About a week after I cut it down the bamboo started growing again. Then suddenly around the beginning of June leaves appeared. Long term I am not sure what we will do. Without the bamboo we like the openness and view of the arboretum. For the time being I may cut it down each winter and enjoy watching it grow each spring.
Here is a small collection of Grandma Fiana’s favorite flowers still blooming on the farm.
The Bamboo Maze is no more. Due to an invasion of nightly visitors it was cut down. Starlings by the thousands found the dense foliage a great place to sleep at night. The small area could not support that large number of sleepers so I was decided to remove the bamboo and let it grow from the ground up. With the bamboo gone we have discovered there is a great view of the garden and arboretum. We may not let the former maze fully recover.
It’s that time of year again when the trees get into the act of putting on color. The Carolina Silverbell and the Red Maple compete for space. The Ruby Chestnut tree blooms for the first time. It was raised from a seed. And of course the late tulips are still there.
We are just past that time of spring. When the trees are showing their colors and before the green takes over. It is a subtle, pastel, wonderful one week of the year. Then everything turns dense and green. Of course there are the tulips, floating in space.
With mid-spring the birds are beginning to return. I thought last year when I saw a Woodcock it was a one time event. But this spring it is back. Maybe we have a regular resident. The sitting duck is also back. It has yet to produce young.
Frost is still in the ground but the early Hyacinth push purple and blue. Other white flowers waste no time and go from flower to seed in a few days. The bee takes advantage of a warm sun.
We have had a couple of wonderful days. Glen and I drove north to see the snow geese. And I am attempting to image a few more birds. The Blue Birds are back and cooperated. This woodpecker got a few last bugs out of this Tree of Heaven before I cut it down. This winter I have declared war on Trees of Heaven and multi-flora roses. The Blue Heron struck a pose in the valley and gave me several impressionistic images.
I will post this ‘found art’ without further comment except to quote Glen: “Now we know where circuit boards come from.”
It’s that time of year again, when we celebrate late winter, or is it early spring, with the early small moments of flower in the cold brown of the almost thawing ground.
