Crabapple and rhododendron

Unfortunately for me, the crabapple tree was at peak last weekend while I was in Claremont for my five year reunion. Luckily for you, however, my wonderful husband obliged me by taking pictures. I tried taking a few more yesterday, but they were so obviously inferior to the ones he took (in the beauty of the tree, hopefully they were comparable in quality of photography) that I deleted them from the computer. As you can see in both the pictures of the whole tree and the details, the flowers on this beauty are fuschia: gorgeous, bold and striking. By now, about a third are on the ground and the remaining blossoms have started to fade to a nondescript pink. Nothing lasts, but I do know what I'm looking forward to next year.



The rhododendron had just started to bud before I left for California, but when I came back I was greeted by the welcome sight of its delicate pink blossoms. We bought and planted this rhododendron last July, so I didn't know exactly what color it would be. I find it to be quite lovely (the blossoms remind me somewhat of those of the pink cherry tree we planted). Unfortunately, the leaves are a bit brown at the edges (and have been since the end of winter...or more likely since sometime during the winter). I'm not quite sure how to rectify this particular situation.

Tulips, a bit late

I've had these pictures for a couple of weeks now.  I'm sorry I haven't posted.  I have been busy busy busy, but it's been a good sort of busy (thesis proposal out the door--my oral exam is scheduled for May 14th!)

The tulips pictured above are actually completely past now (but I have others that are still going strong and a whole new set that is just beginning to bud--so more to follow hopefully).  I am a particular fan of gently multicolored tulips and these completely fit the bill.  (I used to hate tulips since I associated them with regimented rows of bright red and bright yellow.)

These pink and pale yellow tulips to the left are among my favorite groupings.  (There were also two white ones in this group, but they had not yet bloomed as of this picture).  These tulips, like the first set, are in the beds in front of the house, but unlike the first are still hanging on for a little longer.

Down by the evergreens, the tulips are not yet passed but the daffodils shown in some of the pictures are. Below is my favorite tulip picture. It makes a great background for my computer desktop. 

The tulip groups in the evergreen bed are predominantly pink and pale yellow, although I saw one yesterday that I would describe as "orange sorbet".  In any event, they're lovely.  With regards to the daffodils pictured below, I love seeing the dew glint on the grass in the background.

 

Coming soon: flowering crabapple and the now blooming rhododendron!

New Additions

Our grub problem, which resulted in a nasty mud patch, has actually proved to be a boon to us.  While at Country max, looking for the necessary items for reseeding, we noticed this little beauty.  (The pink one.)  This is an Autumn Flowering Cherry (Prunus subhirtella 'Autumnalis').  It's already doing a beautiful job at cheering up our yard.

It is joined in this endeavor by our new Snow Fountain Cherry (Prunus x 'Snofozam').  We couldn't choose between the two types, so we decided to go with one of each.  A little bit of variety and a lot of beauty.

There is also some new flower bed beneath the two trees.  We're slowly but surely transferring our outdoor work to me from Matt.  At least it's pretty.

Daffodil Update

Two more daffodils up by the house bloomed during the day (as did one down at the corner):

First blooming daffodil! (with four hyacinth)

I am pleased to announce that here, we have our first blooming daffodil.  Daffodils are, without a doubt, my favorite flower (spring, summer, indoor, outdoor).  Nothing seems as cheerful to me as happy yellow daffodils.  All (or at least most) of my daffodils are grouped with various hyacinth, to provide multiple colors to the groupings since they're supposed to bloom at similar times.  I have to say that I'm pleased with the results in this particular early blooming group.  I do have several other daffodils that might open today or at the latest, tomorrow, so there will certainly be more pictures to come.

Also, since I still have numerous beautiful croci, I thought I'd throw in this shot looking straight down at them, since they're quite lovely that way.  (Also, this particular grouping is very nice since it has one of each color). 

Croci! Many, many croci!

Well, as the title of the post implies, I have many croci growing now.  I made the mistake of putting them all in the bed that Matt and I put in last fall (down by the corner, where the poor little spruce is).  Next year there shall be even more croci and there shall be some in the beds right in front of the house.  This particular grouping on the right is one of my favorites, since the yellow flower in front is the first one that bloomed.

I had failed to understand how cheerful croci make me.  I love the bright colors and each day I like to go down to the corner and see how many more are blooming.  To the left we have a grouping that is accidentally fairly monochromatic.  I'm not really sure how I could prevent this.  It does show off the darker purple croci that are not visible in the first picture.

Just for good measure, I'm adding a picture of one more grouping (there are 2 or 3 others that I didn't photograph).  

The first crocus of Spring!

Saturday, I saw my first blooming crocus of the year!  I'm so happy that color and flowers are back!

My poor little spruce

Last fall, Matt and I created a new flower bed and planted two evergreen trees (a type of cedar and a colorado spruce) near the corner of our lot.  We did this for several reasons: to break up the huge expanse of grass on that side, to give a little winter color, to eventually have more privacy and to create an additional barrier (since apparently, the rocks around the edge of our lot are to stop stupid kids from cutting across the corner in their cars).

Last weekend, much to my chagrin, this is what I found:

That's right.  Someone drove into our yard and OVER our tree.  I will admit to having been extremely angry about this.  Luckily, my wonderful Step-Mother-in-Law and my Father-in-Law came over to help me right the poor thing.  It's currently tied to keep it upright and I hope it'll be ok.  It's hard to tell from the angle from which I took that picture, but it's also missing about a thirty degree angle's worth of branches in the direction from which it was run over.

On a more hopeful note:

Sadly, it snowed last night but it really isn't supposed to last, so hopefully I'll have actual flowers too.