Friday, March 18, 2011

Spring is in the Air!

Thank goodness for the Bradford Pear! This small tree with its sweet white flowers is one of the first things to bloom in my part of Texas. It greens up, the tiny clusters of flowers bloom.....and then the flowers go away. The tree stays green but I miss the profusion of white.



I had a Bradford Pear in my side yard, but unfortunately it met its match in some evil bug that spun big pouch-like webs over the limbs. These bugs were all over the place -- few varieties of trees were immune (fortunately our oaks were!) You could see the webs on trees all over town. We tried to save our Bradford, but nothing helped and we eventually had to have it removed. It saddens me every time I look at where it was; it was such a pretty little tree.


But, the Bradford Pear is blooming everywhere right now and it does my heart good to see them! They are like dots of clean, white glory where there has only been the gnarly, witchy looking bare branches of trees during the winter.


And the pansies and petunias and such! They are starting to appear in street medians and entrances to subdivisions. I love all the colors!


Spring is almost here! The weather keeps changing from week to week but the days are getting warmer and the flowers are starting to bloom!


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I have recently joined the EtsyBloggers team and one of the fun things to do is to participate in a bi-weekly Blog Carnival. The current topic is titled "A Touch of Spring Fever" and I chose to write about the first signs of spring that tell me that winter is finally over. Everyone posts the links to their blog in the comments section of the Blog Carnival post -- so you are welcome to click on them and enjoy the posts! And be sure to leave comments on each if the spirit moves you! 

Happy Spring!!!

 

11 comments:

Lulu Grey said...

Those trees are so pretty. We aren't there yet, here in PA, but the Forsynthia are starting to bud and that is a sure sign spring is here!

Deanna said...

Very pretty! I wish we would have some buds here. I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with the 50 degree weather and sunshine for now. :)

Patti said...

What gorgeous sights! Thanks for sharing your early spring. It will be much later for us...May at least!

TiLT said...

So pretty! i can't wait until we start to see green here!

Memories for Life said...

Beautiful trees! We have a tree with white flowers in our front yard too...but not quite sure what kind.
And pansies are one of my fave flowers :)

Miss Hillbilly said...

Send some of that color this way!

Eclectic Design Choices said...

We had a really bad webworm outbreak a few years ago in the metroplex. It really hurt many of the trees. I'm sorry you lost your Bradford pear. Don't let that experience keep you from planting another. If you ever have trouble with that again, a really good product to try is Bt. You should mechanically break open as many webs as you can put a tear into before spraying the Bt. (This is not a chemical but a naturally occurring bacteria that controls this insect.)

Thanks for sharing your wonderful spring images. While I'm not part of your blog ring, I did a spring related garden blog post earlier this week, http://eclecticdesignchoices.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-your-garden-ready-for-spring.html .

Anitra Cameron said...

How beautiful they are! Do they set edible pears, too? We live in the NW, and when I was a kid we had 80 acres of apples and pears, but I don't think I've heard of Bradfords. Is the fruit as wonderful as the blossoms?

Welcome, Spring! is right!

storybeader said...

we have the same trees all over Lawton, Oklahoma. You must be nearby! When they come out, you know it's spring! {:-Deb

Alice's Owl said...

What amazing and beautiful trees. They are just stunning :-). I am sorry you lost your tree in your yard- so sad.

We have trees with beautiful white flowers similar to those here, but they have not started to bloom yet (they are forecasting snow still for next week, so it's a bit early still :-) ). I have been thinking about them for a month and how I can't wait!!!

I also love the Pansies! A sure sign of spring-- such delicate looking flowers and yet so strong!

Happy Spring!

Judy Nolan said...

Sarah, your magnolia trees are beautiful. Our next door neighbor has one, but it is a little early here in Iowa for the blossoms to appear.

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