Lilacs, Apple Blossoms, and Bird House Gourds

Lilacs have a short season, but they are so beautiful and the smell will carry you away.

Always a treat.

And now for a 

few apple blossoms.

If I can keep the ground squirrels 

from eating the little apples,

then I will have some good

eating in the fall.

This is a five way apple

with five different varieties grafted

onto one tree.

And now a bird house gourd.  I planted these a few years ago in the garden and got a bumper crop of gourds.  This spring I put a hole bit on my drill and voila--bird house.  I actually put up three of them.  One in the Princess Tree, one in the Redbud tree and one on the garden fence.  The ones hanging in the trees are more romantic, but the one on the garden fence is the one that the birds started to build a nest in.

God has a sense of humor.

So long for now from Grants Pass Real Estate.

chuck

Blackberries are the bane of real estate

All over Southern Oregon Real Estate you will find blackberries growing (like the one pictured here). Most people say, 'Oh, there are the Oregon blackberries.' Not so. The widely spread blackberries are actually a domestic berry that has been spread by birds conveniently with fertilizer attached. They grow very well and are very tasty. However, the birds are not discriminating on where they plant them. They put them wherever they can sit on something for a few minutes. Fences, flowers, trees all have blackberries growing in them and around them.

The actual Oregon blackberry (pictured here) has a different leaf pattern with a serrated edge and a different berry that is smaller and has a different sweeter taste. The canes are not as vigorous as the domestic berry and they are not nearly as wide spread as the domestic berry.

Years ago we bought our first home in the country. When we moved in, the back yard had a patch of domestic blackberries that was 40 feet wide, 100 feet long and 12 feet high. I took a chain saw to them and cut them down and burned them up. Then I dug up the roots and discovered that there was a bulbous root about as big as my fist about six inches down. I cut this off and burned it as well, leaving only the thin roots that continued down from there. After that I planted grass, and grapes and raspberries and garden where the blackberries had been. My neighbor cut down his blackberries too, but neglected to dig up the roots and his blackberries came up bigger than ever having been pruned as it were.

One of the best things about spring is Iris. They are a lovely addition to any real estate. Easy to care for, a multitude of colors, and now there are reblooming iris that bloom in the spring and again in the fall. What a treat.

So long from Grants Pass Real Estate.

chuck