A few years ago, Drew gave Vanessa an ornamental pear for Mother's Day which they wished to plant at the Lodge. I have one right by the front entrance, but it is more in the shade so Vanessa's tree is always first to bloom.
Over the winter I went on a search for a columnar oak at area nurseries and landed on this beauty at Estabrook's. Seems they had it last season and wintered it over so I was able to get a 20% discount on the price of $300. As I grow older, I think certain plantings are worth either buying a larger specimen or planting enmasse as I want to enjoy the effect I am hoping for for as long as I can! So this tree is near 16 feet tall. It was quite the sight to see in the pick up truck as more than half of it was hanging out over the tailgate wrapped in a tarp like a mummy. We planted it in a row with the maple and the ornamental pear so that it is in a place or prominence.
It is very sad to see the daffodils begin to go by, except the ones in more shade, but the offset is that the tulips are in full bloom right now and look so beautiful. I keep them close to the building so that deer, turkeys and squirrels are more apt to leave them alone. It has been a successful strategy thusfar.
As mentioned previously, it has been a very cold spring here in Maine which is funny given the exceptionally mild winter we were blessed with. Even my first to show asparagus spears suffered the same fate. May 10th was the first day I would actually call warm and the nighttime temps stayed in the forties. This brought the azaleas into bloom and turned my magnolia from a one bloom wonder into full bloom splendor. Happy Henrietta looks particularly happy in her flower bed. Many of the hostas which the day before were barely visible, sprang up and began to unfurl their leaves for another season. So beautiful I could barely tear myself away to come to work.
The daffodils that Eric and I teamwork planted last fall are spectacular in the new beds! I had told Eric to not be stingy with the plantings as I had always tended to do in the past. This meant that instead of waiting a few years for a real impact, we got one the first spring! What FUN! Still lots of cleaning up to be done in the background woods, but I couldn't be happier with the progress we made last year.
