GARDEN BLOGSNOBS

What's Wrong with this Picture ?
Answer Below

When I first started my garden blog back in February I did what any hospitable Southerner would do - paid a call on several blogs I found interesting and introduced myself. Well ! You would have thunk I committed a crime in Blogosphere with the responses I got . Holy Cow, Batman, what has happened to civility ? Isn't there more than enough room for a new kid on the block ? I was "put in my place" and responses such as " I don't have time to add you to my
list, or that's NOT the way things are done, " etc. were common.

I was amazed to find that I was but one of a handful of garden bloggers in the great Windy City of Chicago and that even our Chicago Tribune didn't have a blog. So when Garden writer Beth Botts of the Tribune started a blog she contacted me and Mr. Brown Thumb and did an article on us . Of course, Mr. Brown Thumb and I thought it was great since the Tribune has always had a very popular Home and Garden Section and we had our fifteen minutes of fame.

I won't mention the blogsnobs but I do want to thank those that have been so supportive and encouraging to a newbie such as myself : Thanks much, Mr. Brown Thumb, Annie in Austin, Kathy at Blogging from Illinois, Beth Botts, TheChicagoGardener of the Chicago Tribune, Beverly of In My Backyard, Christa at In the Garden Online, Rosemarie's Garden, Sissy from Got Serenity, Kylee from Our Little Acre, Shelia Lennon at Projo.com, and Old Roses at Garden Voices. Your support and encouragement means a great deal to me. I consider all of you my new garden buddies.

I was amused when I saw the garden above and ran home and got my digital camera. What's wrong with the picture ? Nothing if you're from Florida.

WHAT'S THAT TREE CALLED ?

Blooming All Over Chicagoland and In Zone 5 Gardens

The colorful purple leaves of the 'Forest Pansy' Redbud are beautiful all season.

"I want one of those trees, you know the ones you see blooming along the Lake, lavender-pink ?" is a frequent question I get . Cercis Canadensis . Redbud. That's what you want.

The redbud is a wonderful small ornamental tree reaching 15 x 15 feet in most gardens. Truth be told it is not a really long lived one, however, averaging about 15-20 years. Even though it says it will survive in Zone 4, in my experience it needs a rather protected site, even in Zone 5.

Legend has it that Judas Iscariot hung himself from the European species of this tree, thus it is sometimes referred to as " The Judas " tree. It's flowers can be eaten fried or tossed in salads . Cardinals are attracted to its seeds.

The Redbud needs a soil with lots of organic matter and does better if protected from windy, bitterly cold areas.

SAFE FROM APRIL'S FREEZE

Dwarf Weeping Crabapple

Here's one tree that was safe from late April's freeze -the hardy crabapple that graces my front garden . I got this beauty, which has bronze green leaves and deep pink flowers, at an end of the season sale for $50, a real bargain.

You'll be seeing a lot of these crabapples flowering all over Chicagoland and zone 5 gardens in the next few weeks and what a lovely sight it is.

As mentioned in a previous post, crabapples are king ( or queen as the case may be ) in zone 5.

MAY DAY

Moi : The Queen of the May

MAY DAY

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The Smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrops try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain ?

Sara Teasdale
( 1884-1933 )

My birthday, May 1st, is celebrated in many countries around the world. The ancient Celtic tradition marks the first spring planting. May boughs were hung on doors and windows and blooming branches were erected. The May Queen was crowned and there was dancing around the Maypole. The festival is actually derived from an ancient Roman spring festival of fertility.

It's also International Workers' Day, an important moment in the Astronomical calendar as it marks the end of the winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere and a popular day to protest.

Happy May Day everyone and Happy Birthday to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER DEAREST

JOJO'S OTHER FAVORITE PERSON


The warmth of April
in her smile
eyes filled with sunshine
A tender heart
a gentle hand
Like no other,
My sister, my friend

Younger by 364 days sister Linda has caught up with me again. Today we are both the same age and tomorrow I'll be one year older than her. My parent's had an ironic sense of timing !

Being close in age made us also close as sisters growing up. We were never far from each other. She was the shy, quiet one, I, mischievous .

Happy Birthday, Linda ! You are beautiful both inside and out. Love you.