Six on Saturday – 15/05/2021- Sunshine and Spring

Chris Mousseau

It’s been a truly gorgeous spring week here, with loads of sunshine and cool temperatures that have encouraged petals to stay on stem and branch a bit longer than normal. Case in point is this Serviceberry, below. Normally petals blow off after about a week or 10 days. But that would be stretching it. They’ve been blooming now for three weeks! Lucky for this (and other) honey bees I’ve spotted buzzing around it. Loads of berries for the bird this year! I know I’ve shown this lovely bush before but I think it’s work a second look, because of the bee.

The photo at the very top has a blossom laden branch of the dwarf sour cherry ‘Romeo,’ and in the background is a row of Narcissus ‘Quail.’ Between them is a patch of purple tulips. The last of the tulips to bloom – this is Tulipa triumph ‘Pittsburg’ (no ‘h’ at the end of the name, apparently). They’re very tall, which is nice, but the flowers themselves are quite small. I’m not complaining – I planted them five years ago so they’ve given me three bonus years of flowers.
The clove-like fragrance of Viburnum carlesii – Korean spice Viburnum – has started to follow me as I toodle around the garden. For some happy reason the rabbits ignored them this past winter and I have more flower buds starting to burst open than ever.
Curtains Up! Yesterday I lifted one of the water bottle cloches I started lettuce under. This is ‘Forellenschuss ‘ – pretty blotches eh?
The last daffodills to open. On the left is an unknown variety that popped up a few years ago. Just three flowers stems, year after year… On the right is Narcissus Poeticus v. recurvus; this first flower opened yesterday – there are hundreds of others about to open so it should be quite pretty next week.
The garlic is doing well this year, and the spinach I planted between rows has come up.

Every Saturday, The Propagator encourages gardeners around the world to share six things that are happening in their garden. Hope your weekend is sunny and warm!

18 Comments

    1. Thank you! Looking back over my records it seems we are a week or two ahead of schedule, likely because of how warm is was for a period in April.

  3. I also have plastic cloche like yours but I put it on the young pumpkins to protect them from the cold nights right now. It allows you to gain a few degrees, you’re right.
    Very pretty Tulips ‘Pittsburgh’

    1. Good idea about using them for pumpkins as well – I may try that this weekend since our last frost date is still a week away….

  4. The Santa Clara Valley used to be full of orchards, and cherries were the most common sort where Sunnyvale is now. Weirdly though, we remember only sweet cherries. Those were the only cherries I knew growing up, and they were used for everything. I always thought that sweet cherry pies were ‘normal’. Sour cherries grew here also, but no one remember them, or where they grew.
    Serviceberries are not grown here, but I intend to add it to my home garden, just to see what it is all about.
    By the way, several towns are named ‘Pittsburg’, but the only one with an ‘h’ that I am aware of is the big one in Pennsylvania. (Although, I just looked it up to see that there is one in North Dakota and another in Ontario.) There is another Pittsburg in Contra Costa County to the north of here, and another in Pittsburg County in Oklahoma.

    1. I’m giggling about all the Pittsurg’s! Thanks!! I also had never heard about sour cherries (let alone dwarf cherry trees – my experience had all been with mammoth trees where the cherries were food for birds and not us earth-bound humans without as much as a step ladder…) until I moved here.

      1. So, sweet cherries are more common there as well? Sour or tart cherries perform better where winters are cooler, . . . or perhaps sweet cherries are more tolerant of minimal chill.

  5. There’s a Pittsburg, Texas, too. It’s not known for cherries, but for peaches. It’s several hours up the road, but I’ve been known to stop and stock up on their home-canned peaches when I’m in the area. They aren’t anything like canned peaches in the store; they taste like Grandma’s.

    I love those purple tulips. For some reason, their small size makes them even more appealing to me, and the color is great.

    1. I wonder why Pittsburgh PA has that ‘h’…. I’m thinking about ordering another 100 of the tulips. Just need to place them is a good spot(s).

  7. I intended to have pittsburg too but the supplier I was using didn’t stock it. Looks like it would be good planted densely in a pot.

  8. I have garlic growing well spaced, and I have spinach seeds….am I going to follow your idea? I’d be silly if I didn’t try, as I am running out of space. Many thanks for the idea Chris.

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