Flower Time

The trees and bushes are in flower and I went out with a new (to me) camera to try it out.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Pin Cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)

In Flower

• Redbud
• Pin Cherry
• Trilliums
• Creeping charlie
• Violets
• Daffodils
• Lilac
• Honeysuckle
• Dandelions
• Forget-me-not
• Elderberry
• Common speedwell
• Yellow archangel
• Self-heal
• Crabapple
• Apple

The trilliums that were planted back in 2009 haven't expanded very much, this year there were 10 blooms.

White Admiral

White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis)

I haven't seen too many large butterflies this year. I haven't seen one Monarch. Lately though, I've noticed a few White Admirals like this one which is warming itself on a lilac leaf.

Bushes in bloom

The bushes in the 95 planting area are in bloom. The lilac and honeysuckle above are quite pretty. The one-seed hawthorn (below) is also very showy. In the picture at bottom a bee and a flesh fly are visiting the much less showy european buckthorn.

Lilacs and rabbit

Went for a walk along the berm this Victoria day to inspect the trees. This past week has been very good for the trees, with lots of rain and warm days. The newly planted trees in the Newhaven Extension are doing great. Most of the trees are growing vigorously, even the Burr Oaks that take a long time to get started are starting to leaf out. There are about 20 Burr Oaks in the new planting and only 2 or 3 do not show signs of life yet. The only tree that does not yet have signs of life are the shagbark hickories. I still have some hope, but because they tend to form a tap root they have a reputation of not transplanting well.

I snapped the above picture when walking along the northern fence.

In Bloom:
Dandelion
Garlic Mustard
Forget-me-not
honeysuckle
lilac
ajuga
serviceberry
crabapple
apple
Solomon's seal

New Tree Planting

It's lilac and honeysuckle time. This past Saturday morning Manordale Public School came and planted 450 trees and bushes. It was awful weather, cold and rainy, so everyone who came out deserves a big thanks. There must have been 30-50 volunteers planting trees and they finished the job in about 3 hours. As the soil was wet, the planting was rushed and getting them in the ground was all that was important. Some were planted too deeply, some had roots exposed, some were not patted in firmly. These deficiencies will be remedied over the next few days. The biggest hardship the trees had was that there was a bit of a frost the next night. The red maples especially seemed to take that hard with many of those in exposed locations severely wilted now. Today was the first grass cutting of the season in the berm area.

Volunteers planting trees on the north slope of the berm.