Is It Really Spring Now For Good Here In Minnesota?

It has been a colder and wetter spring than normal, or at least it seems that way. The plants in our garden continue to wake up and get ready for the warmer months ahead. All of the pictures in this post are from my parent's garden. Their garden was beautifully landscaped in 1992 after they purchased the house from my grandma. A local landscaping business gave them ideas and created blueprints for the layout of the garden. Over the years several of the plants have been moved, or accidentally killed, or have died from the cold and frigid Minnesota winters. One of the focal points if the landscaping near the deck is a Spring Snow Crabapple Tree (Malus x 'Spring Snow') which flowers beautifully and profusely every year. The tree has grown quite tall and is in store for some trimming in the future. The tree is not yet in full bloom, but there are some flower blossoms on it now, and perhaps more will come as the warm weather continues. Below are some pictures of the flowers.

(Malus x. 'Spring Snow' Crabapple)


I also took a picture of the entire tree so that you could see that the tree is not yet in full-bloom. It is a spectacular sight to see the entire tree in bloom because the entire tree appears to be covered in snow. Hopefully I'll be able to get a picture of the tree when it is like that but the bloom is different every year. Another thing to notice in this picture is the lack of railing on the deck that is next to the tree. The reason why there is no railing at the moment is because last fall there was a minor flood that resulted in some minor damage to the basement wall that is underneath the deck. In order to repair the damage my parents had to remove the deck and replace part of the wall. The trucks that were used to bring in supplies and remove dirt damaged a few of their plants and buried some of the wood chips that were around the plants. The railing of the deck still needs to be reattached and the landscaping needs to be redone, but there are still plenty of plants that survived.

The Sedum plant (pictured below) that was featured in the "Signs of Spring" post has grown quite a bit in the past few weeks and looks much different in the sunlight and when it is not covered with raindrops. Another plant that was in that post was the Fern-leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) and that will be blooming in a matter of weeks.

(NOID Sedum)
(NOID Sedum)
(Fern-leaf Peony [Paeonia tenuifolia])
(Possibly a Sedum repestre 'angelina'?)
(Fern)
(NOID)
(Hosta)
(Hosta)
For Mother's Day I bought my mom a pot full of Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum) since she absolutely loves those plants and has since she has several collections of them around the house. I personally think they are nice plants that will thrive on neglect, which would be perfect for me and Annah. I will have to buy a plant for the two of us soon. Once my parents get their deck finished it will be the perfect home for this new plant! The Latin name of Sempervivum tectorum for this plant is fun to say and sounds great!

(Sempervivum tectorum "Hens and Chicks")
The last thing I will mention in this post is that I purchased some new plants last week at a local Community College Horticulture Center plant sale. I purchased a Brazilian Fireworks Plant (Porphyrocoma pohliana Maracas), which will look beautiful once it blooms and I also got a Wandering Jew Plant.

(Brazilian Fireworks Plant [Porphyrocoma pohliana Maracas])
(Wandering Jew Plant [Tradescantia])

Photo Credits: Jordan