31-3-2019
The weather remained mild and is now sunny and even warm during daytime. It’s a very good spring for Magnolias and Ornamental Cherries, who keep their flowers much longer than in other years. All the usual spring suspects are flowering profusely. Bluebells are just starting to open, so if you get a chance to visit a woodland area, go there and look for the magic blue carpet.
The Braeburn apple tree is opening its leave buds! While the older apple trees are holding back this year, the young tree leads the way.
If you’re out and about, look at the trees at the road side. Some trees have unfolded their leaves already, while others still show no sign of spring at all. Sometimes one tree in a row of trees will be much further advanced than its siblings.
Aphrodite’s Gardens has been travelling abroad and spotted a massive 100 year old Manna Ash in Amsterdam’s Hortus Botanicus. The tree has been grafted, and 100 years down the line it’s easy to see the difference between graft (smooth bark) and root stock (broken bark).