The Beauty Of Summer

It seems bold of me to type the word "summer," for it has seemed that spring would never end and we'd move right into autumn and winter again. We had to heat our houses at night right through most of June, but at last I can safely say it is summer now. The baby fantail pigeon is doing extraordinarily well:

 And most of the adults are nesting or quibbling over prime mates or nesting sites:

 The bantam hens have reduced their egg laying to a just a few per day:

 And they seem comfortable and happy with their lives:

The offspring of the old fashioned rose began to flower:

 And the damn Canada Thistles and Bull Thistles crowded the fence line:

 I took a weed-whacker to them and things began to look better:

 With longer days, I began going out to do the chores at earlier times, with exquisite sights such as this dawn sky being my reward:

I planted Iris several years ago and this giant purple one began to flower. It is huge!

 Baby apricots (I think - it's hard to remember which tree is which), the first time I've had fruit since I planted the tree:

 And baby plums on the always productive tree. The nonproductive tree looks to be carrying on its nonproductive tradition:

 I planted a hardy Blue Moon Wisteria 3 or 4 years ago, but it never grew an inch. This year it appeared to have died, and even when it produced leaves, I held no hope for it. Then suddenly it began to send up vines as if it was finally going to thrive. Well, better late than never:

What The Thaw Revealed

After an early, snowy and frigid beginning to winter, we had a surprise thaw, so I went out to see what the snow melt had revealed. This is my Blue Moon Wisteria. It's not much taller than when I planted it, but it's sturdier and has already survived one harsh winter, so I have high hopes for more growth this summer:

 The pear tree produced so much fruit that branches began snapping off and falling to the ground. Even after letting the neighbors take all the pears they wanted, there were still plenty of them on the ground:

 And I could tell that the cottontails had been eating them. I see their tracks each morning when there's snow on the ground and sometimes I see them scurry away when I turn on the back porch light at night:

 There were windfall apples too:

 I thought the Coppertina Ninebark bushes were unchanged by winter's cold - until, that is, I got a closer look. The leaves were dry and dead, despite retaining much of their coppery color:

 The Iris and Asiatic Lilies (and all their little weed friends) were asleep for the winter:

 And, on the other side of the house from the main apple grove, the Golden Delicious tree had dropped fruit. I could see that the rabbits had been eating them also:

 The Variegated Weigela and Magic Carpet Spirea looked dead, but they are hardy enough for me not to worry about them:

 The peonies had lain down for a long winter's nap:

 But the Tree Hydrangea will keep its dried flowers all winter long:

 The Mandarin Honeysuckle is in its first winter here. The last one I planted didn't make it through its first winter, but this one grew much better - and they are reportedly Zone 3 hardy:

 The Red Hydrangea and hardy Magnolia were dormant, and I could only hope they will survive this winter. This is the Magnolia's third winter here but, as you can see, it hasn't grown very tall in three years:

 My biggest surprise was the Morden roses. When they told me they were super hardy, I guess they weren't kidding. They still looked like they'd bloom again if we got some warmer weather:

 The Rose Mallows were done for the year. I'll cut them down to the ground in the spring:

 But the Rose Mallows had a surprise for me - pods filled with seeds. I tried planting some last year without success, but I saved these seeds and plan to try again in the spring:

 Another surprise, an Eastern White Cedar seedling growing in an ancient tree stump beneath the big clump of Lilacs. Alas, I won't be able to let it grow there because of the Lilacs:

 And speaking of Lilacs, they too had seed pods, not to mention green buds, all ready to burst open in the spring. Our surprise thaw was short lived. It's now fully winter again:

The State Of The Perennials

I took a walk around the yard to see how the perennials I'd planted were doing. The Blue Moon hardy Wisteria was awake and putting out leaves. It's planted at the base of a power pole, which I hope it will grow up on:

 The only plant I lost over the winter was a Mandarin Honeysuckle, so I ordered another one. It's still brand new, but already looking better than the one I planted last year:

Last year I planted a red Hydrangea and had some doubts if it would live through the winter. It did, however, and leaves began emerging this spring. Will I see flowers this season? It would be nice:

 My little rock garden is filled with lilies, iris, tulips and a few oddball perennials I planted last year. They all seem to be growing wildly, but especially the Asiatic Lilies. In fact, they seem to be reproducing and may soon take over the whole area:

 A favorite wildflower which grows in the lawn is Birds-Eye Speedwell, a colorful little plant with flowers about the size of small violets:

They are  adaptable plants, growing taller if not mowed but OK with growing shorter if mowed:

And a related wild species, the much smaller Thyme-Leaved Speedwell, growing all over my lawn:

 Thyme-Leaved Speedwell is so tiny that it's easily overlooked. Both species of Speedwell are members of the Snapdragon family:

 One of the two Ninebark bushes I planted last year is doing extraordinarily well, and showing the brilliant leaf colors it is noted for. The other Ninebark, which got a fungus last year, is up and colorful, but still struggling (that's it in the little fence behind the bigger one):

The old fashioned yellow and purple iris are beginning to bud, so I'll soon have them to look at. They were here when I moved in but seem to be doing better because of the compost I've added to the soil:

 You may recall that I ordered 14 fancy Day Lilies from an online nursery which were on sale because the varieties were discontinued. They sent extra, presumably because they were on sale and they wanted to get rid of them. All of them are growing. I'm keeping them more or less weeded for now, but when they grow up, they'll have to hold their own against that tall grass behind them:

Two Flowers And A Bunch Of Dead Looking Sticks

I ordered two rose plants, both Zone 3 hardy and of the category "Modern Canadian Roses." One was Morden Sunset and other was Morden Blush. Alas, our spring was so delayed that the poor plants arrived during a week long winter storm at the end of April. I put them in the empty room behind the house, where the temerature would stay cool, but not cold - and there were big windows for sunlight:

 To my surprise, the Morden Sunrise bloomed:

 The Morden Blush tried to bloom but never quite opened all the way:

 After our long and particularly rigorous winter, spring finally arrived. I took a walk around the yard to see how the buds were looking. This was the pear tree, and it looked OK to me:

 The Lilac bush looked like it was waking up also:

 I wasn't so encouraged by the Snowball Bushes, but they are extraordinarily hardy so I think they will be fine:

 Alas, the Magic Carpet Spirea, planted last year, looked dead as a doornail. Maybe the roots survived, but I won't count on it:

 Similarly, I saw nothing to encourage me on the Monet Weigela. The good news is that I ordered three more seedlings online. The bad news is that if this one couldn't live, will the new baby plants do any better?

 The Blue Moon Wisteria was still there but didn't quite look dead. I'll hope for the best. I also walked over to the Mandarin Honeysuckle and there was nothing there to photograph, not even a dead stick. But it was supposed to be extremely hardy, so I am still hopeful:

 The one plant I expected to die was the hardy Magnolia which I transplanted in the autumn. To my surprise, it was covered with healthy looking buds. The Hydrangea planted in front of it, though, looked dead, dead, dead:

 One of my Ninebark bushes looked OK but the other Ninebark, the one which suffered all last summer with fungus, looked dead. I have 14 Day Lilies to plant this spring so I expect to have a lot of flowers this year: