Georgia Backyard Nature

Hardy Hawthorn

These delicate white flowers belong to the Hawthorn, the last fruit tree to bloom in spring. Bees are swarming the trees now, in fall the Hawthorns belong to the birds. Serviceberries and cherries produce fruit in late spring or early summer, but red Hawthorn berries, called Haws, don’t ripen until fall when there’s not much fruit around. In late October, the tree is swarmed by birds plucking the tasty berries.

When the leaves drop away in winter the reason for the Hawthorn name becomes obvious.  You can see it’s covered in spiky, dangerous-looking thorns, which are about 2 inches long.   In fact, it’s wise to take off the branches that are low to the ground so you won't inadvertently get tangled up with those thorns.

 

Hawthorns aren’t a common landscaping tree here in Georgia so they’re hard to find.  Luckily, I now have two—a lush Washington Hawthorn in the backyard that my landscaper found and a sapling Winter King Hawthorn in the front. This is the first year the Winter King has bloomed which is a big relief. I ordered the tree two years ago from an out-of-state nursery and it was shipped as dormant, bare root stock. I wasn’t sure it would survive, but surprise—the Winter King is thriving.

All those blooms mean a bumper crop of fall berries. Even though other trees have more brilliant fall foliage, seeing Cardinals and Waxwings nimbly navigating those thorny branches and gorging on the scarlet berries makes the Hawthorn the best fall tree in the garden.

 

Glorious Grancy Graybeard

This glorious puffy cloud of  is the Grancy Graybeard in full bloom! Known also as a Fringe tree, this native plant thrives in woodlands from Pennsylvania to Florida and west to Texas and Arkansas.  The name comes from the spiraling feathery blooms, which resemble a gray beard.  It’s a small tree, growing only to about 20 feet, which attracts insects while flowering with a light fragrance. 

 

When I was a little girl, my family always took a trip to the Smoky Mountains in springtime. I  remember what a thrill it was to see the distinctive white haze of the Grancy Graybeard in the woods. Seeing my very own Grancy Graybeard in bloom always brings back  happy memories of those trips.

 

Crafty Cardinal

Bright and early this morning, I spotted a female cardinal flying to the Yaupon Holly tree next to the basement door with nesting material in her beak--twigs, grasses, and what looked like birch bark. She perched on the tree, looked around to make sure she hadn't been spotted, then ducked into the dense foliage to work on her nest.

That was a very lucky break because the Yaupon was scheduled for a massive pruning today.  Yaupons can get up to 25 feet high so I usually prune this one before nesting season to control its size. Somehow, time got away from me and that didn't happen so I asked a friend to do the pruning today. There was no sign of a nest yesterday.

 

I'm happy I spotted the Cardinal so pruning could be put on hold immediately. I would have felt awful if I'd destroyed her nest. It's a really good lesson, though--removing and pruning trees in nesting season is not a good idea. Now the mother Cardinal is hard at work crafting her nest, but I wonder--was today just the random day she chose to get started or did she know her perfect spot would disappear if she didn't get to work quickly?

 

 

Cascading Chokeberry Tree

I love the way Nature cascades spring-flowering trees to give us a couple of months of beauty. Here in Georgia the first to bloom is the Bradford Pear. As that tree fades, the other fruit trees--Cherries, Crabapples, Peaches, and Plums--burst into bloom. Then it’s time for the Mayhaws and Serviceberries. Those trees have now lost their blooms, so it’s the Canada Red Select Chokeberry’s turn to shine.

 

This chokeberry variety is a fast-growing native tree that reaches only 20-25 feet high. In Spring it sprouts bright green leaves followed by racemes of lovely white flowers.  After the blooms fade, the leaves turn a deep maroon for the summer. Chokeberry blooms attract butterflies and bees and the small red fruits that follow are a favorite of birds and wildlife.

 

The Chokeberry blooms signal that the spring-flowering tree season is almost over, but there’s one more yet to go. Stay tuned for the lovely Hawthornes!

Sensational Serviceberry Trees

If you're looking for a hardy tree that's sensational in all four seasons and attracts birds, the Serviceberry is the answer.  In spring, clusters of delicate white flowers cover the tree followed by bright fruit that birds love. In fall, the lush green leaves of summer turn to striking gold and red.  In the dead of winter, shapely branches lend interest to an otherwise bleak landscape.

 

There are many varieties of serviceberries. The pictures above are the blossoms of the Princess Diana serviceberry.  The Princess Diana is about 20 feet high after twelve years. It’s thrived despite being mauled by a beaver two years after I planted it.

These are flowers of the Autumn Brillance Serviceberry. I'm so excited because this is the first year the trees have flowered, even though they're the same age as the Princess Diana.  The two Autumn Brilliance didn't do well in the first location. The ground was too hard and dry so I transplanted them about 8 years ago. The trees took off but the new location was too shady. Now they're tall enough for the upper branches to get more sun.

 

 

 

 

Serviceberries aren't that common here in Georgia, but they should be. Every yard needs one of these versatile trees. The birds agree with me, too.

 

 

Pollen Problem Update

Oh my! I was suffering with allergies yesterday when the pollen count was over 4,100 (anything over 1,500 is considered extremely high). Today it's a whopping 8,000+.  The poor Heron has to fish in a sea of the yellow stuff. We're expecting rain later today and that should clean the air, but until then I'm staying indoors!

Pollen Problem

If you have pollen allergies and live in Georgia, you're probably miserable. That's because the pollen count leaped from 140 a week ago to over 4100 today. Yes, 4100--it's not a typo. Anything over 1500 is classified "extremely high". The picture above is the pollen that accumulated on my screened porch floor in less than 24 hours.  I used the Swifter and vacuum about 3PM yesterday. That's bad!! 

Most of the pollen is from trees.  Flowering trees like cherries and crabapples and are in bloom now, but the hefty amount of pollen is mostly from those that aren't as obvious--oak, sweetgum, birch, pine, sycamore, and mulberry. There is so much pollen that there's a wide band of the noxious dust around the lake's edge.

I have itchy eyes, a raw throat, and feel totally lethargic, but I'm not alone. Yesterday there was a crowd around the allergy medication at the grocery. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow so that should clean the air but it can't be soon enough. Even though we humans are having a tough time, the bees are in heaven!!

Mayhaw Magic

 

These white Mayhaw blooms don't look like much, but there's Mother Nature's magic at work here.  For a few years, I thought the Mayhaw was dead, but it rebounded and flowered for the first time this Spring.

I ordered two Mayhaw trees about seven years ago to put along the edge of the lake. Mayhaws are native to the swamps of the deep South so they thrive in boggy places. They also produce a delicious fruit that can be made into jelly. I didn't plan on making jelly--I wanted Mayhaws because they attract birds and animals.

When the Mayhaws arrived, they looked sad--dormant bare-root stock, only about two feet high. Even though I'd never had much success with bare root plants, I dutifuly planted them. They sprouted leaves so I had hope. Unfortunately Georgia was in a dought at the time and one died after several months. This one limped along for a couple of years but never thrived. Then the beaver moved into the lake.

The furry pest didn't eat the Mayhaw, he drowned it when he created a little pond in my backyard. The Mayhaw disappeared from sight for over a year. The water eventually receded and the next summer a little sapling emerged where I'd planted the Mayhaw. I couldn't believe the tree had survived, but I put edging around it and watched it grow. Last year I was so excited when I identified the leaves as those of a Mayhaw.

So after seven hard years for this little tree, it's ten feet tall and blooming. It's obviously a tough tree, but there's also got to be a little magic at work, too.

Check out http://www.mayhaw.org/ for more information on Mayhaws.

 

Pretty Peach

 

Since Georgia is the Peach state and Atlanta seems to have overused Peachtree in naming streets, you’d think that every yard in Georgia would have a Peach tree. Not so! Flowering Cherry, Crabapple, and Pear trees are much more plentiful. That’s a shame because Peach trees have pretty pink blossoms in Spring and actually produce fruit. 

 

My tree is loaded with delicate flowers and each one will become a luscious peach. Unfortunately, I won’t get a single one. As soon as they ripen, the deer pilfer every peach--one day they’re green, the next day they’re gone. Deer even know how to shake the tree so the ones on top fall to the ground. Here’s a picture of a peach thief caught in the act.

It’s a good thing that I planted my Peach tree because it seemed fitting for a Georgia backyard. If feasting on peaches from my own tree was the reason, I’d be a very disappointed gardener.

Southern Sunset

Today was a wonderful day--clear blue sky, warm, and calm. I worked in the yard most of the day, getting the birdbath drippers set up, pruning, and transplanting shrubs and flowers. After a day in the garden, what's better than relaxing with a brilliant Southern sunset?