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Saturday, April 02, 2011

The Changing of the Guard

The daffodils are still with us, but are rapidly being replaced by poppies, whose bright orange is just as cheerful as the bright yellow of the daffs.





In between the poppies and daffodils, the Vinca that DH planted last summer has finally taken hold, and is spreading its glossy leaves and light blue flowers. We hope that by next year, it'll be a true ground-cover plant, and help keep down the weeds!



The ornamental plum has almost finished blooming, but the pear (a fruiting variety) is covered with buds ready to open. If even 1/10th of the buds become fruit, this little tree will fall over - it went into the ground only a year ago, so it's still fairly flimsy.



Out in the front of the house, this unusual variety of berberis is absolutely covered with bright gold buds (the usual flower color is pink, not gold).



And in the courtyard, the little Japanese red maple has suddenly put out leaves and seed spikes:



Of course, this being April, we're still having on-again-off-again rain showers. When it's sunny, Gracie wants to spend the day outside. When it showers, she goes back into "wake me next month" mode.

2 comments:

Sheila Carey said...

Lovely spring flowers and buds Sandra!

Just a not about your pear - if you just planted it last year you should strip off any fruit that sets. Having fruit in the first year will weaken the tree.

Sheila in Kelowna,
Okanagan fruit country where none of the trees have bloomed yet.

Sandra Rude said...

Hi, Sheila,
Thanks for the tip! You folks in the Okanagan should know! We've grown almonds, walnuts, plums, apples, apricots and nectarines, but this is the first pear. Since DH loves 'em, we'll be sure to do what it takes to keep it healthy for future crops.
-- Sandra