Spring is the season of blooming. Our entire city is full of white pear blossom, mauve-pink Redbud flowers, gorgeous and bright white Royal Star magnolia flowers, and my favorite, dainty and delicate Yoshino cherry blossoms. When there is wind, all the Yoshino cherry petals start floating in the air and drizzling down. It is just like a gentle breath from the Goddess of Spring.
We have a gigantic Kanzan cherry tree in our front yard. It has really rich red flowers with double petals and blooms just after all the Yoshino cherry trees are done. So yes, our cherry tree is the only one blooming in its prime time right now in our neighborhood. For our backyard garden, we bought two Bing Cherries (sweet cherry type, edible) from Home Depot earlier this month. We are not sure if they will be able to bear fruits though, since Bing Cherries require 700 - 800 chill hours. But we will see!
Another flowering tree in our Spring garden is the Crabapple tree. We planted this self-pollinating fruit tree last winter along with Silverberry and Gnome Pyracantha for birds. We did not expect its flowers to be this showy!
We also have a self-pollinating peach tree which we planted around the same time last year. It has opened up beautiful pink flowers for bees to come to visit. We planted it on the left side of our house in the ground and placed pavers all around it to create a patio with a square-shaped focal point. We did not use concrete to adhere the pavers together. Instead, we left a gap between each paver, so ground covers such as clovers and grass can grow from the gaps and create a natural look.
On our deck, potted quinces are just gorgeous! You can never have too many quinces. They are easy to grow, making beautiful cutting flowers or just be appreciated on the deck, and bloomed twice a year. We have potted two thornless quinces on the deck: a Double Take Peach Flowering Quince and O Yashima Double Flowering White Quince. Besides the flowering quinces, Blueberries just formed all the tiny blue-ish white flower buds. They seem to make really good companion potted plants with the quinces and bloom right after the quinces. At least our bees give us the approval.
The reason why we planted them in pots is that we wanted to create an Asian courtyard style and the pots will emphasize the beauty of the flowers by providing a frame as background. You don't need to plant them in groups, while each plant is a beautiful specimen.
These flowers are beautiful but not have much fragrance. To supplement it, we have also planted multiple Tea Olives behind the deck. Tea Olives may not have the most noticeable flowers, but they are definitely the hidden gem! Oh, the fragrance of Tea Olive flowers is just amazing...It is sweet and fresh, but not too rich or intrusive. Especially after the rain, the soothing and clean Tea Olive fragrance flows with the air. These evergreen bushes are almost blooming all seasons. Just imagine in these wonderful Spring evenings when the temperature is not too hot or too cold, sitting on your patio, surrounded by the flowers and smelling the fresh fragrance...
All the flowering trees that we planted can be easily grown in Georgia (Zone 7) with low maintenance. It can be quite hot during the summer and multiple touches of frost in the winter, but these trees are growing quite happily either in-ground or in pots. We are grateful for how rewarding they are for simply planting them in the right spots. Cheers, to the Spring!
Weather report: H:68°F， L: 36°F， Raining
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