Snow Falling on Cherry Blossoms

" All human claims to the landscape were superseded, made null and void by the snow. The world was one world, and the notion that a man might kill another over some small patch of it did not make sense.”

                                                                                                                    David Gutterson-Snow Falling on Cedars

It just doesn't seem to make sense to me, to see snow falling on the blooming cherry trees. It's gotten close before as the latest I have ever had measurable snow fall at Illahe was March 31st.  But here we are in mid April and I'm drinking a warm cup of coffee and watching large flakes smother the garden with a blanket of white. I have complained of bumper cherry crops in the past because the cherries that I cannot possibly harvest often end up on filling the bulb pots, the masses of red eventually start to ferment and attract yellowjackets which is annoying in the late summer. This year I doubt I'll have to deal with such issues. It's the peak of the cherry bloom and it's 33 degrees, an inch or so of heavy wet snow covering everything and not a pollinator in site. So for the record, this marks the latest snow fall I have ever seen in the past 15 years I have been at illahe. 

The rock garden was just starting to wake into bloom.

Fortunately the cold greenhouse affords some level of protection and the bulbs are still blooming away. Some even seem to appreciate the cold, as opposed to the sunny days where it rapidly hits 80 degrees plus in the greenhouse. 

The Fritillaria biflora x purdyi hybrids are starting into bloom now. 

Scilla vincentii is a gem in the genus

Peaonia brownii in bud on a chilly, snowy April morning

The Fritillaria biflora x purdyi hybrids in the second and third generations 

show quite a bit of vigor and increased bloom per stem. 

                                                                 

One of the more unique Fritillaria hybrids we are working with. 

Hoping to offer this one in 2" pots year around soon. Trust me you want this 

one in your rock garden.

I hope the weather moderates, and the killing in Ukraine stops. I'm not sure how to deal with all the insanity in the world, with everything going crazy from wars, to weather insanity, runaway inflation and supply chain shortages. In this craziness I do recognize how lucky I am to have a greenhouse filled with flowers to go and admire and share with humanity when I can. 

Snowed in Salem,

Mark