Cherry, Tree and Sky

I'm off to visit my Mom in Holland for two weeks, to pretty up her garden.
*waves bye*

Tree blossoms

My apple tree is blooming brightly.

And my little hawthorn is looking fantastic this year. Very bushy and healthy. It has flower buds for the very first time since I dug it out of a vacant lot as a tiny trash tree. It's like a stray that's been given a new home, now living in the fresh country air far away from Dublin. It's still quite small, but I think this will be a good year for growth. It's so beautiful, I love the little guy! Must think of a name for him.
*edit* I just thought of a perfect name. Harold. From "Harold and Maude". If anyone has never seen this film,try to see it. It's my all time favorite. Maude sees a street tree in the city, and she thinks it's in distress. So she and Harold come back later, dig it up, and bring it to the forest to plant.

The last crazy thing

I finally thought of one last thing. Crazy? Probably not. Most likely all gardeners do wierd things that's really not at all wierd.

I had made a new herb bed, and it's still mostly dirt. So to pretty it up somewhat, I put little jam or mayonaise jars in the ground, and fill them with various flowers.

I had seen this meme at Annie's "The Transplantable Rose" blog, (she got it from here.) Play along if you like. Maybe you won't find it as difficult as myself to think of 5 really crazy things only a real gardening addict would admit.

Spring Garden

Tis a very overcast Sunday, I'm hoping for a little rain to water my garden. The bulbs and flowers still looking, and smelling, wonderful.

The first calendula has opened.

And here are a couple of mysteries.. I got these tiny white flowers from my Mom's garden, I have no idea what they are. Very pretty leaves too, and they seem to spread nicely. I had one little plant last year, and now there are many.
Could it be edelweiss?
*edit* It's been identified! thank you beadexplorer. This is woodruff (gallium odoratum)

And there are some gorgeous leaves coming up here. They look like a philodendron house plant, but I never planted that in my garden! Anyone have an idea what this is?
*edit*Carol thinks it's Arum. Thanks, Carol!
It does look like Arum! But I never planted any arum. How odd. But it does grow in various places around the countryside, I remember being facinated by their autumn red berries in forests. I wonder how it got into my garden. I'm also wondering if I should move it into my Peppermint Woods area, since it grows in woods naturely. Perhaps I'll leave it where it is for now, and move it during next winter.

The plight of street trees

The theme for May's Festival of the Trees is "trees in the concrete" hosted by Xris at Flatbush Gardener. I live in the country, and thought I would have to travel all the way into Dublin for this project. But walking to the shop recently, I saw the plight of our very own street trees.

This poor thing never had a chance, its bottom half had been completely torn away. It looks like it's been hanged for a crime never commited.

A popular sport in Dublin was the breaking of newly planted trees. I thought by moving further out into the countryside, things like this wouldn't happen.

Large gaping wounds and snapped branches were everywhere all along our street.

I don't understand what makes this a fun thing to do.. things like this always make me sad for the trees.

A lovely cherry tree, but only slightly mutilated.

Today, my husband came home from the shop, telling me they were cutting down trees on the main road into the village. So I hopped on my bicycle to have a look. I thought I should take some photos before they were all gone.

I came just before this tree fell. It was so sad!! I had never seen a tree felled before, it must have been terrifying for the tree!

*sigh* A man who lives across the road came out to talk with me. They had pleaded with the council to try and stop this, but the destruction had gone ahead anyway.

On the way back to my house, I took a pic of this little tree, its trunk snapped by some tree-bully when it was first planted. But here it is, regrowing several new branches, and looking quite pretty in spite of the broken trunk. Life prevails.
Posting today, a few weeks early for May's Festival of the Trees, as this was quite upsetting, and I had to get it out.

Geraniums and Peppermint

Two of my geraniums have just opened up thier first flowers. The pink is a rose-scented, I always love the scent of this one's leaves as I brush past. The red is a cutting from my Mom's garden a few years ago. This one has some outrageously colored leaves, which become better looking as summer progresses.

Peppermint harvested from my Peppermint Woods. The first peppermint of the season. Smells so nice where it's growing, you can't help stepping on it, it's popping up everywhere.

Crazy Things part 2

Continuing with the meme I found at Annie's "The Transplantable Rose" blog, (she got it from here.) Here are 2 more things that may not be crazy to me, maybe not to you, but here goes anyway...

I let things like turnips, radishes, parsley, rocket, etc. go to flower over the winter. I like the flowers.. and I get the plus of getting free seeds later on too. I even sometimes put the flowers in vases for the house.

I use old Christmas trees for my beans to scramble up, and have two more behind my shed.
That leaves one more crazy thing.. I am finding it hard to think of something totaly wacky, it all seems perfectly normal to me.

A new willow arrives

My neighbor has done it again! He's left a tree lying in my garden! I'm so lucky to have neighbors like them, as I cannot afford to buy such beautiful trees. And it's a willow! There are still little green catkins all over it.

Poor mangled roots, I have to get it into the ground quickly.

My hubby took a pic of me digging a hole. There was a little maple tree in that spot, almost destroyed this past winter by the fierce winds blowing the fence on top of it. The stump is growing new buds, so hopefully it will be a multi-trunk maple. I moved maple back into my new mini woods.

Here's the willow tree in its new spot, I hope it survives! It's growing in a trio of trees. A witch hazel and a hawthorn are its companions. Behind them is what used to be my little wildflower meadow area. The wildflowers never came back the second year, but was replaced by weeds and nettles. So I am now trying for a mini woods there, to block out the view of the new houses. There is a patch of peppermint growing back there, so I've named that area the Peppermint Woods.

Garden Bloggers Bloomday - April

Mid April, the weather has been lovely here, warm and sunny for many days. The swallows have returned, and are singing thier chirpy songs in the sky. Songs of swallows means summer to me, and I smile when I hear thier happy music.

Blooming in the garden are tulips, here's a red one nestled in honesty.

My favorite tulip, Mickey Mouse. Such colorful cartoon characters!

Forget-me-nots (myosotis) are in full bloom now, making a beautiful blue bed for the larger flowers.

Some pansies (viola x wittrockiana) in my herb garden.

Stock (malcomia maritima) with its lovely scent.

Lavender (lavandula stoechas) is just starting to open its blooms.

The wallflowers (cheiranthus) are just starting to bloom too, here in front of some daffodils and honesty.

Mickey again, hey Mickey!

Some alyssum, perfumed sweetly.

Honesty (lunaria annua) and a visiting bee.

Honesty and daffodils. The honesty self seeds everywhere, and smells heavenly. I let it grow, it covers up the ugly wall behind it. The flowers are lovely too in the evening, they are so bright white, they seem to shine.

Cerinthe (cerinthe major purpurascrns) self seeded next to my thyme. I like this plant, it looks weirdly alien to me.

Thalia daffodil, only one has come up this year. I hope it will multiply, it has a lovely scent.

Lawn daisies (bellis perennis) amongst the stepping stones.

And a final photo of more Mickey Mousies again. That's all folks!
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*edit* I have forgotten to take a pic of a nearby field of dandylions, they looked so sunny. I'll take a pic soon, and add it in a bit.
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*later edit, past lunchtime now*
Just noticed my apple tree has buds!

Here's the dandylion field, had to wait for the sun to greet them, they were all still asleep earlier. Now they have woken and spread thier petals in the warming sun.

A lovely plant by the footpath.

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night." ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilk

There are more garden bloggers posting April Flowers, visit May Dreams Gardens and see what flowers are blooming in other parts of the world.

Mickey Mouse

My Mickey Mouse Tulips have opened a little more.
Real cartoon flowers!