A few spring photos

Spring is rushing by, and I realized the other day that I haven't shared any pictures of it with you. Here are some pretty things that have been growing and blooming in my world over the past few weeks:

Isn't that beautiful? Our young crabapple tree has shot up to over 7' tall and two weeks ago it was covered with these pink flowers. 

Speaking of beautiful..

Two borage plants from last summer started growing back late in the winter. I moved them from the zinnia bed over to the corners of the new raised bed. They've since burst into bloom, and I just love the color! 

Next, some neighborhood photos with the wisteria and azaleas blooming. I just love this time of year.

Spring garden update

The baby crabapple tree has doubled in size this year, and for the first time, it has a few flowers! Aren't they pretty? Unfortunately, the deer came back night before last and ate a bunch of the tender new leaves. I was so mad when I walked outside yesterday morning and saw the damage! Apparently, apple trees of all types are irresistible to deer. 

The tree will never amount to much without protection while it's young and just starting to grow. With that in mind I went to Lowe's in the afternoon and bought four seven-foot-tall garden stakes. Along with a big roll of fine mesh bird netting that we had stashed in the garage, they make a decent protective "cage" to keep hungry wildlife out. It's not the greatest looking thing in the world, but it should do the job. 

In other garden news, I've been hardening off my tomato and pepper plants and preparing the bed for planting. I started some herb seeds (basil, parsley, and oregano) in pots, sowed borage seeds in the bed in front of the porch, and planted marigold seeds in the raised bed between the spaces where the tomatoes will go. And I planted rattlesnake beans! (Thank you again, Mary, for sharing those with me!) I've been at home on spring break this week and the weather has been wonderful for working outside. Going back to the office next week is going to be hard!

Oh, deer!

Regular readers of this blog may remember that I bought a crabapple tree late in the winter and planted it in our front yard. It arrived as a bare stick (dormant) and for a while this spring we were beginning to wonder if it was really alive. Then, finally, hurray! A nice flush of tender new leaves popped out and we knew it was alive and growing. More and more leaves started to pop out and I was so excited!

Then one morning I got up and all those pretty new leaves were gone--had just disappeared overnight. We'd been seeing a couple of young deer hanging out in our neighbors' yards and I couldn't think of anything else that would have stripped the leaves from a waist high tree like that. I was upset, but I could see new little buds further down the stem getting ready to open. And open they did! Another flush of leaves opened up and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Until about a week later. The same thing happened--all the new growth disappeared overnight.

This has happened three or four times now. Every time the little tree struggles to put out a few new leaves, they promptly disappear. I read somewhere that apple tree foliage is a favorite among deer. What on earth am I going to do? I don't think the little tree will continue to survive if it can't keep leaves for photosynthesis.

I wish I could think of a solution. I'm considering putting some kind of wire cage around it or some netting over it, but of course that's going to look ugly as hell in the front yard! If anyone reading this has any suggestions to deter hungry young deer (that won't look too ridiculous) please share them with me!

The ironic part of all this is that part of the reason we decided on a crabapple tree in the first place is so that the fruit could one day be food for the local wildlife! At the rate things are going, those deer will never see an actual crabapple...and neither will we!

                                              Centurion Crabapple Tree

Crabby

Going back to work a couple of weeks early last summer is paying off again. We're on "winter intercession" which means that we have next week off! Yesterday was a half day for staff (students had the day off completely) and the joy as we all walked out to the parking lot at noon was palpable. It was a warm, springlike day with bright sunshine and blue skies, and the teachers were practically skipping to their cars! The break is very much needed, I think. 

I'm looking forward to working on several garden projects next week. My crabapple tree has arrived! I snapped a photo of it the other day and texted it to Gregg. His response? "That's a stick! Is it dead?!" I explained to him that it's just dormant and that a "stick" was all I expected. He did make me laugh, though.

I'm thinking about planting it this week since we're in for mild weather. Does anyone out there know if that's okay, given that we're sure to have some cold nights between now and early April? How early is too early for a dormant tree? If we got a hard freeze I could always devise something to cover it, and I plan to mulch it really well. Answers on a postcard, as John would say.

Playing in the dirt

It's a little warmer here this weekend than it's been in a while. Spring is right around the corner no matter what the calendar says, and by the first of March it will be time to start seeds indoors for planting out six weeks or so later. Early tomorrow morning Gregg and I will be picking up three or four truckloads of dirt to finish filling the raised garden bed. It's almost halfway full from the first two loads, and I'm eager to have it done. Next week I'll place my seed order for the tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers I'm planning to grow this year.

Speaking of placing orders, today I placed an order for my Valentine's Day gift from Gregg: a crabapple tree! I ended up choosing a variety called Centurion. I told him last week that while I love cut flowers, this year I'd rather we spent that money on things I could plant in my yard and garden!

Once it arrives (supposedly by February 21...I ordered from Home Depot) and is in the ground, we'll chop down the dying dogwood tree that's currently in our front yard. 

I got a text last week from our friend Carol (the retired artist and avid gardener who gave me the start of my fig tree) asking if I might be interested in some camellias. Of course I said YES! She has them growing in huge wild tangles along one side of her property and she was digging up some to share with friends. I went over there today and picked up a big bundle of them. The area where she dug them up has several colors, so I'm not sure what we'll end up with. My favorites have white flowers with pale pink stripes in them, but they're all nice. The seedlings she gave me are three or four feet high and have green flower buds on them, so we should soon know! I hope they'll grow and thrive. Before I left Carol said, "My mother always said that flowers shared with friendship and good wishes will always bloom!" 

Here's one more small bit of gardening news. I bought a big bag of deeply discounted daffodil bulbs over Christmas and planted them on New Year's Day. I've been hoping they didn't get planted too late to bloom this year. Well, earlier today I went out to check, and the first quarter inch of green spears are starting to poke up from the ground! Looks like we'll have daffodils next month, after all! 

I'm so glad my favorite season is almost here.