Thursday, May 11, 2017

First Blooms

Usually the first native shrub to bloom in the spring in Minnesota is a Pin Cherry or Prunus pennsylvanica.  The birds will eat the fruits if there are any. The trouble with being the first to bloom is that you can freeze.

It blooms just as the leaves are opening. 

Pin Cherries in bloom

We first noticed them popping out last Saturday North of us, and on Sunday and Monday ours began to bloom…it must have been warmer North of us!

It was a rough winter, especially the ice last December.  One of the Oaks bent over one of my Double Flowering Plums (Prunus triloba ‘multiplex’)…since it was stressed it is in full bloom when the others are still in bud stage. 

Double flowering Plum

The blooms are resting on an old piece of driftwood.

IMG_0865

Quick bloom before you die!

Our Trillium has one bud…in a few days it will be open.

Our lows at night are in the 30’s and the highs during the day in the 60’s.  Pretty normal weather for May.  We need rain. I finally heard the loons down on the lake.  The Ticks are out and a few mosqitoes too.  The Bluebirds are nowhere to be seen, many people report that they came too early and many froze…I hope not.  We hung up our Hummingbird feeder yesterday and will put out the Oriole feeder today.

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22 comments:

  1. Those first blooms are lovely. Thanks for the pictures. Also, thanks for your ever changing headers. All of them are beautiful and much appreciated each day.

    Shirley H.

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  2. The blooms are so delicate. I've seen one female Bluebird this spring. I saw the first mosquito yesterday. Wishing you a very nice Mother's Day.

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  3. Those flowers are so very pretty. We have quite a few frost warnings lately. Saw my first Baltimore Oriole yesterday. Have had orange slices out for them for over a week now. No hummingbirds yet but will put the feeder out soon.

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  4. I just put my tomato plants into the garden! I hope we are past the freeze stage here. Love your pretty blooms, and I also enjoy your header progression. Raining here today, I'll be walking in it. :-)

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  5. Beautiful blooms but is your plum tree going to die? Did it get crushed by a falling oak? Lucky you to have loons...love them.....we have few mosquitoes...I think I've had 2 bites in the 13/14 years I've been here but ticks are another story! I've already plucked one off of me and have a big swelling where it was but when I mow I spray Off with Deet on myself and my clothes....it's the only thing that I've found works against them. The dogs get Frontline Plus...ticks are very bad down here.

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    1. It is just bent over, we will have to wait and see if it croaks:)

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  6. Those pink plum blooms are so pretty. It's sad when plants bloom when stressed like that. Oh, the blue birds...we were so happy to have a pair build this year in a box not far from the garden. Babies hatched, and when I was in the garden could see the parents going in and out of the box. Two days ago I mentioned to Poppy that I had not seen the parents lately. He carefully opened the box and there were two dead baby blue birds. I felt like crying. They were still very young but had feathers and certainly should have survived. I can't imagine what happened.

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  7. Always exciting to see the first blooms of spring. The Crabapple trees are putting on a show here this year. So nice to see color after a long winter.

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  8. I have been wondering about the blue birds - I saw one one brief moment quite some time ago. There is no evidence of any nest building in their usual abode :( I hope they come back!

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  9. Oh gosh! I hope the bluebirds made it...what a loss, if they didn't!

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  10. I love this weather. Like it cooler, so the spring and fall are perfect temps for me. Ticks are one reason I am glad I don't live near the woods and wild grass anymore, but one can never get away from mosquitoes until it gets cold enough to kill them again--LOL!

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  11. I love it when the flowers and blooms come. Yesterday while riding I got to enjoy flowering Oregon Grape, Saskatoon berry bushes, and violets.
    You are having colder weather than us, seems strange that south can be colder.

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  12. You are moving right along in to spring, nice blooms.

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  13. I was about to "plant" my glass flowers out -they had been stored in the garage-when the rain began, cramping my style. Wish I could send you some of our extra rain.

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  14. Those blooms look very similar to our flowering cherry. Your daytime temperatures are decent, about the same as ours. We had about 4 days without rain, but it came down today in buckets some times. I'd gladly send you some!

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  15. I love the sound pf loons calling, What I don't care for are mosquitoes and ticks which fortunately here in town we don't have too many of but camping? That's another story.
    I hope you get rain soon.

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  16. It's very pleasant watching the signs of spring.

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  17. Such a beautiful photo... the blooms on the driftwood. Loons, eh? I hope I still get to see a couple on the lake near my house soon.

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  18. I wish I could have beautiful blooms like those at my house! Still cold there! We are beginning to warm up here in Kansas!

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  19. Those flowering plum blooms are gorgeous! Hope you don't lose the tree :(

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Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your comments! If you have a question I will try to answer it here. I no longer accept anonymous comments. All comments will be approved before posting...due to spammers...may the fleas of a thousand camels infest every hair on his body. Connie