They say it will frost tonight. So, I decided to catch the magnolia and cherry blossoms before they frizzled from the cold. These will suffer the most from the frost, I fear. It was in the high 60’s today, which is actually cooler than it was earlier this week. I left for a conference in St. Louis early Tuesday morning. The magnolia was just starting to show a little color. But when I returned on Friday, it was in full bloom. In fact, the ground below the tree was covered in petals that had already fallen. The cherry tree is now in full bloom, too.
But I confess, rather than spend a lot of time in the garden today, I rode my TerraTrike 15 miles on the White Pine Trail. I’ve put more than 60 miles on the trike this spring. There were a lot of people out walking and biking, too many, actually. It was sometimes difficult to pass people who were taking up too much space. And one kid veered and almost hit me.
Truthfully, though, I was mostly practicing garden procrastination. I have to replace the arches that form the entrance to the Secret Garden. The recycled aluminum arches I found in the back yard when I bought the house were collapsing under the weight of the clematis. I knew it would take some muscle to tear everything down. And persistence. I started cutting the vines away a few days ago. After my trike ride guilt sent me out to tackle removal of the arches. And, as it turned out, everything came down a lot easier than I anticipated. But the new arbor needs a coat of protective paint before it goes up. And that may have to wait for the next round of warm days.
And, because I got the arches and vines torn down, I could take advantage of the early evening’s low light. It was a pleasure. The magnolia is so fragrant. The rhododendron is in full bloom and I had hoped to catch a big old bumblebee hovering near a bloom, but I’m an impatient photographer.
Garden 337 