The garden has been producing wave after wave of flowers, snowdrops, crocus, narcissus and now it’s blossom time once more. Time to lift up our heads and look above head height at all the flowers that are open at the moment.
By the entrance is a cherry which the previous people planted, it has two seasons when it stands out, now with all its lovely blossom and then later, in the autumn when the leaves turn a delicious orange/red.
I’m going to have to prune it a bit because now the branches sweep the car roof when we go in and out. I’m sure that my next door neighbour curses it while he is trying to cut his grass on the other side of the wall !
The bees love the blossom, when passing the buzzing is amazing, they make the most of it because the blossom doesn’t last long, a couple of gales and all the petals will be on the floor like confetti.
This is supposed to be P.subhirtella autumnalis, I sent it back once as it only flowered for 2 weeks in the spring and not on and off all winter as it should and was pink not white.. This is the replacement which is flowering for just 2 weeks again and is decidedly pink and not the white which it should be, I give up! I like trees and shrubs to have more than just 2 weeks interest, I think I will have to plant something more interesting in front of it!
Blackthorn blossom has erupted at the back of the border by the bog garden, it must have been there for some time from the size of the bush/tree, but I can’t remember seeing it flower before. It is draped with Clematis montana which is scrambling up the huge oak behind it, it then cascades down and in another month will be looking really beautiful.
Plain ordinary Laurel, poor laurel, nobody loves it, it’s just there at the back of the border, not being appreciated. Well now it has a fan! There has been building work going on next door for the last 18 months, some days the noise has been horrendous. The house right by the hedge between us is almost finished and the windows on their top floor are level with our bedroom window which has patio doors onto a balcony. Fortunately this laurel bush is between us, so I think it just needs a bit pruning off the front, the rest will be left to do its duty providing us with privacy!
My favourite small tree, Amelanchier lamarkii, just gets better and better as the years go by.
The leaves of the Amelanchier start out bronze which shows up so well against the blossom, or is it the other way round?
In the summer the leaves turn green and black fruit is formed which the birds love.
Then in the autumn, you get lovely orange and red autumn tints, such a good all round tree, doesn’t grow too big, I love it!
A gift from the birds, beyond the pond another Blackthorn bush has sprouted, it will need pruning if it is going to stay there as the thorny branches overhang some of the raised beds in the veggie garden. Last autumn it was covered in fruit, sloe gin anyone?
Spring is such a wonderful time of year, everything is opening so fast, I can’t keep up with it, if only it would slow down so that we can appreciate it more. Some birds are feeding their young already while others are still nest building, they have plenty of moss to line their nests after such a wet winter, so they must all be very cosy.
Don’t you think this spring has just been amazing for blossom? Your first white one looks like Prunus avium’Plena’ is it? It is one of my favourite white blossom trees.
Chloris, I’ve just looked up Prunus avium Plena in my encyclopedia and I don’t think it can be as my tree is only small- 8ft- before it cascades down whereas P. avium Plena grows to about 45ft! ours has been in for over 25 years and I don’t think it’s going to grow upwards anymore. I agree, yes, this spring is amazing for blossom, all the villages and the lanes are a mass of white blossom, so pretty.
That first tree looks wonderful. Blossom is seriously lacking here, the previous owners preferred conifers!
What a shame Jessica, are they too big to remove? I would still like to squeeze a couple more blossom trees in, but I’m rapidly running out of space!
I love the Amelanchier, I wish I had one in the Spring walk instead of the rather boring walnuts. The red stems of the Amelanchier are lovely agaianst the flowers too. Your pretty blossom positively shouts spring!
The Amelanchier really is my all time favourite small tree Christina, if or when I move to somewhere with a tiny garden (just thinking ahead) it would be the one tree I would plant again. I hadn’t noticed the red stems until you pointed them out, thank you, that is another reason for planting it!
So excited to read your rave review of the Amelanchier, Pauline, as I just planted 4. And the comment about the laurel as well. I enjoyed the flowers on ours last year – and wish I hadn’t because now I have millions of seedlings. Thanks for all that lovely blossom (and commiserations about Prunus subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’ – it’s such a lovely tree, I know how disappointed I would have been.
Cathy, I feel the Amelanchier is such a beautiful tree, so good at any time of year. The laurel will be cut back at the front, I’d better do it before it goes to seed, from what you say!
I love laurel. There, I’ve said it. My tasteful gardener card was taken away years ago and I’ve been excommunicated from all of the better gardening groups so I can be bold and admit to this. Laurel is beautiful! It has gorgeous evergreen leaves and lovely fragrant flowers that perfume the garden and keep bees buzzing for weeks. It’s versatile and can be left to make a beautiful smooth-barked tree and can take all sorts of abuse and pruning to make it into a dense hedge. And while I’m flaunting my bad taste, when left to become a towering tree, photinia makes my heart sing. Maybe your new neighbors will want to plant a whole privacy hedge of laurel on his side of the property.
Peter, hooray, you’re another Laurel fan!! They are such a useful shrub for hedging and forming a good background to flowers in front. We have a hedge of it in the front garden and this gets cut back really hard once a year,to keep it slim, it soon sprouts again.
I tried Photinia here, twice, and both times they died, I don’t think they are fully hardy.