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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Is Spring of 2013 FINALLY, FINALLY springing? (PART TWO of FIVE) ASK MY SIX TREES



Welcome to part two of my series (which I introduced in this past Friday's post here on Blogger) where the "things" I grow will answer the question: Is Spring of 2013 FINALLY, FINALLY springing?

Today my six trees and I will weigh in with their answers and we'll begin with the opinions of my Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi) followed by the thoughts of my 'Tamukeyama' (AKA Japanese Maple).

Then (in no particular order) my Lemon-Lime Cypress TwinsAcer palmatum ('Shisitatsu' Sawa) as well as my Acer shirasawanum (Autumn Moon) and my Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree) will join the convo.

So without furthur ado, here's part two!

My surviving larch can be seen within the square imposed over a cropped aerial view of my garden (an image taken by Juan V) and I refer it to it as my surviving larch, for my other larch succumbed to a heat wave this past July, which is still a loss being mourned in my garden!

The surviving larch is one I've had for seven or eight years, and I'm fortunate (and so is she) that her fate was not compromised too much when she suffered an accident in mid February of this year after being toppled over by the high winds of Nemo (a nor'easter), as seen in the image below.



This image (with its backstory) was featured on Blogger this past March, and if you'd like to refer to it, please click here. As a result of this accident, my sweet tree lost much of its shape, but a common grackle did not seem to mind, for he alighted on it soon after I propped it back into place! This can be seen in the image posted below.



Unlike my moody contorted hazelnut shrub who was convinced that birds appreciated her for her proximity to some of my bird feeders, my larch (whose branches "held" a suet basket) was thrilled to be visited by a visiting bird, no matter what type of bird it was; nor his/her motive!

This tree, as you may recall, adores "entertainment; and in bygone years, she has "fulfilled" this need by watching television through the windows of the building directly north of me!

Finally my larch has come to her senses and avoids the boob tube in order to focus on the beauty around her, such as a Downy woodpecker, as well as a chickadee, who have both (at different times) "perched" near her as seen in the images below.




In the first image of this series, a snippet of the larch's images can be seen in  the lower left-hand corner as they attempt to get a view — without the use of binoculars — of the beautiful (but aloof) hairy woodpecker.

In the second image of this series, a wee portion of the larch's branches can be seen midway at the top of the image, where they are — excuse the pun— attempting to get a bird's eye view of a chickadee who has alighted on a suet basket that is hanging near my larch. The larch and the lone chickadee seem to have a mutual admiration for each other, as evidenced in an image posted below.



This particular image was featured on TLLG's FB Page last year (11-20-12) but since it is apropos to today's entry, I'm including it here.

At the moment, my larch and I agree that things are status-quo with her. When Juan V was here this past Wednesday, he hung a birdbath near to her as seen in the image below,



but I've since moved it as the only bather it attracted was a mouse whom I found dead as apparently he/she could not swim and I had no life-guard on duty. Juan V also hung my "house-style" bird-feeder near the larch, as seen in the image below,



but I have had to move it momentarily and hung a less heavy feeder in its place as seen in the picture below.



The aforementioned feeder is designed for hummingbirds, which I have not been too successful at attracting, a fact you may recall from prior posts here on Blogger as well as tumblr, but perhaps this year will be different, and my larch (her branches are to the left of the image) and I remain hopeful as we look forward to hearing the hummingbirds' songs!

And with that thought, I'll move on to the viewpoints of my 'Tamukeyama', who was "voted" to be the second of my six trees to weigh in re this blog entry. She can be seen within the circle imposed on the photograph atop of today's entry; however she has opted to not participate in this entry! She is a deep thinker and needs "the dust to settle" before voicing her thoughts. This is a great trait as it seems a lot of humans — myself included — are very reactionary, voicing personal feelings without thinking of the consequences. In any event, my 'Tamukeyama' will participate in posts going forward this growing season, but for now she wants to rest and reflect; therefore, if you'd like to learn more about her, please refer to other entries here on Blogger, as well as posts on tumblr, images on Pinterest, and catch her "performance" in my first garden-themed movie, The Kiwi Speaks! Fifteen Minutes of Fame . . . almost.

A little to the south of my 'Tamukeyama,' I have another tree, which is my Fagus sylvatica (Beech Tree) and just a little over a week ago, on April 18th, a blue jay landed in his "digs" (container), as seen in the image posted below.



This blue jay did not come to admire my Fagus sylvatica's new buds (which are awesome), but rather he was on the prowl upon having learned that a rose-breasted grosbeak had visited my garden.

The rose-breasted grosbeak can be seen in the image below.



He took time out from noshing from a saucer (that was placed on a ledge behind my beech tree) to pose for a picture, and I will discuss Mr. Rose-Breasted Grosbeak later (in part five of this series) For now it is the beech tree's "nickel" as "they" say and his awesome 2013 spring buds have already been ignored by a salivating blue jay, but not by yours truly as evidenced n the images below.





But I am not the only one who appreciates my beech tree's buds! A lovely patch of moss (seen below) nestled himself in the home of this awesome tree!




On the opposite side of my garden (western portion) and slightly north of the beech tree is where I have my Acer shirasawanum (Autumn Moon), and a couple photo-ops of his 2013 foliage buds may be seen below.




The autumn moon's foliage is growing quickly,  as evidenced by the "pair" of images above, as they were taken within five days of each other. The first one was featured on TLLG's Facebook Page on April 19th 2013.

My autumn moon would like to think it has the distinction of being alighted upon by a mourning dove, which was the case this past July, as evidenced in the photographs below.


(This image has been included in TLLG's tumblr Pages for 2012)
(This image was also included in TLLG's tumblr Pages for 2012)
(This image appeared in a post here on Blogger in January of 2013)
It's not my intention to hurt my autumn moon's feelings when I say this, but he is not the only tree in my garden that mourning doves alighted upon. The mourning dove's ulterior motive is always food and during the days he/she did spend time in the autumn moon's home, it was most likely because food from a nearby feeder had been "spilled" by house finches into the autumn moon's living area, making it an enticing spot for the mourning doves to spend their time!

This year the mourning doves are spending quite a bit of time hanging out near my Lemon-Lime Cypress trees which are twins. A snippet of their snow-covered foliage may be seen in the image posted below.


This particular image was taken two days before the "official" onset of spring when snow fell in the tri-state area. The snow was a bit of a shock to my cypress twins, for they are the only "things" that grow in my garden which are not a part of my garden winterizing.

These "gals" spend their winter season huddled in my apartment and therefore were not acclimated to the unexpected snowfall. The twins are slowly bouncing back and they attribute their "recovery" to the fact that they are located near a trio of bird feeders and thus have a great time bird watching as evidenced by the following images which include snippets of the cypresses' branches and the birds that they watch, beginning with my autumn moon's pal, the mourning dove.


(This image appeared here on Blogger earlier this month.) 
(This image also appeared here on Blogger earlier this month.)
(This image was featured on TLLG's FB Page in March of 2013.)

Hopefully the bird watching will put the color back in my cypresses' face!

And last, but not least of my trees, is my Acer palmatum ('Shisitatsu' Sawa), whose "modern dance" foliage for 2013 may be seen in the images below.



As for the 'Shisitatsu' Sawa tree itself, it can be seen within the circle seen in the image below.


The image was taken by Robert Wood, brother of my dear friend and editor, Peggy Wood, who can be seen in the images below.



The first image (taken by yours truly) is one you may recognize from a previous post here on Blogger in 2012, the second one was taken by Robert whilst his wife handed Peggy a pre- birthday cake (the actual date is 5-8) in my garden, where we were celebrating her life; and even my trees joined us in song!

This brings me my conclusion of part two (of five) re my series re answering the question (of Is spring finally, finally springing?). This is what my trees had to say; on Tuesday (April 30th), I'll "talk" with my muscaris as well as my  array of tulips to see how they feel about the question.

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