Spring's A Poppin'

Our much delayed and much anticipated springtime, once begun, burst upon us like fireworks. These bi-colored Daffodils were among the first signs of real spring:

 The lawn filled with Common Blue Violets:

 The hated and pernicious Japanese Knotweed began to pop up in all the usual places:

A surprise Grape Hyacinth (or a cluster of them) emerged among the Daffodils:

 The second plum tree blossomed and there was a brief couple of days when both plums were blooming simultaneously, giving me hope that they were cross pollinated:

 Plum blossoms are pretty flowers, and a pleasure to have on the property:

 Pear and Cherry blossoms among the still emerging apple trees, with the farm house in the background:

 The cherry blossoms were not abundant, but there were enough of them to provide hope for eating cherries this summer:

 Dandelions suddenly appeared in the lawn and pasture. I know many people hate them, but I think they're gorgeous:

 The pear tree blossomed and I decided these were the nicest flowers of all - at least so far:

The old fashioned Lilac bushes budded, almost ready to burst into bloom and fill the yard with their perfume:

 Wild Shadbush flowers all along every road were almost done for the year, but I found a couple of them to photograph:

Apple Blossom Beauty

The cherry tree bloomed early and profusely, promising perhaps the second big cherry crop I've seen since I moved to the farm. The blossoms almost hid the farm sign:

About ten days later, all the apple trees burst into bloom on the same morning:

I was thrilled, walking from tree to tree in the orchard, looking for differences in the flowers. Notice the cattle, clustered together under a Box Elder tree in the background:

The tree in the foreground produces huge crops every year:

My trees have less pink in them than some apples, so I like to snap a picture when I see a particularly pink set of blossoms:

All in all, a glorious display. It's over quickly, though, which is all the more reason to exult in it while it lasts:

More pink tinged flowers:

I was standing inside the pasture when I shot this photo of the apple orchard, with my house and car in the background:

There are two nice trees, probably wild seedlings, on the other side of the house - and they too were blooming wildly:

These two trees may be wild seeded, but they produce abundant and tasty crops:

I knew that this exuberant exhibition would soon be over, so I spent the morning taking pictures:

This is one of the wild seeded trees, arching out over the road and the Amish "Horse Shoeing" sign. It drops apples everywhere in early autumn:

Springtime On The Farm - Part 2

I ordered two Ninebark seedlings and planted them in compost where I removed the old, rotten stump last year. Ninebark is a cold hardy shrub with red leaves, white flowers and mottled bark. I have great expectations for them - and the little fence will hopefully keep me from mowing over them:

The Shadbush began blooming at the end of April and was almost finished, so I decided to get a few photos of their lovely blossoms before it was too late.

And I returned to the country road where the White Trilliums bloom by the thousands every year. They were reduced to only one small patch this year, but my timing was good and I got some photos:

Trilliums are truly a beautiful flower:

These tiny blooms are from my Bush Cherry, and will produce many miniature cherries later on. Alas, the birds got all but one cherry last year - and I had to eat the last one before it was fully ripe or I'd never have gotten to taste them at all. It was very good, though:

And my full sized cherry is blooming abundantly. This looks to be only the second cherry crop I've had since I moved here:

Need I add that Dandelions are everywhere, great oceans of them across the lawns and pastures. Some people hate them, but I think they are both attractive and useful:

We had so much rain that the drainage ditch by the barn was filling in. So I used the tractor bucket one dry day to reopen it:

And Wild Strawberries are blooming all over the pasture and lawn:

I also opened up the far field for the herd, which made them very happy. Those are the last of the Shadbush in bloom behind them, not to be seen again until next spring:

More Photos From Around The Farm

Spring finally arrived, and the pear tree was the first to blossom. But spring was short lived and lurched suddenly into summertime. Most of the flowers quickly dropped their petals to the ground. I'll have to wait and see what that portends for fruit production:

The cherry tree only produces fruit every couple of years but it produced blossoms this year. That's a hopeful sign:

And the bigger of the two new plum trees bloomed for several weeks. Not only was it beautiful, but I expect to have lots of plums this year. I also have a smaller plum tree and apricot which flowered sparsely for the first time this year. I can't tell which of those two is which, but I'll figure it out when they produce fruit this autumn:

I was inside the barn one morning when an Eastern Meadowlark landed on a nearby fence post and began singing. Not wanting to frighten it away, I stayed where I was and used my zoom lens to get a photo. I snapped many pictures, but this was the only one (just barely) good enough to keep:

The Daffodils were much delayed and modest in their blooming this year, but I noticed a new variety. These buttery yellow, double flowers put in an appearance. They may have bloomed previous springs, but this year was the first time I really noticed them:

Birds built a large nest in the cedar tree just outside my door and were pooping all over everything. It was only a matter of time before they pooped on me. The dogs were tracking through it. Worse, a baby had fallen out of the nest a couple of days earlier and I found it dead on my porch. Judging by the size of the dead baby bird, I figured the fledglings were out of the nest soon thereafter. I used a long board to push the nest out of the tree while two adult Grackles screamed at me. But I knew there were no eggs or babies in it:

Then I set out to mow the lawn, using the riding mower. When I got to the lawn on the other side of the apple trees, I saw a baby Grackle in the grass with its parents flying around overhead. I think I spotted its sibling, already flying. I switched to mowing on the other side of the house and then ate lunch. Later, when I went back, both the babies and their parents were nowhere to be seen:


The Bush Cherry bloomed copiously this year. It also is a new planting and this will be my first taste of a Bush Cherry. I hope they're good. At least they'll be easier to pick:

The apple trees began budding on a few trees:

And then began opening into flowers. Alas, our late spring and early summer weather meant a short blooming season:

One tree on the far end of the property, however, was in full bloom. This tree was probably a wild seedling but it produces lots of early apples. Oddly, its buds and flowers have very little pink in them. They're almost pure white:

While mowing the lawn, I kept seeing these tiny blue flowers in the grass. I snapped a picture and then looked them up in my field guide later in the day. They were Birds-Eye Speedwell, a member of the snapdragon family: