Friday, May 01, 2009

What's poppin up in the yard this week? May 1 edition

We bought a house that had previously been owned by a gardener. Signs around the property, like built in flower boxes, raised beds, an insulated shed, and hanging basket hooks everywhere, pointed to this. Talking to the neighbors confirmed it. There's stuff growing everywhere. In fact, we feel like we really have to spend this year watching what comes up before we think about what we might like to do with the yard. It's really full of stuff, and new things are coming up all the time.

I didn't have the foresight to start doing this a month ago, so we've missed the mountains of jonquils that came up about the time we moved in. Then we had a dwarf crabapple tree and an ornamental cherry tree bloom. For a while we had a bush in the front yard with little yellow flowers. E was smart enough to name it; I was not smart enough to remember. Last week the tulips made a brief showing. It's too bad tulips bloom for about three minutes before the petals fall off.

It seems that people in the DC area have an obsession with blooming trees and shrubs. There are magnolias, dogwoods, azaleas, and of course cherry trees blooming everywhere. I can't remember anything on this level going on in Chicago.

This week we have more flowering shrubs and trees.

The weird looking bushes in random places turned out to be azeleas. It's a good thing I didn't dig them up.
Then there's this little tree next to the house. Turns out to be a cute dogwood.
Lastly, this is a crazy flowering tree in the back of the back yard. Don't know what it is, but it has flowers.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like the coral flowers (last picture) could be a quince.

The shrub with the little yellow flowers was maybe a forsythia? If so, prune it immediately after the flowers are done - cut off most of the new growth (where the flowers were) and thin it out by a third, cutting out the oldest (thickest) canes almost to the ground. Do NOT let any of the branches bend over and touch the ground or you will have a new shrub that is virtually impossible to root out (experience speaking...)

Anonymous said...

that you can't remember the name of, his name is Owen. And he is mad that you don't remember his name. Perhaps an open item action list is in order.

Unknown said...

I don't remember Owen having little yellow flowers. Just a dead animal on his head.

Mokihana said...

Yeah, flowering quince. We have one at our place too. Lovely!