gardening and Landscapes gardening, iris, poppies 21:40
and iris, and salvia, and just in the background the Tulip tree doing its thing, which wasn’t very obvious this year: too hot I think.
Poppies: ‘Beauty of Livermore’
Iris: ‘Breakers’ (blue) and unknown yellow
Salvia: ‘Mainacht’
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gardening gardening, roses 21:29
I should hate it. When it takes over a field or hedgerow it is a nightmare, an appalling example of an invasive plant taking over all in its path.
Keeping it trimmed as a bush takes effort, the thorns rip through jeans and skin with ease. The ticks like it (though not nearly as much as barberry)….but so do the birds.
BUT…on a warm, June morning with the sun shining, the world green gleaming with last night’s rain…. And all, all through the air is the heavy, sweet scent of roses. Wild roses. Multiflora roses in truth. The fragrance of a cultivated rose has nothing on the multiflora and rugosas.
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gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos gardening, japanese maples, photography 22:23
I know, Japanese Maples are supposed to be red. But, some of our seedlings are green, and a lovely green it is. Besides they go flame orange in the fall. And yes, the trunk is green.
Now if only I could a)find and b)get to grow a cut leaf seedling. I had one, that one in a million (quite literally, anyone need a Japanese Maple seedling?), but it died.
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gardening and Modern Photos gardening, iris, photography 13:44
Fiddling with file sizes here, is this acceptable to my one or two loyal readers?
Further comparison:
Large
Small
gardening and Modern Photos black locust, gardening, photography 20:24
One of my favorite trees (aren’t they all?) is the Black Locust. Almost Gothic in the winter, Hudson Valley School in the summer; this tree can become massive. It also is a source for rot proof (as in downed trees are still rock hard thirty years after they fell) lumber for posts. As a firewood, if it can be split, it burns hot and long. Today, modern mill equipment is tough enough to deal with cutting it for things more refined than posts. I know a person whose friend took some Black Locust, made planks out of it, and now has a kitchen floor that rivals concrete in hardness, but is a lovely soft green/black veined wood instead. Because its wood can be a lovely green with black veining. So much for the exotic tropical hardwoods.
Did I mention that it grows fast, is relatively disease free, and the blossoms are beloved of the honeybees?
Did I also mention that Connecticut, in its infinite wisdom for approaching the thing the wrong way, has decided that it is not native, being from the wrong side of the Hudson River and is invasive and (unlike such trees as the Norway Maple, whose timber/ecological value is Negative*) this is one plant they will actually try to ban the sale of? (Don’t get me started on the invasive plant list in Connecticut and its application).**
Anyway, since most people have more wisdom than that, Black Locusts are reasonably plentiful. We have several. Here they are in full flower:
The one on the left in the photo above is the third largest in the state.
*I like our big Norway Maples, because there is always intrinsic value in a mature tree. But they are trash for timber, are entirely untouched by native animals, and their growth pattern gives them a formidable edge over all other trees.
**Let’s not even mention the Japanese Barberry and Burning Bush, shall we?
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gardening and Modern Photos gardening, photography 12:08
Gold Iris
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gardening and Modern Photos gardening 21:17
White grapes…
And red grapes….
Interesting how the pigment is everywhere in the plant. It is also true of crab apples and apples. I don’t know about magnolias, I’ll have to pay more attention.
It is an odd year out there….the weather service has a frost warning out for tonight (actually relatively common for this time of year). What makes it odd is the fact that there is also a big, gorgeous iris (antique gold) blooming. The hay has seed heads well formed, and the peonies, clematis, poppies, June lilies (blooming already) are all ready to go. The season is in a big hurry to get somewhere.
But I always find late spring a little disconcerting. All of last’s year hopes, all of last year’s work is revealed. Something that is damaged or isn’t what you wanted? Not easily fixed now. Next year, next year. There is an awful lot of faith in a garden.
gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos cercis canadensis, gardening 19:42
of the house….
I have featured the apple trees for a few posts. They are on the west side of the house; but on the east side:
Cercis canadensis, also known as Redbud.
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gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos apple trees, gardening, photography 21:17
Pink!
Last year the apple and crab-apple trees in this area failed almost completely. This year not so much
Intermezzo: the skunk just walked past…oh my God!
Windows now closed.
Anyway, lovely smelling apple trees here:
You can see, bottom right, a bit of white? That is a new apple tree, one of the two Golden Delicious that we just planted. The non-blooming one actually, finally, has a few blossoms and is a Prairie Spy. Up by the kitchen there is a Spigold. To the left is the Wolf River. Not visible is the big old McIntosh. Also not visible is the white crabapple.
The little bit of pink is an azalea.
For scale that building is a perfectly good story and a half.
Where IS that skunk?!
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Acair Fearann 