Tuesday, May 5, 2009

It's cherry and apple blossom time

... here in New England. It's in the low 50's and rainy today so many of the blossoms are now on the ground rather than on the tree...


(photo of flowering crab apple tree taken from my office window)

... so I'm glad I snapped the following photos over the weekend when most of the blossoms were still intact!


My beautiful vintage Mary statue survived the winter (although she may be a bit chippier than last summer).


She's currently residing under the flowering cherry tree, but I might move her to a different spot in the garden this summer.


You can see one of the hoppa crab trees in full bloom from the living room window.


I gave this guy a serious pruning last year so it would be easier to mow underneath. The branches used to pretty much touch the ground... I suspect several more branches could come off around the bottom, but I shudder at the thought of taking off too much because once they've been taken off, there's no putting them back... So I think I'll leave well enough alone and continue to be a conservative pruner!


From my office desk I look out on the other hoppa crab in our front yard. We didn't know if this poor guy would survive or not as we lost a good portion of the maple tree behind it during a devestating ice storm this past winter. When the large sections of maple tree broke off, they fell onto the crab tree, completely crushing it, but luckily the front portion of the tree survived...


You can see one of the sections where the maple tree snapped toward the top center/right of this photo. The other areas of the maple that snapped off are hidden behind the apple tree. From the street view the apple tree looks fine, but from the side and back, the entire tree is missing. We're grateful that we were left with this much though. These two crab trees were pretty much the first things we planted when we bought our house back in the early 80's, and they weren't much more than big twigs at that point! We brought them home from the garden center in the back seat of a convertible (with the top down), root balls plunked down in the back seat with plenty of room to spare, and look at them now!

The blossoms don't last long, but while they are in bloom they sure put on a beautiful show!



I'd also like to thank Mel from Country In the Town for listing me as one of her top 10 fav's in the "Makes My Heart Smile" award she received... You may all remember Mel from one of my past posts where she allowed me to share the lovely embroidered "envelope pillow" she created!! Please stop by and visit her... you'll be glad you did!!


Hope you are all enjoying the spring wherever you are!


Donna

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the crab apple tree blossoms and I too would be hesitant about too much pruning.

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Allidink said...

Aw the trees look beautiful!

All the best,
Allison

~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ said...

Hi Donna~ ~ ~Oh my gosh I haven't been around for a while. I can see you have been busy. Love the pics of your sweet cats! I love the white Mary too, so beautiful.
Your trees are lovely and one of my favorites. Wish we could grow the giant Southern Magnolia here. The huge waxy, white flowers just make me drool.~ ~Ahrisha~ ~

The Pink Rose Cottage said...

The flowering trees are just stunning! And I love your statue of Mary. Isn't this time of the year fabulous?

Linda's Blue Gate said...

Oh my so many beautiful blossoms...... it looks heavenly ..... mother Mary looks very pleased with the flowers....
HUgs
Linda

Unknown said...

Wow, those blossoms on the trees are so pretty!

I am loving the flowering vine covered arbor in your header photo! That is so charming! :)

Brenda Pruitt said...

I shall go and visit your friend. And as for the statue, the chippier the better, hey! I love the view from your window.
Brenda
http://cozylittlehouse.blogspot.com

Nola said...

That is the perfect spot for your Virgin Mary statue! She looks lovely surrounded by the blossoms. I used to see those statues everywhere and always thought they were just lovely!

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

What beautiful views from your windows. laurie

Glenda said...

One of my all time favorite trees during the spring. I use to live in an apartment years back, that had these out front, l could see them from the second story. They remind me of Cherry trees.


CIao

A New England Life said...

Hi Donna!

It's been too long since I stopped by your blog. I've been a bit behind lately. You know what I mean ; )

We sure didn't get to enjoy the blossoms for long this year did we. Hopefully the apple tree's have been pollenated enough due to all the rain. Seems I barely even enjoyed my Daffodils before they keeled over. Glad you were able to get some wonderful photos. Summertime and July 4th will be here before you know it! Oh my!

Sharon

Shabby Chic Furniture said...

wow i love your Garden! It looks like you have a real paradise in your backyard