Springtime Trees Around the Farm
Springtime weather is off to a slow start here in the Northeast. This week brought rain and even a bit of snow in some areas, but the gardens continue to transform.
It always amazes me how quickly plants and trees grow from day to day. I am constantly noticing something new blooming at my farm. And, while many of the flowers are erupting with vibrant color, we've also been taking photos of the various trees and all the precious buds just waiting to open on their branches.
Enjoy these images. What trees are starting to bud near you? Share your comments below.
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- Here is one of two weeping cherry trees down behind my stable. This one is showing a bit of color on its branches. A weeping cherry tree is at its best when the pendulant branches are covered with pink or white flowers.
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- Here is a closeup of its branches.
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- And this is what the weeping cherries looked like a year ago with its pretty canopies – they’re a little late this season. The various species and cultivars offer a wide range of sizes, from eight-foot dwarfs to 40-foot types. These trees are big eye-catchers when guests are lucky enough to see them in bloom.
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- Aesculus hippocastanum is a large deciduous tree commonly known as the horse chestnut or conker tree. The flowers provide a rich source of nectar and pollen to insects, particularly the bees. I have two of these large specimens in front of the stable at the foot of the Boxwood Allee.
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- See the buds just waiting to open.
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- This is the horse-chestnut in late spring when it shows off many beautiful flowers.
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- There is a lot of forsythia blooming this time of year. They are among the first plants of spring to burst forth in the garden. These specimens like at least six-hours of sunlight a day, and well-draining soil.
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- Yellow blossoms cover each elegant branch, producing arches of color that can be seen from a distance.
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- Not far from my tropical hoop house is this magnolia – one of many here at the farm. Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol.
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- Growing as large shrubs or trees, they produce showy, fragrant flowers that are white, pink, red, purple or yellow.
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- This is a weeping larch, Larix decidua ‘Pendula’. It has bright green needles in spring, which turn gold before dropping in fall.
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- Looking closely, you can see all the many buds.
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- This is the same tree in June. This curvaceous tree is located at “the triangle” where the carriage roads leading to the Boxwood Allee, the Pin Oak Allee and the woodland, all converge.
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- We’ve planted many larch trees in the woodland. Larches are conifers in the genus Larix. They are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south.
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- These are the pink buds of one of my apricot trees in the new fruit tree orchard by my pool.
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- Malus sargentii, occasionally called Sargent’s apple or Sargent crabapple, is a species of crabapple in the genus Malus. The plant is a shrub growing about six-feet tall. I have four of them flanking the carriage road between my Tenant House and my blog studio.
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- These too are showing many buds on their branches.
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- These are ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs, which bloom in May. They are some of the most fragrant of all the lilac bushes. The light lavender blooms stand out nicely against their dark green leaves. These lilacs prefer full sun, but will also live in partial shade.
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- Here is a closeup of its branches. ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs are very popular for borders or as specimen plantings. It will grow to about seven feet with a mature spread of five to six feet.
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- And here are the ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs in bloom. This photo was taken in late May – so beautiful. They thrive in rich, moist, somewhat neutral soils and good air circulation.
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- Adjacent to the ‘Miss Kim’ lilacs is my dwarf apple orchard. If you recall, these trees produced so many apples last season.
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- So many of the trees are beginning to bud.
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- Just outside my kitchen on the terrace parterre is this weeping katsura, one of my favorite trees. Cercidiphyllum japonicum f. pendulum has pendulous branches that fan out from the crown and sweep the ground. Caramel-scented foliage emerges bronze or purple-red, turns blue-green, then fades to gold or apricot in autumn.
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- Tiny red flowers emerge in late March or early April before the leaves.
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- Here is another katsura on the other side of my Winter House.
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- The same katsura is on the right in May – it is one of two in this white garden.
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- Just in front of the katsuras are two smaller viburnums. Viburnum is an upright, rounded, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub or small tree that typically grows to 20-feet tall and up to15-feet wide.
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- More buds that will soon open with beautiful white blooms.
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- The sometimes fragrant flowers range from white and cream to pink-flushed or wholly pink. This is what it looks like in May.
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- Tree peonies are actually woody shrubs, and can reach about four or five feet tall. This is one of the specimens in the tree peony bed outside my Summer House.
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- Most varieties of tree peonies are hardy in zones 4 through 8. Here is one of many that are just coming to life after the long winter.
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- And from a distance, the stunning golden-yellow weeping willows. Here is one grove of weeping willows on the edge of my lower hayfield. The golden hue looks so pretty against the early spring landscape.
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