Spring

Our fringe tree is in bloom

| edwinridout


This is Chionanthus virginicus, our only one, wild, in the woods, and at the back of Sandy’s woodland garden. I last commented on it back in 2008, and wasn’t able then to do any better showing the whole tree.

See the Wikipedia reference, where I’m delighted to see it’s also known as Old Man’s Beard. Ours blooms every spring, but we’ve never noticed the autumn fruit shown on Wikipedia.

 

From the top of the X

| edwinridout


From the top of the X in the oats field after supper Friday night, 6:40pm, 13 April 2012. We could no longer identify the spire of Hills Church due to tree growth. But we did hear its bells ringing on Sunday. Hills Church is 0.9 miles almost due west of that spot, but we’d probably have to scramble up a tree to see it now.

Mayapple

| edwinridout


The Mayapple plants suddenly popped up about a week ago, in patches, here and there in the woods. This is the patch near the woodpile. Will keep an eye open for any flowers.

Bluets?

| edwinridout


Didn’t Wena call them bluets? We’ll have blankets of these soon, mostly in shady places on the lawn, but this is the first patch so far. Sometimes in the past I’ve been moved to mow around them. These are under the swing, where there’s not much grass left to mow anyway. Who knows what their real name is?

Magnolias finished

| edwinridout

We still have one or two left . . .
 

 
. . . but after their glorious peak, it’s only a few days until most of the petals look like this:
 

 
Still, we shouldn’t shed a tear. With a little luck, there’ll be even more next year.