Signs of Spring

Here in the NY Catskills spring is bustin' out all over. Last week an early heat wave, in the 80s, gave spring here a two week headstart. This morning the temperature was a balmy 33ºF.

My flowering pear in blossom, its sixth season since I planted it:

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four fruit trees (2 apple/2 plum) I planted last year all made it:
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four blossoming:
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don't mind pine bark mulch:
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hearts awaiting the first hummers:
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is looking better, didn't lose all the daffodils afterall:
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Some squirrel leavings:

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neighbor leavings... Mooch, that's peanut butter, not mouse:
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Reply to
brooklyn1
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And the green grass and a flowing creek. I'm pea green with envy about your natural wonders.

Reply to
FarmI

weather in Colorado thwarts her and takes out her bleeding hearts. (Fond memories of them in springtimes back east keep her trying.)

Here in Michigan, I'm only growing the little Dicentra that last a long time; "Luxurient" and a white one whose variety name escapes me right now.

The serviceberry popped into bloom this weekend, and now several days of rain has washed most of the petals off. It was a nice moment, but fleeting. I hope it was able to set fruit. I love to watch the cedar waxwings feeding on the berries.

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

Where are you located, perhaps you can grow what I can't... I'd love to have some citrus trees but alas they won't grow here.

Reply to
brooklyn1

I always think of bleeding heart as a rather tough plant, it't one of the first to come up here every spring. Spring in the Catskills is often wintry too, it was 33ºF early yesterday morning, down from unseasonal mid 80s the prior week. I have my bleeding heart tucked into a corner close to the south side of the house, perhaps your mom needs to find a more protected and hospitable location

Early this morning, even before fully light, there were five mallards that joined the Canada geese, one female. I don't know how long they were here but they left a few minutes after I shot a few pictures:

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Reply to
brooklyn1

Heh, you don't know how the weather on the plains of NE Colorado can zoom around, do you. She's got her bleeding hearts in her little courtyard (as sheltered as possible). There are lilacs planted all over her town, and yet, she tells me, most years the blooms get blasted. Too many very warm Feb- Mar days followed by late April blizzards will do that!

(I've never lived in Colorado myself, but it is a nice place to visit, even in the flat parts.)

Reply to
Pat Kiewicz

"Pat Kiewicz" wrote:

In these parts the winds can be horrific too but folks protect their vulnerable plantings by shielding with burlap, etc., many will wrap each individual shrub or protect an entire bed by attaching cloth to their deer fencing... some use snow drift fencing to block the wind and protect plants from being buried in snow drifts, all sorts of ingenious systems. The weight of snow can do more damage to plants than wind... my neighbor goes out during heavy snow storms with a broom to sweep the snow from all his Colorado blue spruce before the weight of the snow breaks the branches. People also use wind resistant plantings to shield more vulnerable plantings, I have a 70' high double row of Norway spruce as a windbreak all along the western side of my house, keeps my heating bills down and at the same time protects my plants... and during blizzards as the snow accumulates on those branches it forms a solid wall impenitrable to wind. That's why the wildlife heads for the evergreen forests; on the coldest windiest days the air inside remains still and the canopy actually traps the warmth radiating from the ground. Many people here place evergreen boughs over their vulnerable plants and beds, shields from wind, supports snow accumulation, and holds in warmth. When I'm done with my Christmas tree I'll lay it over a couple of shrubs until spring when I haul it into the woods. I bet if your mom propped her spent Christmas tree over her bleeding hearts plant it would be fine.

Reply to
brooklyn1

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