Warm Weather Starts the Dogwood Blooms

The unseasonably warm weather, about 20 degrees above normal, has probably pushed the development of some plants a little faster than more typical blustery cool weather of spring. The last four days have been very hot in the afternoons, like 90 degrees or more, and the nights only down to 60 degrees. The cherry tree leaves developed quickly and the petals of the white cherry blossoms have mostly fallen away. The weather has been very warm, and windy, too.

Dogwood trees started blooming today. Pictures to come.

Rue anenome showing more individual plants than previous years down along the right side of the lane across from the raspberries by the pond. Violets out in large numbers at the pond and all along the lane. Most trees at least starting to bud out, the woods are getting greener now.

Moss peony has four blooms that have not yet opened. I’ve watered it in the evenings as after the first real hot day it was quite wilted by the afternoon sun. A rhododendron that gets morning sun is in full bloom, while a large one in the filtered shade of the trees has no blooms to show.

The purple tulips are open now for a couple days, but the white tulips (they’re planted together) are just now reaching their flowers buds higher, but not yet opening them.

A couple blooming wild weeds that I found in a neighbor’s lawn include the blue and white common speedwell and the purple gill-over-the-ground, which were both flowering profusely.

Wild Cherry Trees Blooming in Pennsylvania

Looking around the mountain we see the red and sugar maples are sprouting leaves, the four-year-old lilac finally has one bloom, and Northern Downy violets are opening along the lane and at the edge of the open woods. Sassafras trees are almost ready to bloom, their blossoms getting bigger by the day.

Cherry trees blooming fully as of today – the sun has helped to bring them out. (Photos taken 22 April 2009.)

Cherry trees in full bloom.

Cherry trees in full bloom.

Wild cherry blossoms getting ready to open.

Wild cherry blossoms getting ready to open.

Not the black cherry though, it’s flowers are just in bud formation and probably won’t open for another week or so.

Black cherry flower buds.

Black cherry flower buds.

A few wild weeds that are blooming now include the purple gill-over-the-ground, the yellow mustard, and the white chickweed, strawberry, garlic mustard, and Pennsylvania bittercress. The greenery of pink lady’s slipper is now emerging from the cold ground, showing an inch or so of their hairy, succulent leaves.

New Garden Soil for Earth Day

Did you have a Happy Earth Day? We sure did, even if my knees kept me awake last night! We celebrated Earth Day by doing something nice for the piece of Earth that will sustain us this summer with fresh vegetables.

It had rained the previous couple nights and that made for easy digging and removal of weeds that were let go too long last year. The twisty tool with four pointed tips makes quick work of pulling up dandelions and other weeds. Got most of the garden weeded and cleaned up for planting.

We had a couple tons of topsoil delivered and had it dumped in a corner of the garden. We didn’t skimp on the quality of soil and opted for the Premium #1 grade mix of topsoil, compost and mushroom soil. Nicely screened of stones, too. Couldn’t be happier with the selection.

New garden dirt for Earth Day.

The natural clay and stone we call “dirt” will be tilled up in parts of the garden that either have nothing growing or tightly packed soil. It’s taken 3-4 years to get the garden soil in the shape it’s in now, but it sure could use more organics.

Some places the garlic and lettuce are already growing and we’ll just let those be as they are.

April Showers and Cherry Trees Flower

Well, now that the showers of April are soaking the mountains of Pennsylvania we can look forward to more trees blooming. So far, the brilliant red flowers and leaf buds of the maples have joined in with the yellow green willow leaves to announce that the growing season is upon us.

Grass is greener now and an abundance of Spring bulbs are showing their happy faces everywhere. First the snowdrops appeared with their bowed heads as if to say they’d rather still be slumbering. Crocuses were the next earliest in appearance sporting their deep purples, bright whites and glowing yellow flowers. Grape hyacinth are dainty little bulbs, and the flower color is such a deep hue of purple. These little blooms last for a week or more and appear in early Spring along with the snowdrops. Daffodils and narcissus come along next and they’re still blooming as we wait for the storm to pass over us. Hyacinths smell so sweet, and it’s too bad that they’re fast bloomers. They don’t stick around for very long, so I always cut one to freshen a room indoors with the scent of their bloom. Tulip buds are just now starting to stretch high enough so their big-petaled flowers can open.

The last couple days we saw the forsythia plant open its pretty yellow blooms and yesterday they were fully open. Since most of the trees aren’t yet showing green leaves and the landscape is fairly drab, the yellow of the forsythia really draws one’s eye.

Yesterday, we noted that the Northern Downy Violets were blooming in larger numbers than the previous two days. You have to look close to see them as they stand only a couple inches high. The natural smattering of little flowers all over the lawn and near the lane always makes me smile.

Scanning across the woods at the edges of fields you can see native cherry trees in bloom, which will last less than a week especially with rain forecasted for the next three days. In the towns nearby one can see the ornamental pears showing off their white blooms and a few tulip trees starting to open their hot pink and white blossoms.

Did I forget to mention the dandelions? Yup! Their yellow blossoms are fairly closed up today with the rain and lack of sun, but yesterday a million yellow heads were beaming, “It’s Spring!”

A few other plants stirring to life are the comfrey herb, the blueberry bushes, blue columbine, echinacea, moss peony, lilac, redbud, raspberries, elderberries, strawberries, and no doubt a bunch more, including lettuce, garlic and savory in the vegetable garden.

Pennsylvania Bittercress Starts the Blooming Season

Spring is almost a week old already and the signs are everywhere. Geese flying north were a pleasant sound – and sight – about 3 to 4 weeks ago. Sometimes we can hear the swans trumpeting from up high even though we can’t see them through all the trees.

The Northeastern US is slowly warming up to let the Spring bulbs break through the cold hard ground. We have crocuses blooming nicely now in PA, but in upstate NY the white-flowering snow drops are still blooming and the crocuses have yet to appear. Maple trees are growing their winter buds which gives a faint red-maroon cast to the tops of the forests.

I’m sure there are differences in blooming times depending on whether you’re near the mountains or the city. Down in Washington, DC we can see the tulip trees blooming and the buds breaking out on many kinds of trees. A little south and west and you’ll be able to see the Bradford pears showing off their delicate white blooms.

One of the first bloomers we see in PA is the four-petaled Pennsylvania Bittercress. I found a very small example sprouting up between the cracks of flagstone on our front walkway. Photo taken 18Mar2009.

PA Bittercress blooming very early
PA Bittercress blooming very early

Shorter than two inches tall, this has to be one of the smallest plants that I’ve ever seen blooming.

So, what’s blooming in your neighborhood?

Potted Begonias Survive the Winter Indoors

January and February in Pennsylvania don’t give many opportunities to observe flowers or growing herbs, except for the ones we take indoors. Light has to be made available from a sunny window or from an artificial source if you want to see the plants stay healthy.

I tried something new this fall and dug up some begonias that were real pretty growing at the edge of the woods. Outdoors they seemed to like their spot in the shade of the trees, although they did get a little morning sun. They were taken up before freezing weather hit and planted in a couple large pots with some potting soil.

I was surprised that the plants did so well and even grew throughout the winter. The pots were placed near a south-facing window so the begonias could get as much sun as possible.

Potted begonia in a sunny window.

Lil’ Scoshe at the south-facing window near the begonias.

The begonia plant on the higher stand was able to get more sunlight and it grew better and flowered a lot more than the begonia on the lower stand that didn’t get as much sun.

Begonia still alive near the cats' window.

Potted begonia dangerously close to the cat overlook. Photos taken 10Jan2009.

The window-attached bird feeder is a great entertainment center for the cats during the winter. Unfortunately, the plants nearby often get clobbered when the felines get a little frisky.

At times over the course of the last couple months a playful kitty caused a few stems of the begonia to be broken. Pushing the broken stems right into the soil, even without any root-tone, was all that was needed. I was really surprised that the stems took off growing more stem and flowers so quickly. For about 3 days the stems looked a little bent over or wilted, but then they came back around to start re-growth.

I had never had begonia plants before, either indoors or out. I was pleasantly surprised as the begonias treated us to non-stop flowering in shades of red, pink and white. I highly recommend these ‘old time’ flowers for splashes of color in your garden, along walkways or indoors near a sunny window.

Ice-covered Rose Hips – Trees Block Road

Another ice storm in January covered absolutely everything in ice. Photos taken 8Jan2009.

Ice-covered rose hips.

Rose vines and rose hips covered in ice.

Ice-covered trees block the lane.

Trees arching over the lane eventually succumbed to the weight of the ice and blocked the road. A few trees had to be cut down to regain access down the lane. Not that we were anxious to get places in that kind of weather, but of course the path needed to be kept clear.

We’re actually looking forward to a little snow!

Ice Storms Coat Everything with Ice

We had more ice storms this winter than snow storms. When the weather was very cold, it seemed too cold to snow. I guess it was really too dry to snow very much. The ice can be pretty to look at, especially in the following days when the sun comes out and makes everything look sparkley.

What amazes me is how the ice seems to get to every little place and coat every twig and stem.

Icicles hang from all the tree limbs.

Icicles hanging from all the tree limbs. Photo taken 20Dec2008.

Ice drips all along the tree limbs.

Icy drips along the stems. Photo taken 20Dec2008.

Everything gets coated with ice.

Everything in sight was covered in ice. Photo taken 20Dec2008.

Pine trees are all iced up.

Even pine trees were all iced up. Photo taken 21Dec2008.

Every pine needle was coated with ice.

Every single pine needle was covered. Photo taken 21Dec2008.