Imagining spring - just weeks away?

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 397, 30 July 1991, Page 11

Imagining spring - just weeks away?

by

Bea

Barnes

Imagine a clear blue sky, warm sun and a gentle breeze. Stretch | the imagination a little further to a froth of pink cherry blossom against the blue sky, golden daffodils and narcissus nodding in the breeze and the perfume of a newly mown lawn. All this and more is now only a few weeks away so don't despair if your mossy lawn is half under water and your garden is wearing the very much bedraggled look of winter. You haven't a cherry tree in your garden to frame against a clear blue sky? Well now is the time to plant one. Even the tiniest garden can be much enhanced by the addition of a flowering tree in spring time. The little prunus cyclamina only grows to about 3m and its pendulous branches are clothed in spring with clusters of pale pink flowers. Another dainty flowering cherry is named "The Geisha". The single rosy pink buds are just beginning to open, seemingly undeterred by all this heavy rain. Another of the smaller varieties is Prunus shimidsu sakara sometimes called asahibotan. The very lovely pale pink double flowers appear in October and the tree has rich autumn foliage. It grows up to about 6m with a spreading head. Prunus ' kanzan' has always been a firm favourite with its wealth of rich double pink blossoms. This is a tall upright tree growing to 10m or more, so you need space for this one.

Prunus "accolade' is a nice tree. Its spreading branches carry rich pink flowers in pendulous clusters in the early spring. Later blooming perhaps but equally lovely are the flowering crab apples, the malus varieties. Some of them are more noted for their gorgeous display of brilliant fruits in the autumn, with the added bonus of the crab apple jelly which can be made from them. Malus 'profusion' is noted for its great display of deep red and slightly fragrant flowers with rich coppery foliage. It is not a large tree, seldom exceeding 4m. It does better if it can be sited out of the full force of the wind. Malus 'ballerina' is quite outstanding with its masces of red buds opening to frilly pink flowers in early spring. If you are interested in the fruits of the autumn for jelly making then choose one of the varieties known more for the lovely colourful fruits they bear. Perhaps Malus 'JackHumm' or Wright's Scarlet'. I often think it is a pity when people say they will not grow deciduous trees because the leaves make a mess when they fall. True, deciduous trees do shed their leaves entirely in their season unlike evergreen trees which also shed them but effect the change gradually. We recently had to clear

all the little hard leaves of the mountain beech from our guttering. These dead. leaves are very hard and take months to break down. The bare branches of a tree glittering with a coat of frost or snow in winter have a beauty all their own and who would miss the first green leaves gently unfolding to tell us spring is here? All the glorious colour of autumn is the changing of the leaf colour before they are shed from the tree and the fallen leaves make

wonderful leaf mould to enrich the soil. The brilliant red of cotinus americanus is a wonderful sight in autumn and the maple like leaves of the liquidambers can show a spectrum of colour from reds through to purples and golds. The lovely soft yellow of robinia 'trisia' makes a welcome sight in spring turning to a greenish yellow in full summer. The leaves remain on the tree until well into the autumn, a mass of pure gold. Not

too tall; a tree, about 6m, with a head that will spread almost as far. For a smaller tree try acer negunda 'kelly gold' the golden foliaged form of the North American maple. It has an abundance of rich golden foliage throughout the growing season and will grow to about 3m with a spread of 2m.There are so many lovely trees to choose from it is impossible to mention more than a few. Let's all plant a tree this season.