Ohio Spring 2014 Crabapple Japanese Maple

This past Winter has taken it's toll on most of us this year. I am still counting my losses. Have done some replacing so far. My conifers look to be ok as our my trees, but I think I have a tremendous amount of loss with my Heather although I am going to give it a couple more weeks before replacing it. That will be a massive job although I have replaced a few in the back.

Malus Purple Prince AKA Crabapple, finally blooms here in Ohio. Pruned out 1/3 of this tree last year as it was so thick with berries the branches were on the ground and it was difficult mowing. After flowering I will prune out some of the lower limbs on the branches again this year.

We have almost nothing blooming here after our Winter and things are just starting to leaf out. The Acer palmatum Fireglow is starting to leaf out as are the Ninebarks to the left and the Hydrangea to the right.

The Iris are coming up well and will start their blooming later this month. Everything should be much further along like the Iris are but only a few other things are growing fast. The Yorkie from the dog museum highlights this area.

I added this Fothergilla Mt Airy last Fall to the gardens and I love what I see with it's start to the season.

The Hydrangea Limelight. I have two of these in the yard. This particular one looks like those are new blooms on it but those are leftover from last year, the other one the blooms are typical and showing burn on them from the seasons.

The Grape Hyacinth are up and blooming and adding a little bit of color into the yard this Spring. Since there is so little of that to be seen I had to get a photo. I'm spending my time now waiting a couple weeks if I can hold out and see what all I need to replace. Not only has Spring taken forever to arrive but with so much lost and appears lost, we in the North are using up even more of our gardening season.

Snow Photos in January in Ohio

The Winter of 2014 is one making records. We are so far past the amount of snow we should have, let alone the rigid freezing weather making history in this area. The whole country has been affected but the Midwest especially so with fresh snow coming down again as I write this.

Photos of the snow are always beautiful to take and view while it's still white and pristine. For me it just keeps me in and doing things about the house that need doing.

Decided to redo the floors in a couple of the bedrooms. The laminate choice here is a little lighter with the dark areas to tie everything together with the furniture. As you can see I keep a few different Yorkies in here.

I love the laminate choice here for my bedroom. The nice thing about both these is that they have a little texture to the laminate that is sorely lacking in most laminate.

Ohio Gardens in December 2013 Fall Colors

Winter hit Ohio early this year with snow on the ground in October. Without any doubt, our weather continues to be strange in some manner each year. Thankfully it was a great gardening season this year and I can only hope for the same next year.

The beautiful Acer Palmatum Crimson Queen with some of the burgundy Mums around her and of course the little girl Yorkie statue peeking between.

The yard is always shockingly bare when all the perennials are cutback to go into the Winter season. The Japanese Maple Fireglow stands out with the Hydrangea Tardiva showing their lovely yellow Fall colors and I am so glad that I changed to all the flowering shrub to add the Winter interest for me.

The beautiful Ninebarks. Although these are burgundy year round, showing Diablo and Center Glows here, the color holding throughout the seasons, they intensify some in the Fall.

Hydrangea Limelight on left with Hydrangea QuickFire on right and the Cotinus Golden Spirit in the center. The Cotinus (Smoketree) is golden all season, but enhances with red into the Fall. Hopefully this backline of shrubs along with the others back here really takes off next year with growth.

The Picea Abies Reflexa along with the Viburnum Autumn Jazz, starting to show her Fall colors from behind.

Some more Ninebark Diablo's on the other side of the yard. I love these beauties. I do have some Spirea's in between there but moved them forward right before the photos and most of the leaves dried up on them. I found that the Ninebarks tend to be more weepers and because of that had to move forward some shrubs more than I originally had them.

The Hydrangea Pinky Winky on left and another Hydrangea Quickfire on right. Quickfire always has outstanding Fall color, more so then any other Hydrangea's that I have.

The beautiful Acer Griseum Paperbark Maple showing her outstanding Fall color. You don't get it long, around a few weeks but it's a nice bonus on top of the outstanding bark of this tree.

Not to forget some of the perennials. Hosta Brass Ring is one of the most outstanding to show the color change.

A beautiful Orchid a neighbor brought me down recently. Not the best situation here for inside plants but I'll enjoy it's lovely blooms for the time being. Of course you can see a couple of the other Yorkie collection items in this photo. Hope you all have some wonderful holidays.