{Our Cornus Kousa (Japanese Dogwoods) & Spiraea Cantoniensis (dbl Bridal Wreath Spirea)}

• March is yielding so many blossoms in our garden that it is hard to keep up with photos and postings. This week, since Saturday, it is rather wet and a lot colder too! But I got some shots from a week ago and some from Sunday. 
• Just between heavy showers, with wet blossoms and also some rain damage to our Cornus Kousa Flowering Dogwood and Cornus Florida.

• This photo is taken a week ago in the late afternoon with the sunlight just right. Huge blossoms as we selected varieties with pure white and large blossoms. This is a Cornus Florida Cloud 9.

• This is the tree, in our wood-garden. The beech tree in the back still wears its winter coat with the old leaves. They are the very last ones to produce new leaves, together with one late oak variety. 

• What a beautiful branch with flowers on! The sunlight is perfect for shooting such photos. These Cornus kousa trees do produce fruits in winter for squirrels and birds to feast on. You can find those Dogwood trees at Durio Nursery, just scroll down to Cornus kousa. Also at Woodlanders you will find different Cornus kousa varieties as you scroll down.

• Below I will show you an exotic double variety Cornus Florida Plena Alba, that we lost last year; the photo is from spring 2009...

• The creek runs right behind this double blooming dogwood and the azalea shrub behind it. 
• We have three bridges that do connect the garden around the house to our wood garden. We do live in a neighborhood that is called 'Holly Hills' and you can see that our property is on a slope, which makes the landscape more interesting.

• Now we crossed the creek and walked uphill towards our gazebo where we got three dogwoods. Two white varieties and a pink one. Not the pink you see in the center however, that is the {Our Cercis canadensis 'Apalachian Red' & Cercis chinensis 'Avondale'} from my previous blog. So why don't you partake in a Garden Tour from Book an Event with us? Coffee or tea with cake will be served inside the gazebo!
• The tall Cornus Florida is a native one and it came with the property. It is huge!

Lovely in front of our gazebo...

• The above photo I snapped on Sunday after lunch in-between thunderstorms with heavy winds. You can see the flower petals partly on the ground and the rain did also damage the blossoms. No longer pure white...
• Our pond is visible in the back as well. Pieter got so lucky for having mown the lawn on Saturday before the tornado and thunderstorms came. 
• Oh, I did have a  question in my comments about having to 'rake' a lot of leaves. Our John Deer lawn mower has a mulcher so all the organic material from grass and leaves is being recycled. 
• We never have raked up leaves, as those are the best nutrients that mother nature is giving to us. And what do you think who is raking the leaves up in all the natural woods? The deer and the squirrels? 
• Nobody is removing them from nature so why should we. It provides a perfect blanket as well, for all the bulbs and perennials that are dormant throughout winter. Further it keeps the moisture in the soil far better and thus creates a welcome buffer for dry spells. 
• Let's try for Going Green instead of bagging those leaves up and trashing them.

• Now we're inside the gazebo with its gingerbread, looking uphill to the house. The pink you see now, that is the other pink Cornus kousa 'Satomi' (pink Chinese dogwood) and available from the Durio Nursery, from the above link. That is the walkway for bringing the tray down to the gazebo with  breakfast; lunch or your coffee/tea. Sure, we can barbecue there as well and serve you a drink...

• This is the Cornus kousa 'Satomi' (pink Chinese dogwood) and another detail of its blossom.

Now let's have a look at the Spiraea cantoniensis 'Lanceata' or double Bridal Wreath Spirea. That one is available at Durio Nusery, see link above.         

Wet shrub from the rain on Sunday...

• Blossoms are really 'hanging' so heavy from the rain.

• Okay, let's end with some previous photos from last year without rain drops...

They are a perfect double Bridal Wreath Spirea indeed.