A stroll around the yard...

It's been so beautiful lately, so I wandered around the yard and snapped some photos to share with  you...

I know I showed you the hoppa crab trees from inside the other day, but I had to take a few more because they are just so beautiful.

I'm not sure if Mr. & Mrs. Wren have officially moved into this birdhouse yet. They have been checking it out, along with others in the backyard. I'll keep you posted.

Every year we toy with the idea of cutting off the lower branches to make mowing easier. But every year we expand the bark mulch a bit more because we just can't bring ourselves to cut them off.

As you can see, these were taken almost a week later than the previous... The blossoms are now a pale pink and have started dropping off the tree at at a furious rate, thereby carpeting the lawn in pink.

I love everything about these trees, including their gnarly branches.

Goodbye, sweet apple blossoms. I will look forward to seeing you again next year.

Adding to the pink show in the front yard is our bleeding heart. It is, by far, the fastest 'grower' in the yard. One day I will see tiny sprouts peeking out from the bark mulch...

... and in record time, the entire plant has skyrocketed out of the earth...

... covered with the most perfect little pink bleeding hearts.

I didn't plant these (that I remember!) but they pop up every spring, adding some much needed color to a far corner of the yard.

The honeysuckle is loaded with buds, which I'm sure the hummingbirds are keeping an eye on, just waiting for them to blossom!

This photo is from several weeks ago. I had just take the plastic off of my vintage Mary garden statue, and she clearly survived another cold winter. The cement paver should be replaced and the birdbath in the background (along with all the others) needed to be cleaned when this photo was taken (all the birdbaths have now been cleaned and the birds are happily bathing and drinking on a daily basis).

So thank you for peeking through the garden gate with me...

Now let's sit in the Adirondack chairs for a spell... This is the view, looking skyward. The birch tree leaves are just starting to open, giving it a lacy appearance.

Dad got home from the hospital/rehab yesterday, and life is changing for all of us... I promise I'll get around to visit you all soon. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day lately.

I hope you're enjoying spring wherever you are!

I'm linking up to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home... Come join everyone!

Donna

Pretty in Pink

The view from our living room window...

is spectacular right now, thanks to our hoppa crab tree.

It's hard to believe it was only a little over a month ago, during our April 1st storm...

...that it looked like this!!!

Even the bird lamp birdies are enjoying the view!

It's hard to believe that when we bought these trees back in 1982 (we planted two in our yard)...

... they were so small ...

... that they both fit ...

...  into the back of my VW bug convertible (with the top down, of course).

Spring was a long time in coming, but it was well worth the wait!!

I'm linking up to My Romantic Home's Show & Tell Friday. Be sure to stop by and see what everyone is sharing this week!
Also, I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit a lot of you lately. My dad has been in the hospital/nursing home/rehab for the past two weeks and I'm spending a lot of time there. Hopefully, if all goes well, he will be coming home some time next week and I'll have more time to get around and visit. Till then, I hope you are all enjoying spring wherever you are!!

Donna

The calm before the storm...

The weatherman said we might get up to 12" of snow on Sunday. I'm sooooo not ready...

On the bright side, I looked out my office window yesterday and spotted this handsome fellow perched in our hoppa crab tree....

Cardinals are just so striking.

Still no tree up. The jury is still out as to whether we will be putting one up this year or not. All thanks to this little girl, seen here curled up behind the tv in my office, another of her favorite places to hang out.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Donna

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