In Central Ohio the flowering trees are in all their glory now. Especially full and heavy with bloom are the crabapples. I can’t believe how many different shapes there are, all within their white to pink to purple red shades of bloom. I have some of the deep red and purple leaf types up along the drive. They look beautiful as there are two that are starting to mature and the others are showing good bloom for young trees- hardly beyond whip stage. I have pink one s and white ones other places in the yard. I am especially fond of the new trees because they are specially selected to withstand the blighting leaf drop of scab that these tress tend to develop.
After looking fabulous in the spring, they can become ugly later if the right variety is not chosen. I have Prairiefire, and will report later in the season if it lives up to its reputation. Sometimes things of beauty are needful of special care- isn’t that true of so many things? And many flowering trees are no different. On crabapples I will look for those horrible little hanging cocoons of the gypsy moth. They look like arborvitae leaves… so I pull them off and burn them before they can release their destructive cargo of caterpillars. You have to keep a look-out for webworm, too. Hey! Everything has its problems….
The lilacs are beginning to bloom , but that post is for another day.
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