Rain, Finally

It started raining this morning, and is supposed to continue through the weekend. At first I was disappointed - no time in the garden - but then I started thinking about all the nice rainy-day things that I can do. Besides, we need the rain.

Some good news in the vegetable garden - the asparagus lives, and I have proof. As you can see by the picture, I sort of let things go after the deer had their way with it last year. I will have to weed out the creeping charlie that you see here, along with dandelions, grass and thistle.

Plus - the fingerling potatoes are coming up. I won't post the picture here, as it's not much to look at. Additionally, the peas are going gangbusters - they're probably 3-4" tall by now.

At the pond, the dragonflies are back and doing their thing.

On Wednesday, I lamented the lack of ducks this year. So of course yesterday the pond was filled with ducks, including the just-arrived blue-winged teal (male and female), a pair of hooded mergansers, and the usual mallards and wood ducks.

Our next-door neighbor does not actually live in his house. However, because he has let his woods go even more wild than everyone else's woods, he has some interesting things growing. One is this mystery tree. It's tall but very spindly - right next to the entrance to the driveway.

This is a picture of part of a branch that came down in our last snow storm. The branch is on the ground, but obviously still connected to the tree. What this picture doesn't show well is that the flowers are actually more in upright racemes. Another plant to look up in Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. If not there, then in Trees and Shrubs for Northern Gardeners. Each is excellent.

Here's yet another shot of the wood anemone - this time with some flowers open. I know I posted one yesterday, but what a nice ground cover it makes.

The to-do list for the garden this weekend is short, as it will be raining. I will re-pot a few more tomatoes and peppers, and maybe start the watermelons, pumpkins and summer squash.

Comments

[cricketann]

I think it's a lesser crabapple tree. "Lesser" because look at those spindly, chicken-leg things on each flower!

[cricketann]

Or maybe a gooseberry. I'm not sure what a gooseberry is...but I think that's what it must be.

After looking around on the Internet I think it's an apple or a fruit. I especially saw similarity to the crabapple and the blackberry (but not the blackberry leaves).

[Talbin]

Thanks, Cricket. I've looked a lot, too. I think it's either in the apple or plum familiy, or maybe even the blackberry. The problem is, all those types of fruit trees have very similar flowers. I know it's not a gooseberry, because the tree itself is probably 20-25 feet high. I may never know.