Trees in Spring


apple tree

Synchronistically, Arbor Day arrived yesterday and I experienced a moment of glee when I learned, as I have been going about town for the last few weeks, at various times of the day, combing neighborhoods, to capture images of the beauty of trees in spring which are such a blessing. Today I’m unveiling some of my recent discoveries. Most bear flowers, as that was my intention, but ultimately I included a couple not in that category, but that captured my heart and imagination. The one of the apple tree above grows in my back garden, among other fruit trees, including a fig, a plum and a walnut tree, for which I am all most grateful.

“Invest in trees.” ~Kathryn Hall, Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden

Another on this property is a small hawthorne, which bears scant white blossoms, though dear. Here’s a bough, showing the leaves…


hawthorne

When the few blossoms began to emerge I brought one in to enjoy.


white blossom of the hawthorne

There are several trees I photographed I’m not familiar with. Whoever ID’s the ones I myself don’t know will be sent a copy of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy! Here is one such tree.The delicate pink and white flowers are spread along hanging or weeping branches.

These much loved redbuds have been gracing our town for a few weeks.


redbuds

Another–a closer view. This one was full of bumblebees who seemed, not alarmed, but protective of their find. I didn’t feel threatened but they were aggressive about letting me know it was their redbud tree! Haha.


redbud

I am told, and I tend to believe, that this is the only tree of its kind in this town. Many folks have taken note of its whereabouts and look forward to seeing it each spring. I only know its name, paulownia, because I included it on a post years ago, which led to a proper ID.


paulownia

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” ~ Chinese Proverb

This is one of the flowerless trees that I really love. It’s called curly willow or corkscrew willow. I prefer the former, don’t you?


curly willow

Concurrent with the abundance of redbuds are the dogwoods. I’m including three in this post.


white dogwood

Here’s the pink, with which you might be more familiar.


pink dogwood

And, lastly, I include Pacific dogwood. There is a story in this neighborhood that the man who used to own the house down the street, where this tree resides, had purchased a few acres “for firewood” up north of here. And apparently on that property was this Pacific dogwood. He dug it up and placed it in his garden in town. But no one knew its name. It was simply called “a wild dogwood”. (As fate would have it) horticulturist Roger Raiche happened to post a picture of a branch of this tree he located in Sonoma County, properly labeled as Pacific dogwood, so I sent him the pic below and he responded that he’d never seen one with so many flowers, and he suspected this one thrived because it had no competition to expand. As a lover, student and author of gardening metaphors, you can imagine I loved hearing this from him. Note that Pacific dogwood flowers have five petals, not four, and they emerge rather green and turn white within weeks.


Pacific dogwood

Now. Mystery trees still needing IDing are:

And this one.

Whoever can ID the three I’ve left unnamed wins a copy of my book! Just leave a comment below.

I know East Coasters especially are still awaiting the glories of spring. I do hope you are finding the annual joy of watching our gardens come into promising bud, and emerging with their full beauty. Those of us who honor this tradition and practice are so so lucky! What is your favorite thing you look forward to each spring in your garden?

Love and garden blessings,
Kathryn xoxo

Footnote: Here’s a pic of a shad bush in flower, which Alice mentions on comments below. She’s in New York state.

UPDATE! The many subscribers to this blog contact me not only through the comments section below, but also via FB and email. So what readers missed was the vast amount of information sent to me by Julie Rice in Ohio, all in the attempt to help ID the trees posted above, which she ultimately did! A copy of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy goes out to her today! Congratulations, Julie! XOXO

Book Notes: Reminder that Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden makes a lovely gift for the loved Mothers in your life. Thank you for ordering a copy on Amazon, or Kobo or Barnes and Noble!

19 Responses to “Trees in Spring”

  1. Awww. Spring in its splendor! I love the delicate white blossom of the hawthorne. Can’t help name the mystery trees, but they’re lovely. 🙂

  2. “Spring in its splendor,” indeed, Antonia! Such a wonderful time of year! Love, Mom xoxo

  3. Ok, I think the first one is a double flowering cherry. The second pink one and the last white ones are crab apples. There are simply hundreds and hundreds of cultivars of crab apples. They did a lot of the work on them mid 1900s at Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio. All the roads through the facility used to be lined with miles and miles of crab apple cultivars from amazing Huge snowballs of white through soft pink, bright pink to almost red blossoms. Over the years crab apple scab, bores, at least one tornado, some bad windstorms and blizzards and time have taken down many of them. Research was not only on the flowers, the goal was spreading instead of upright and strength in the crotches so limbs would not easily break off. There was a huge urban street tree program of which the crab apples were the stars. Also fruiting vs non-fruiting. Crab apples make a great jelly and the bigger ones can be sweet pickled in cinimmon and a red sweet liquid. You can buy preserved crab apples for holiday meals. But most people don’t want to be bothered with the apples.

  4. You should have five petals and leaves that look like apple leaves. Could not blow up the pink one to count.

  5. Thanks for your input, Julie! Thanks for playing! Appreciated! I’d not thought of crabapples. I’ll let you know! Kathryn xoxo

  6. There is another one of the paulownia trees up on one of the side streets–Perkins, or some street parallel. I would have to walk up and down a few of the
    streets to find it. Maybe one day soon we could do that. Wonderful pictures.
    Thank you for sharing. Love Lois

  7. The Shad bush is our first tree to bloom here in NYS. It is really a small tree, not a bush and has small white blossoms. Growing wild, it brightens our still bleak countryside in early spring. I just drove up through Pa coming home from a weekend in Va. Virginia has the lovely Redbud in profusion in full bloom now. Pennsylvania has it in its southern parts shifting to the Shad bush as we came on north. Snow greeted us in Binghamton but it should leave tomorrow when the temps rise into the 60’s. It is a slow spring here. Your pictures are delightful, as always.

  8. Kathryn, try this link to OARDC and the crab apples from a few years ago. A place to start.
    https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/secrest-arboretum-crabapple-blossoms-peak-soon

  9. Julie, I googled crabapples yesterday and found one that looked very much like the one above. I may have to backtrack now and ask the property owners to be certain. Thanks for pointing the direction! Kathryn xoxo

  10. Lois, thanks! Let’s do that! I would love to explore with you! Kathryn xoxo

  11. Good morning, Alice! I’d not heard of shad bush before, so I googled. I will add at end of post so others not familiar can appreciate. Thank you! Kathryn xoxo

  12. Hi Kathryn!
    Beautiful Spring blooms everywhere! My favorite tree is a Swamp Magnolia I planted in a wet spot several years ago. The fragrance of this cute little tree is a wonderful thing.

  13. Hi, Katie! I’d been thinking of you as no caterpillars have shown up yet in my butterfly bush. (Time will tell!) I am not familiar with Swamp Magnolia, but “a wet spot” sounds right! I will google! Thanks! Kathryn xoxo

  14. Nice post. Thank you for the sharing.

  15. Hi, AxeTreePros! Welcome. Thank you for the visit! Kathryn xoxo

  16. Those are some great photos! Keep up the good work!

  17. Thanks, Jane! Kathryn xoxo

  18. Awesome post Kathryn! Love the post. Thanks for sharing

  19. Thanks, Ryan and welcome! Kathryn xoxo

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