Dave – Page 127 – Ramblin' through Dave's Garden

Finding space for trees

There’s no disguising that I’m a sucker for any distinctive tree, common or rare, and regardless if there’s space to plant it, or not. Last year I purchased tiny saplings of Dove tree (Davidia involucrata, below) and Korean Sweetheart tree (Euscaphis japonica) since there was no space in the garden to plant full sized trees….

The spring garden

I’ve planted to fill the garden with blooms throughout the year, and with recent mild winters there has been something flowering every day for the past two years. Still, skillful planning would be required not to have a garden full of blooms in the spring months (and what would be the point). Again, there are…

Spreading under difficult circumstances

A strip of forest runs along the southern border of the garden with tall swamp maples and tulip poplars, but also a wonderful black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) and a sprinkling of oaks to the lower end. The area between the house and the forest is narrow enough at its closest point that I fear one…

Silverbells

Carolina Silverbell (Halesia caroliniana, below) is native to much of the American southeast, though not to Virginia, so it can not correctly be called a native in my garden. No matter, I have trees from across the globe, and none lovelier in bloom than the silverbell. Unfortunately, the dangling blooms have a tissue papery substance,…

Catching up

In the spring there are so many blooms and so few hours to jot down the mindless drivel that fills these pages. So, today there will be more photos, and less babbling. No purpose is served by me having these pictures stored on my computer and not sharing them. We’ll start with photos from a…

No sense

Fortunately, I still have a sense of humor, but I’m afraid even it’s fading fast. My common sense is debatable, and I’m so color blind I can hardly tell green from brown. My wife tells me I’m nearly stone deaf, and I can barely smell the most fragrant of flowers in the garden. This is…

Upset by the cold spring

After a cold early spring, typically gentle bumblebees are unusually irritable and aggressive when I poke my nose into their business. I’m not a complete idiot, and not unsympathetic to their business of collecting nectar. So, I back off until they are a bit calmer, then dive in again. Photographs must be taken, even at…

More April blooms

In mid April pink and white blooms peek out from the forest that borders the highway. Though my morning drive to the office is in darkness, the evening commute is more cheerful with these ornaments as I head back into the country. I’m disappointed when the blooms fade to lush green foliage in May. The…

A new flower every day

After weeks of cool temperatures the weather suddenly turned past warm to hot, and even if this was only for a few days the soaring temperatures have had an immediate effect on the garden. Blooms that were delayed for weeks have popped out in quick succession, and each day brings new flowers. In fact, due…

Spreading joy

I was surprised this afternoon to see that tiny Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae, below) has spread from a handful of bulbs to scattered coverage over several hundred square feet. I recall that a year ago I marveled that it had spread to a dense carpet covering fifteen square feet, but now there are…

A flowering tree?

My nose itches. My eyes water. The maples must be in bloom. This is not some exotic variety, but the native Swamp or Red maple (Acer rubrum, below). They’re everywhere, and there are a good number in the narrow swath of forest that runs along the southern border of my garden. The shallow roots make…

It’s finally (almost, just about) spring – what’s next?

After a few false alarms there is now some clear progress in temperatures warming to more typical spring weather. Night time temperatures continued to drop into the twenties late into last week, but there were a few daytime highs in the sixties, and now the forecast is for highs in the seventies. With a late…