Hooray for Spring (I think)

 

The Forsythia is blooming so it must be Spring! Yay! There are fabulous flowering events in all parts of our vast estate (hahahaha!) and after a pandemically gloomy winter, this brings happiness and relief. The beautiful Forsythia seen above was a gift from our friends Sheldon and Louise, years ago, I think during our first Spring here. Bob and I are so thrilled to see it explode and spread golden light. 

And look:

Another Spring charmer, erupting by the vegetable garden. This Prunus tomentosa was a gift from our friend Bob who is a horticultural dervish and can propagate almost anything from seed or cutting. You've gotta love the effusiveness of vernal blooms!

And here's another unexpected site in our Spring-time garden tour: Rhododendron prostratus "Bedspreadus".

Oh no! What happened to Spring?!?!? Bob comes in to tell me that it's (gasp!) hailing outside. (They even predicted snow overnight, but we dodged that occurrence, unlike some unlucky friends to the north. Ugh.) I gathered several sheets and covered our Rhododendron "PJM" as last year- just as it was starting to flower, we experienced a cold snap and all the blossoms died. I was so bummed! Having waited an entire year, I wasn't chancing snow/hail/sleet/frost or any other vile reminder of Winter past! I'm glad I covered this shrub as this morning an unveiling showed undamaged flowers... bring back that warm weather!

The Tree Guys Returneth

Oh no!! Not again! Yes, we have more vast piles of sticks, trunks, branches and logs to remove from our yard. We do have our work cut out for us. But we're happy! We rejoice! Because they did come back and did a swell job. (We've been waiting for a few months, as you may recall. The tree guys were busy and the weather was against us. I guess we can also admit that it was nice to have a break in between gigantic clean up duties...)
Here are some action shots:

And they were wicked fast. The arrived shortly after 9:00 am and by 10:30 they were done and gone.

They worked fast but were remarkably accurate and careful. As we watched out the window, Bob
said, "I guess you can say goodbye to the little Japanese black pine you planted there." And I opined philosophically that was probably the price of having gambled and planted right where they were eventually dropping trees. But much to my wondering eyes, when I examined the scene of all this mayhem, the little pine was fine! It was surrounded by branches and debris but utterly unscathed. And all the rhododendrons were fine, too. (Which makes me doubly happy because they have finally grown and they all have buds.) Good job!

Boy, I could never do this: these guys are thirty feet up in the air in a bucket and it's windy and they're swinging a chain saw around. Not my idea of fun.
We had requested that they leave the trunks about 8 to 10 feet tall because I have this (half crazy) idea that I am going to apply mosaic to them, like we did on the pathway. I'm psyched but was a little disappointed that the one dangerous, precariously leaning tree was left- leaning- but about 10 feet tall. I remarked to Bob that I should have asked them to take that one all the way down. But he pointed out that that was actually the TOP of one of the trees they had dropped, and it had landed upside down, stuck in the ground. Wow.

There's Bob watching the last tree being removed. Bob is so smart; we had taken a walk in our woods the other day, searching for an Xmas tree. We tentatively picked one out, but I think we both felt badly sacrificing a nice living tree for a couple of weeks of joy. So then Bob says, "Why don't we fabricate a tree from the fallen pines and spruces?" What a genius idea! The constructed tree looks really good* and is ready to come in a be decorated. A win/win and it didn't cost us anything (except the money to have the tree guys visit.)

To be featured in an upcoming post.