Today marks the first day of beautiful weather expected to last a while. In my cottage garden, in spite of the extremely low temperatures of the last week, the trees and shrubs are budding, spring flowers are blooming and the grass is greening at last. I walked with my camera and rounded up the usual suspects (to quote from my favorite movie) gratified to see that the sub-freezing temperatures hadn't done too much damage to these early blooms.
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Lungwort, Pulmonaria |
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Hellebore Helleborus 'Ivory Prince' |
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Bud on the Crabapple Tree |
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Grape Hyacinth, Muscari with yellow Primroses, Primula vulgaris |
We planted a Snow Fountain cherry tree in 2013. As a weeping tree, it features cascading branches that now
dip all the way to the
ground, giving it the appearance of a white fountain when covered with
its pure white flowers. This cultivar is known by several
different names, including 'Snofozam' Weeping Cherry and 'White
Fountain' Cherry. It will grow 6’-12’ in height and 5’-12’ in width.
During the summer the leaves are dark green; in the fall
they turn gold and orange before they are shed. It is said the small, white and five-petaled flowers are butterfly and hummingbird magnets. I don't see
many butterflies or hummingbirds in April, but maybe this tree will
attract some earlier visitors to my garden. I was careful to plant this
cultivar in full sun where it gets plenty
of air circulation to ensure disease free growth.
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Snow fountain cherry Prunus x 'Snofozam' its first year. |
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Snow fountain cherry Prunus x 'Snofozam' today |
My mother, in England, lived her last two years at Cherry Tree Court, an assisted-living facility, where we planted a cherry tree in her honor, later adding a plaque in her memory. Mom passed away two years ago this month and my
cherry tree bloomed on the exact date, a timely reminder of that beautiful lady. I wonder if the tree we planted in England is blooming?
I'm linking with Diana at
Elephants Eye on False Bay for her 'Dozen for Diana' meme, choosing this lovely weeping cherry tree as my April pick. I'm also joining bloggers all around the world for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted on the 15th of every month by Carol at
May Dreams Gardens.
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Blossom of Snow Fountain Cherry Prunus x 'Snofozam' |
I'm anxious to make a start on the spring gardening chores since snow, freezing temperatures and, lately, torrential rains kept me indoors, but the ground is too wet. While dreaming of dirtying my hands outdoors, I've been busy getting soil under my nails indoors creating terrariums and dish gardens: adding three to my collection of fairy gardens. I describe how I made my first terrarium
here. Following the same method, I constructed a closed terrarium with three adorable plants: Red Veined Sorrel
Rumex sanguineus, Button Fern and a red
Peperomia caperata. The bottle I used didn't have a lid so I inverted one from another container, as it wouldn't fit the right way up.
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Closed Terrarium |
I placed three airplants in a glass bowl for my second creation. This is the first time I bought tillansia and I'm amazed by these plants that need no soil.
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Terrarium with Air Plants, Tillansia |
I filled a dish garden with succulents and deer moss. Deer moss isn't a moss at all but a lichen,
Cladonia, another plant that doesn't need soil to survive. The succulent garden is my favorite creation.
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Succulent Dish Garden |
I'll display my terrariums at a couple of workshops I'm doing on Miniature Gardening. Such fun!
On a final note, pardon the pun, it's wonderful to hear birdsong again. Our backyard is filled with so many feathered beauties. Maybe it's something to do with H.H. placing at least 34 birdhouses all around the property.
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American Goldfinch wearing its yellow feathers again. |
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House Finch |
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The Mockingbird is back... |
... and look who visited us this week. A pileated woodpecker searched for grubs and insects in a rotting tree stump in the pasture.
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Pileated Woodpecker |
Happy Gardening, dear friends,
Pamela x
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A basket of Johnny-Jump-Ups on the deck. |
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