves. The tasty fruit usually ripens in June, thus the common name Juneberry. Fall color is excellent, with brilliant orange and gold color that persists for weeks.

With different species growing in zones 2-9, Amelanchier is usually easy to grow. Plant in moist but well draining soil in a site protected from strong winds. Full sun is best, but they will adapt to a partly shady location. Fertilize in November and maintain a 2"-3" layer of mulch around the base, making sure the mulch does not actually touch the bark. Water frequently during drought. Then enjoy your berries, if you can get to them before the birds. (Warning: deer also like them!)