This has been an amazingly long spring season of bloom with much moisture and frequent cool temperatures. I have enjoyed it tremendously and today I'd like to share a lengthy photographic essay of where we've been over the course of the last week with regard to many of the specimens in my flowering tree collection. I will deal with other aspects of the late spring gardens in another post. Unfortunately, the flowering crab and late magnolia season has been shortened considerably by this past Sunday's 88 degree temps and powerful winds and late day storms. Sunday was the day that we, our nieces, and their families hosted a garden party with 110 people invited for our sister-in-law's 70th birthday. All the severe weather held off until all had left for home, so we felt very much blessed in that regard.
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I generally consider the blooming of 'Butterflies' to signal the end of the the early magnolia season. The two Butterflies came and went with their usual
bravado over the course of seven days |
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Butterflies is paired with two 'Galaxy' magnolias in one part of
the garden, although the Galaxy bloom does run longer
than the 'Butterflies' as seen above |
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We experienced a good overlap of daffodils and tulips, as well as a lengthy
overlap of the tulips with flowering crabs |
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Many flowering crabs are alternate bearers showing less bloom every other year.
That was the case with my two very tall 'Spring Snow' this season,
but there was still an excellent amount of white |
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| To the rear of this photo is the official perch for birds preparing to visit our feeders. The yellow blooming magnolia is called 'Yellow Lantern' named by it's breeder for the light at the entrance of his favorite tavern. It somehow seems appropriate in it's position as gateway to the bird feeders! To the front is 'Simple Pleasures', one of Dennis Ledvina's hybrids which I have referred to previously since it has been in bloom for over a month! As of today it has its full complement of foliage and is still blooming strongly |
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Two of my "Little Girl' hybrids really outdid themselves with bloom this year.
The two darker ones pictured above are 'Betty' and the lighter ones,
my favorite from the series, are 'Pinkie' |
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There are two 'Spring Glory' crabs in the gardens. These tend to fade quickly
in seasons of warmth and lots of sun. This was not the case this year with
many cloudy days and the color was magnificent for a considerable length
of time. Below are several photos of the 'Spring Glory' crabs... |
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| Malus 'Strawberry Parfait' just coming into bloom |
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One of the later magnolias to bloom and certainly one of my absolute favorites, is 'Daybreak'; I have it paired with 'Elizabeth'. It's color is amazing as is it's fragrance. Many of the blooms are easily ten inches... this one is quite special in my opinion. It is interesting that it has recently been found to be hardy even in certain areas of central Vermont which was a surprise to me. The earlier blooms were lighter in color this season, perhaps due to cooler weather. The time of day also seems to affect the blossom color as well...
here are more recent photos... |
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| The blue of Mertensia (Virginia Bluebells) is a good partner for magnolia 'Elizabeth' |
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This also appears to be a good year for my redbud.
I have it paired with a Crimson Frost birch, the latter having
'purple' foliage as seen below... |
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| I tend to preach that the most important aspect in making a flowering crab a four season specimen is pruning. While I do get behind in this respect, the Barbara Potter shown here is a good example of my practicing what I preach. Two years ago I removed two truckloads of branches and have not regretted it a bit. The newly acquired form in this tree is beautiful in all seasons. Below are more photos of the plant... |
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| Were I requested to pick one flowering crab as my favorite, it would have to be 'Louisa'. The reasons are primarily color (an uncommon shade of true pink not often seen in crabs), form, and disease resistance. In fact, I like it so much that I bought two additional trees last season. I ended up giving one away for lack of space in the gardens! |
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| Malus 'Tina' is just departing it's beautiful red bud stage and soon there will be a mixture with many white blooms... followed by an all white display of flowers |
I told you this was going to be a long journey... I will close with some long views of the gardens... next post I will hit on some of the other things going on at Oak Lawn, including iris season, the rockery, european beeches leafing out, and my new interest in Japanese Maples. Until then, my best to you all, Larry
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spring 2011
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