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This was after we had picked up the large branches. Pine tree litter covered the entire front yard, driveway and porch. It's still on the roof, so once I can find someone brave enough to go clean it off, I'll have to clean all of that up too.
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The way the wind has blown this year, I'm wishing I'd purchased stock in black plastic leaf bags. I've certainly had to fill a lot of them.
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The mess comes from three of these monsters on the west side of our front yard. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love their shade, but I hate their messiness.
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The sudden heat wave really forced the lilac into full bloom, so my lilac season will be rather short lived this spring.
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The blossoms smell delightful. They perfume the air all over the back yard. Which is nice when you live with two poopy dogs ;-)
Pick up sticks---blah! Sorry about the mess you got stuck with. And what a warm-up. We're certainly having the crazy weather lately.
ReplyDeleteLove the lilacs. I think mine got frozen out. I'll miss that fragrance out in the yard this year....
Sue, I love the fragrance, hate the suckers. Love/hate relationships seem to be my thing lately, huh?
DeleteI hate the mess after bad storms but we have 50 mph winds here all the time. I am constantly picking up trash that blows in from who-knows-where.
ReplyDeleteYour lilac is beautiful. I wish I had a spot to plant one but our yard is just too small!
Christy, we get a lot of wind, too. Sandy soil and wind, so everything dries out so quickly.
DeleteThat lilac is actually quite small, as trees go. It was a bush, I pruned it to tree shape years ago, and I love it.
I wondered about that. I have never seen a lilac "tree" before. I love it and may do that to ours at some point.
DeleteLangela, it just takes a lot of selective pruning. If you mess up, just wait a year and it will go back to being a bush by letting the suckers grow back out of the trunk. I remove them in the spring, and throughout the growing season.
DeleteWow, Mother Nature can be harsh! Your lilacs are beautiful! I bet they smell wonderful! Happy Gardennig! Mindy
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mindy....happy gardening to you too!
DeleteAck!!! Take ir back before she really zings you!!! You are a brave soul taunting Mother Nature like that! You got the heat- we got the cold. Some day maybe she'll let us enjoy a happy medium.
ReplyDeleteOh, I suppose she'll give me a good zing, Ed. I'm planting out some of my tomatoes today, two weeks early.
DeleteCrazy weather here too! It actually hailed yesterday for short while. The third picture of the lilac tree is beautiful. It almost looks like a painting!
ReplyDeleteTosh, it was crazy yesterday....snow back east, and us with temperatures 20 degrees above normal!
DeleteI do wish the lilacs would last longer. They have a reblooming variety now, I'd sure like to have that.
I won't mind cleaning up after wind but instead we had snow and sleet and frost again after 90 degree.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know, Jenny! isn't that just crazy? I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that our weather forecast for the next ten days is correct. It's supposed to get back down to 61 on Thursday, but back up into the 70s for the remaining days, and no lower than 41 at night.
DeleteI love that you made the lilac into a tree. It is so pretty that way. And Mother Nature sure has been unkind this year.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I think she was a stinker last year, too. Maybe she doesn't like us any more ;-)
DeleteHi! I am looking for advice from anyone!! lol At the recycle center where we got our wood chip mulch they had big white barrels. They plant veggies and flowers in them at the recycle center. They gave us two barrels. Bob cut them in two and rinsed them out. We plan to use soap and water on them tomorrow and then bleach as they had chemicals in them. The guy said use a little bleach. How much is a little! ha We thought after washing with soap and water we would put a gallon of bleach plus water in each half barrel which I figure probably holds about 25 gallon. I thought leave it sit a half hour and then rinse. Does this sound reasonable to use safely then for veggies do you think? Thank you for your thoughts! Nancy
ReplyDeleteNancy, I don't think you'd need nearly that much bleach. Probably a tablespoon or two per gallon would be enough. I would use about two cups of bleach per container myself...but I'm no expert! I think 5 minutes is how long it takes to kill germs, but half an hour (or even overnight) sure wouldn't hurt.
DeleteThanks for your advice Annie! Can I call you Wise One? lol Appreciate all your help! That is pretty heavy for dashhounds, isn't it. Our cocker runs on the small side as cockers go. She is about 23 lbs. Hope your weather stays nicer now for you. Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage
DeleteYes, that is way too heavy for mini dachshunds! To be minis, they must be under 12 pounds. Annie's backside weighs more than that :-) We did purchase them as minis, and they are papered, but they sure aren't minis! We love them to death though, and the cost to purchase them went to a good cause....into a college fund for the kids who were selling them.
DeleteHi Annie, I am so sorry for your bad weather and what it has done. Your lilac tree is just gorgeous! Do you have two dashhounds? Nancy
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nancy. Yes, we have two dachshunds, Annie and Otto. They are four year old brother and sister. They were supposed to be minis, but they didn't know that LOL! Otto weighs about 25 pounds and Annie is probably ten pounds heavier than that and looks like a seal! We think they're perfect though.
DeleteI park my car under some big old pine trees and HATE them. The needles get all in my car's engine, and all in my windshield wipers. I hate pine trees!
ReplyDeleteI'm also very jealous of your Lilac tree every year. In the South, they don't do so well. Mine is pathetic looking and I can't seem to fight off the powdery mildew. Yours is beautiful!
Laura, not to mention the pitch that get all over the cars. We park in the garage, but our kids visit and complain about the pitch that is impossible to remove.
DeleteGranny- those lilacs are absolutely beautiful! Sorry about the crazy weather!
ReplyDeleteMegan, I sure don't mind the heat, but I hate the high winds. You should have seen me scramble to get the four Minigold tomatoes into the house. I'm glad it hit while we were still awake, or the tomatoes would surely have been broken down by the wind.
DeleteHoly 91 degrees Granny!! We finally hit 80+ here in portland but 90? Yikes!! Love your lilac!! I have 3 Korean lilac bushes that are almost ready to bloom. I can't wait!!
ReplyDeleteHolly, at least we didn't get snow like they did back east!
DeleteMan, you need to leaf blow those pine needles into submission! How do u even clean them up? Sweep, blow or vacuum? :)
ReplyDeleteI live in a condo, can u tell? We don't do lawn work, just gardening. Lawn work seems more stressful and un-fun!
Amy T., when they're this bad, I rake and sweep everything into piles, and Mr. Granny shovels them into the can or bags. If they aren't this bad, we use the leaf blower. They still have to be raked out of the flower bed.
DeleteDoes your city require you to put the leaves in bags? Can't you just put your landscape debris in the blue trash cans and set them out? That's what we do!
ReplyDeleteSouthernruralroute, there is no requirement other than to put them in something. In fact, I had already filled the large garbage can (ours are black and we have just one) to capacity, as well as the smaller can. Everything else has to go into the bags.
DeleteLilacs are some of my most favorite flowers. The scent is divine and their cheery blooms are sure easy on the eye. They are not happy campers in my growing region though, so ever since I left central Washington I have had to do without. That is sure a stiff breeze you were getting!
ReplyDeleteKitsap, I didn't know you couldn't grow lilacs on your side of the state! Yes, we really got a few hard gusts. Not as bad as some of those 80MPH winds we've had in the past, but it was completely unexpected and caught me by surprise.
DeleteOur wind is like that all the time here on the coast and I hate it! I wonder how those tomato stems keep from breaking sometimes! I hope your weather is giving you a break today.
ReplyDeleteErin, it is literally giving me a break...I'm rained in! Of course, that means baking bread, cleaning the refrigerator and scrubbing the kitchen floor :-(
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