spring is here

The weather is still quite cold, with the occasional arctic blast, but spring is definitely on its way.  The magnolias and cherry trees in the area are blooming, and my plum trees are just starting to burst.

I've actually taken out two of the ornamental plums this winter.  They get so crowded with the birches that everything goes a bit moldy by the end of the summer. But I've kept one ornamental and the two fruiting plums.  This is one of the fruiting plums that two summers ago almost died.  Last year after some TLC it set about a dozen small orange plums.  Turns out they're not very tasty.  This year, as you can see, the tree is even happier and covered with blossom.  I think I'll leave them for the possums this year, since covering it with net was a pain in the bum.

And finally, I saw these double hellebores in the garden shops this year.  No, I don't have these in my garden.  But they were so beautiful I had to take a snap. 

I did, however, plant a little tiny Brunnera "Jack Frost" this weekend.  I forgot to take a photo and it's quite small anyway, but this is what it looks like eventually.  Beautiful foliage plus flowers that look like forget-me-nots.  It likes shade and tolerates drought - perfect for the spot next to the Japanese maple.

the plums are ripe

I was trying one of the plums and it came off in my hand, so I guess they're about ripe.  It had a bit of a caterpillar nibble at the stem end which may have made it drop early but I wanted to try it anyway.

Look at this lovely colour.  It looks like a nectarine!  So small though.

Here's the inside.  Very juicy, but the flesh flavour was quite bland.  The skin is the classic soury plum taste which I personally dislike.  Hopefully the next few are sweeter to counteract the tartness.

Or maybe I just don't really like plums!

plums, melons and tomatoes

No, none of the plums, melons or tomatoes are ripe yet but I thought I'd update you on their progress.  The melons are settling in well and putting out some good growth and even a few little flowers.  This first one is the Green Nutmeg.

And this is the Minnesota Midget with one of its little flowers.

And this is a little watermelon of some kind I got from the B-store.  I ended up freeing up that big tub only recently so I bought a rather advanced seedling.

And this is the Baby Blue pumpkin seedling.  I'm not sure why it hasn't "vined" out at all, I hope it hasn't stunted from being in a punnet for so long...

The plum tree out the front has a few fruit starting to ripen.  They're still small, I don't think they'll get very big.  But they're starting to lighten up in colour. I wonder what colour they'll be in the end?  Shouldn't be long now.

And finally, I've started to lose tomatoes to little grubs.  I had some do this last year too, they lay their eggs in the flower and the caterpillars eat their way out of the green tomato, leaving poos behind.  I don't think there's anything I can do about it once they're in there, just hope there aren't too many.  I've lost about 4 so far but there are heaps more green fruit waiting to ripen.

That's the round up for this weekend.  It's almost Christmas and we've had beautiful weather - some hot days but they cool down quickly, plus a bit of rain here and there.  Can't ask for much more than that!

little baby plums

One of my poor abused plum trees is still in strife, it's put out very few leaves and hardly any blossoms and the possums have done their best to eat the leaflets.  But the other plum tree is now covered in these tiny baby plums!  Now the question is, when do I cover the whole tree in bird netting to keep the possums off!

update on buds

The plum trees are covered in blossoms!  Last year they had maybe a dozen blossoms between the two trees, but look at this one this year!

And the bees have taken notice.  Apparently plum blossoms aren't that attractive to bees so sometimes people have trouble pollinating them.  But this afternoon there were at least four bees flying from blossom to blossom as if their lives depended on it.  Maybe this means I'll actually have plums this year ... and I'll be able to find out what kind they are.

Ah, the wonders of spring!

In the meantime, my little maple is powering along with lots of buds already this size.  Notice how intricate and defined this bud is?

Unfortunately the one that got hit by budworm isn't so lucky.  Notice the difference, how half the bud is stunted.  It probably won't develop fully even though I'm pretty sure I killed the worm.  I hate them, one little worm can really set back such a young and vulnerable tree.

speaking of sprouts

The seed sprouting upstairs has inspired me to take some snaps of all the sprouting that's going on around the garden.

As I mentioned last week, the tired old plum trees are making a comeback.  Here's how much we had to cut this one back last year because the top half had died off.

Not only is it now covered with blossom (much more in that pic which is from last year) but look at all the new sprouts coming from the branches!  It's trying so hard to live.

My designer twig is also powering along well with lots of new sprouts of both leaves and blossoms.

And here's my sad little maple tree, like the plum tree it's also trying so hard to live.  The tips of most branches are dead but there are still plenty of tiny buds farther down.

It gives me a lot of respect for the rejuvenating power of life.

buds

The winter is slowly fading.  It helps that June was a full degree warmer than normal.  My plum trees are just starting to burst into bud.  I've got two that I think are fruiting plums and three that I think are just ornamentals.  They didn't set any fruit at all last year but they were very neglected and stressed by the drought.  This year I've pruned them quite a bit, cutting out a lot of dead wood, and given them a bit of a feed.  So with luck this year I'll at least find out what kind of plum they are!  There are already a lot more blossom buds this year than last.  These are blossoms from the ornamental plum, aren't they gorgeous?  Reminds me of a Japanese painting.

I've also found a flower bud coming up from one of my three clivia.  I hope they all blossom this year, but I'm excited to see at least one is coming along!  With luck they'll live up to their reputation for being low-maitenance, un-fussy plants.

And finally, these aren't buds by any means, but I just love when the alyssum is at its peak and it's a thick carpet of snowy white.