It is now the end of April and most of the late-blooming ornamental cherry trees have finished their display for the year. Even so, let us watch them bow.

The City of Vancouver has planted 9,900 trees with the cultivar name of ‘Kanzan’, Prunus Sato-zakura Group ‘Kanzan’; it is also called ‘Kwanzan’. This is the greatest number of all ornamental cherry trees planted here. There is bound to be one near you, if you live in Vancouver. And it is the oldest cultivar read more

Using a burner phone, I was disappointed with my photos of plants in France. Only these are worthwhile:
An avenue of London plane trees (Platanus x hispanica) leads to the Palace of Versailles.

A tree in the Cercis genus gets attention through its bright pink flowers and lime green leaves.

Many male catkins hang below immature,still-yellow leaves on a pedunculate or European oak, Quercus robur, in the Tuileries Garden. Behind is a stand of horsechestnut trees, Aesculus hippocastanum, read more

A hedge is “fence or boundary formed by a dense row of shrubs or low trees.“ So says the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

I grew up in South Wales where every little row house, semi-detached house, single dwelling house, or even castle sported its own fence, often of bricks, railings, or plants.
The hedge idea continues. If it is to be a plant, how does one choose? Should the plant be evergreen or deciduous?

Now that we are in April, all the deciduous hedges are sporting buds, tiny leaves, and even read more

At the beginning of April I saw for the first time this yellow-flowering shrub from Japan: Japanese kerria, also known as Japanese rose. Another member of Rosaceae, the rose family, this shrub’s scientific name is Kerria japonica.

What a beauty!