Spring is Upon Thee

For someone who thinks alot, I often think little of why I have balanced my life the way I have. I am often simply torn by desires and obligations into divvying up my time and energies. The garden calls, but I cannot answer nearly as much as I would like; and when I do, it is in a crush of work. I could list why I garden, but I am not sure what my final goal, in all of it, is. I like the earth. I like that it responds to my cultivation. Perhaps it is that simple.

The season suddenly heated up last weekend which caused a burst of flower and leaf. A bit hard on some of the fragile spring bloom, like the Magnolias, but the trees are all leafing out and everything is green.

My husband and daughter helped me plant the redbud trees, finally, last week. I decided to situate them near the spruce trees. They will be happy there, and in looking at other landscapes I think the redbud is a little wild and architectural for placing with the symmetrical crabtree plantings.

The Burkwoodi Viburnums are on the verge of bloom, they still have tight flesh colored buds, but after this weeks rain I expect them to open. The Amelanchiers are blooming, they never last very long, though. The quince bushes ( chaenomeles ) are blooming, but they seem to be having that hidden sort of bloom that the honeysuckles suffered from. Strange. For the cold to have damaged their bloom, but to have spared the rosebushes doesn’t seem probable; but they are more exposed.

Those chaenomeles were supposed to have been ‘Jet Trail’, but I think I either bought unmarked ones, or settled for the red ‘Texas Scarlet’. I know I bought them on sale at the end of the season. The nice thing about this cultivar is that it has a low profile and a beautiful shape. I am very happy with them, even though it means that I don’t have an all-white scheme in the driveway plantings. Most of the quinces have a very bright color that carries visually. Like the burning bush, Euonymous alata, in the fall, it draws the eye. Not so much when the flowers are hidden like this year, but when the bush is fully in bloom.

My bright red tulips are blooming, as well. I think they are “Eisenhower”. I planted those because they tend to be perennial, and I planted alot of them, so they hold the stage even with quinces around. The sweet cherry trees bloomed with the heat of the weekend. They are like puffs of clouds when they bloom, but I like the apple bloom better, the fragrance is sweeter.

I like having fruit trees in the yard. The birds especially like it….. and beat me to the fruit most years. I saw a pair of brown thrashers by the apple trees. Haven’t seen those for a few years – they are interesting birds. I am wishing to see a Baltimore Oriole again. The last time was when I first moved here, so maybe it was one of those freak appearances. I haven’t seen bluebirds for several years either, but I now have cardinals…at least I did last year.

It is hard to say why the bird population changes so much. Blue Jays were decimated by the Nile virus, I think, but probably most others are finding their habitats changed by the growing amount of development in the county.
I wish I could keep the area rural …. but that isn’t possible.

The garden is ahead of me again this year, which is not at all surprising. If I were wise I would let it pass me by as I leisurely go about my business, but given my history I will likely run after it in a mad chase to catch up. 

After all, the Midwestern summer cometh, when no man (in his right mind) can work.

But then I have often said to myself that Midwestern Gardeners are like mad dogs and Englishmen who don’t enough to come in out of the punishing sun. And the wilting humidity. And the mosquitoes. Midday mosquitoes.

All right. You get the picture. Work while it is day. OK, so I was in the mood for cliches and quotes.