Flowering Trees

 

When I was road testing the mower the other afternoon, I noticed several of the trees in the yard in bloom. From the top, Lilacs - those in the photo are from two different trees. They have a very pleasant aroma. I picked those to take in the house. There are two other types on the property, a white one and another purplish color one. The white one is not very healthy for some reason, the other one is doing well but blooms at a much later date.

The middle photo is from the aptly named Big Leaf Magnolia. The leaves are close to 2' long. The tree is relatively small but I think that's mostly a result of being in the shade of a couple of very large oak trees. The oak trees are probably over 200 hundred years old. One of them in the row by the railroad tracks came down a few years ago and I counted 200 rings before I quit counting. 

The bottom photo is a Cucumber Tree Magnolia, so named because the seed pods resemble cumbers when hanging on the tree.

The Magnolias and lilacs I've planted since moving here. The different varieties of Magnolias blossom over a 6 to 8 week period every spring, depending on the weather. All the trees are kind of a pain in the ass to mow around, but the beauty adds a lot to the landscape as well as having a cooling effect in the summer. I was up in Northern Minnesota a few years ago and the trees all looked stunted - easily explained by the short growing season and the rocky soil, but I was glad to get back to Indiana and see proper hardwoods.

While I was finishing up servicing the mower the other day, the Missus' sister showed up with a bunch of "treasures" from her late husband - not sure how they ended up here because I know I didn't put in a request for them. In addition to this stuff, Surly brought a bunch of wood from her when he came down Sunday that I specifically remember saying I had no interest in. Since I'm having troubles with the chest and eyesight, I figured I should start downsizing. Apparently, I was overruled. I've got no idea what's in all of the coffee cans, tubs and metal organizer bins but I'll have to decide what to do with all that stuff soon. I don't want it in the garage.

It's always something.