Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Looking up - literally

My neighbor and I were remarking on the astounding show from this white crabapple this year. While we were standing there I kept glancing over at the boughs looking for bees and pollinators. After all, this is a bee sanctuary. These spring-flowering trees are supposed to entice the bees because not too much else is blooming right now. But alas. I saw nothing.

Finally, in the conversation, I voiced my disappointment to my equally bee-friendly nabe. He just looked at me, then pointed UP. I looked. And was dumbfounded. Way up there I saw hundreds of insects flitting and buzzing and darting and swooping in and out of the topmost boughs. The sun lit the petals so they practically glowed against a sky as blue as a robin's egg. Ahhhhh. I think I just stood there and grinned like an idiot.

What a wonderful way to end a 3-day span of labor-intensive garden work. During those days I created a 47-foot long arcing privacy bed that will not only be the first display visitors will see when coming up the driveway, but will give me much needed relief from the main road, the golf course, and other homes that have removed a lot of trees and shrubs. I also made a bed around the late (and lamented) fallen ash tree as well as edged the 2 border beds along the driveway.

And I am still working with the vegetables, notably dealing with my annoying success with tomatoes. There is still a lot of seeding going on too and am sowing bee forage annuals like sunflowers, African daisies, and even more varieties of zinnias (have I mentioned I like zins a lot?). Gosh, and I thought I was busy in April!

(click on the red text to view project details)

8 comments:

  1. You've been very busy. I like how you did your privacy bed, very nice curved shape to it.
    Glad you were able to find all the bees up high and that they are visiting that beautiful crabapple.

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  2. Thanks, Catherine. I really do prefer curves instead of straight lines. My goal was to follow the shape of the stone wall and I like how it turned out. This is my first try with making a bed using the 'lasagna' method. I'm looking forward to seeing how it shakes out. Sure is less work than digging up sod!

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  3. What a BEAUTIFUL tree!!! I'm just starting to put trees in our new yard, and can't wait til they're the size/scale that yours are!

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  4. Jeph - Thanks! - ya just can't have enough crabapples as far as I'm concerned. Great spring flowering and lots of fruits for the birds and squirrels.

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  5. I remember looking at one of those, appreciating the white blooms ... about 25 years ago, in Arcata, CA. I was a student at HSU.
    I wish we have that kind of tree in Malaysia.

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  6. Hello, Blossom. Glad you liked the pic. Yes, it was magnificent this year and luckily it was not hit by frost or freeze during its bloom cycle. Since then the petals have fallen. Most beautiful things are so brief and transitory. But now we're looking forward to the longer-lasting little golden fruits for the birds. :-D

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  7. I love that curving bed leading from the tree. What an impressive amount of work.

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  8. Linda - and so much fun that I went and did it again! ;-D

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