Arbor Amore

This post is dedicated to the trees in my backyard!

Every now and then you need to take time to slow down...to take a step back and reflect on the beauty surrounding you. On a drizzly day that didn't inspire much gardening in me, I decided to roam around the yard to admire a few of our lovely trees.

 

The great Norway Spruce.



This tree is a Norway Spruce. In just one word- majestic. I love this tree (and its close kin nearby). I love that I can't stretch my arms halfway around it. I love standing underneath to look straight up and only see- tree.

The spectacular magenta forms at the beginning of this post are immature pine cones from one of the Norway Spruces. On the other tree the developing pine cones have a completely different coloration. Its unbelievable to me that I've NEVER noticed these gems before. I actually noticed the greener ones first, because they were closer to eye level (and I can see this tree out of my kitchen sink window). At this time there doesn't seem to be a lot of these baby pine cones forming, so when I went to investigate whether the other Norway Spruce had any, I was astonished to find how brightly colored they were (and almost completely beyond reach- I had to climb a ladder to get a picture of the magenta colored ones).  

One of the first landscaping improvements we made when we moved to this place almost three years ago was plant some Blue Spruces. Eight of them in all. The idea is that when they grow up into mature trees, they will be able to block out some of the road view. I'd like to take this time to admit that I can't really take any credit for the Blue Spruce project as my boyfriend did 95% of the work with planting and researching their care.

Unlike the hundred year old Norway Spruce, the baby three or four year old Blue Spruce isn't producing any cones, just growth buds, which will be a beautiful green blue- hence, I assume the name.

OK its maybe more of a shrub than a tree, but I LOVE lilacs and I love that we inherited some.

This is just one branch on our white lilac.  

I wonder how old it is! I feel so lucky to have such a well established lilac in the yard. Did you know that Lilacs are a member of the Olive family?

This time of the year a lot of colors are being splashed around. One well anticipated dab in the springtime is the bloom of the Quince. Quince produce these tiny bitter fruits, which we haven't found a use for yet. Though I've read of using them for making jams.

Another thing the Quince seems to be useful for is attracting a Baltimore Oriole to the backyard. My boyfriend insists that they are a common bird in New York, but I've lived in New York my ENTIRE life and have NEVER seen one! Until now! My ears perked when I first heard its magic song. I followed the song to the bird and it was just as beautiful to behold with the eyes as well. The last few days that I've been working outside- all it seems I hear is the Oriole singing.



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I'm not really sure what kind of tree this is, but in the fall it produces a small fruit or berry of some sort. The deer enjoy munching on the fruit that is still clinging to the branches in winter. Whatever it is- its flowers very closely resemble apple blossoms. Speaking of...

This tree? This is one of the very first flowers ever for our very own apple trees- Its either a Liberty or Freedom. The same year we planted the Blue Spruces, we planted two each of these apple trees in the future orchard.

This is the orchard. This spring we added two more apples and three cherry trees. An enclosure of chicken wire topped with welded wire fencing supported by U-posts was also installed to protect the orchard plants from mammal pests. Again 95% of the credit for this work goes to my boyfriend.

Trees- great and small, I love them all! ♥