Crabapples & Flowering Pears

It was officially Spring two months back. But, Chicago weather currently seems to be into the Spring mode. This climate is simply amazing. The temperatures are perfect ranging from 60-65 degree F, slightly foggy, pleasant rains, lush green landscapes and trees set in colorful blooms everywhere.

Crabapples & Flowering pears are the trees dominating the landscape with its beautiful blooms at this time. We have three "Sugar Tyme" crabapples of which two of them failed to bloom this year. After doing some research I found out, it is possible that the flower buds might get affected if there is a bad winter & lot of temperature fluctuations. This is how the tree looked last year.

We have three "Chanticleer" flowering pears in our yard. All of them had perfect blooms. One was planted the previous year(2007) & the other two planted last year(2008). This tree looks very beautiful once it grows to a decent size (still couple more years for our trees to reach that size :-)).

"Sugar Thyme" crabapple with its pink buds, all set to bloom...

Closeup of the flower branch with the slgithly opened blooms...

Closeup of a single bloom....with some pink buds in the background...

"Sugar Tyme" Crabapple Blooms which turned white in color...once fully opened...

"Chantincleer" flowering pear blooms...

"Chantincleer" flowering pear blooms...closeup view...

Charming "Tina" Crabapple

Crabapples come in a variety of sizes. There is a tree for every area of your garden. " Tina" crabapple is a minature tree version for small spaces. This tree was added to the lamp post area last year.

This year this tree has added an extra charm to that area. It had tons & tons of white blooms which were approximately 1/2" in size. The buds were dark pink in color.

"Tina" crabapple when all set with buds...Closeup view of the pink buds...
Tree in bloom...
View of tree from the other side...
Entire tree set in white blooms...
Closeup view of a single flower branch....
Closeup view of the flowers.....

Change of seasons

I am a great admirer of nature. I love to watch the changes that take place in the environment during the change of seasons.

Winter weather seems more of a holiday season :-). Like the garden plants, even we go into a dormant state limiting our activities to more of indoor kind.

Spring weather brings on new hopes & new beginnings. It adds beautiful colors & new dimensions to life. Lively activities happen all around us. Its amazing to see the birds right from the day the weather looks good. It makes me think, where were these birds for so many months. I know they migrate to places down south where weather is better, but what makes them return back..? How do they really know that weather up there is good today...? :-)

The transition from the winter to spring is the most beautiful one. All of a sudden, the total white environment starts turning green. Every tree becomes flooded with beautiful blooms. Flowering plants which were non-existent in the winter, start popping off the ground. There are couple of rainy days, which gives the feeling of a hill station environment.

See this area, the 3 evergreen firs on the corner are all covered with snow. Everything is white :-)

See the same area, how it looks once the weather is turning better. Also, see the bedline in the lower right side corner is all plain. And look at the color of grass...so dull...

See the same area, once the grass has turned green & all flowering plants popping off the ground

Small flowering plants popping off the ground & evergreen becoming more greener.

Closeup view of the flowering daylilies which are growing vigorously.

Closeup view of the flowering purple coneflowers which are all getting ready for the season ahead.

Another area, with the flowering purple coneflower plants gettting ready. Also, have a look at the trees in the neighbourhood which has turned all green.

Look at this area, see how the miniature tree form Lilac is covered with snow.

Have a look at the same area, once the new growths are developing.

The same tree once all the leaves are fully developed. Soon, it will be all ready with lilac blooms.
See these birds, they have returned to the yard, even before the grass has turned green. They prefer to eat seeds with high oil content at this time of the season

Forsythias in bloom

Forsythias announce the arrival of spring with its bright yellow flowers. Since, there were couple of snowy days in spring this year, these blooms delayed the arrival for about 2-3 weeks. These flowers bloom even before the plant has leaves. The bright yellow color really adds a spark to the garden.

Close up of the plant with the newly emerging leaves & the bright yellow flowers

Guess what...Snow in spring...?

Yes...its true !! This year the weather seems all messed up. While we started thinking that finally winter is over & spring is here, all the excitement was wiped off when it started to snow. It wasn't just few showers... It snowed full fledged for about 5-6 inches. All the environment around became white once again. It was very windy too...

I am getting little concerned about the new growths which started popping off the ground. Some shrubs already look so much worn out. These ups & downs are so tough on the plants, especially newly planted ones.

Just keeping fingers crossed & waiting for the weather to get better !!

My hubby removing snow & clearing the driveway...

Spring is here !!

After the long winter-break, its time to get updated as the garden is becoming active.

Its officially spring for about a week now. Weather is getting slightly warmer, temperatures being in 40's and some exceptional days in 60's. But, still the weather is very unstable. We already see some new growths of the flowering perennials popping off the ground.

The witchhazel is already in bloom. Forsythias (planted last year) is showing signs of developing flower buds ( We are very excited to see this one in full bloom, because it splashes a burst of color!!)

More New bedlines

Ok! This will sound complicated.

Last year we started the landscaping on the West side which continued into the North side for half the distance. This year the same bedline was extended from that point covering the entire North border of the backyard & extending into the East side and covering almost three quarters of the yard.

The corners were highlighted with the two tone color shrub " Red twigged Dogwood". This plant has wonderful bright red color branches in the winter which adds nice contrast to the snow landscape. Cleveland Pears are the tall features of this area. " Cranberry Cotoneaster" covers the bottom area of the Pears. This shrub has a nice cascading growth habit which has bright red berries in fall. In front of them are pink coreopsis & then shasta daisy followed by some daylilies on either sides.

"Fat Albert Spruce" is the only evergreen tree for this area. This tree has a nice bluish color needles. Following the fence is "Annabelle Hydrangeas" which have beautiful white blooms in summer. To the front there are "Veronica speedwell". River Birch is the focal point of this area. At the very front sedums are used as groundcover.