Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

Our journey East of Eden takes us through some other famous gardens besides the garden of Eden and the garden-city of the new Jerusalem.  This week in the church year we commemorate Jesus passing through the Gethsemane where he prayed for us and was betrayed, and the garden tomb, where he defeated death and appeared to Mary Magdalene, who supposed Him to be a gardener.  The world around us is filled with images of death and resurrection, not least of which is the simple act of planting a seed or bulb.  Our Christian hope, put simply, is that one day we will be planted, and rise again.  "O Death, where is your sting?  O Hades, where is your victory?....Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"

Will the real daffodil please stand up!

Here is the picture I should have posted yesterday.  Note to self:  all yellow flowers are not daffodils!

"The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la"

I hope somebody gets my G&S reference....anyway the daffodils are up after (according to my bride) being absent the last few years...we don't know why.  Taking a break I suppose.  I think they look rested, don't you?

Apple Blossoms

It got down to near freezing last night, but I think our yard escaped the frost, and the apple blossoms will be OK for now.  We have high hopes for our little orchard (two apples and a peach) and don't want to lose what few apples we are likely to get with such young trees.  Pictured is our Zestar (the Honeycrisp hasn't bloomed yet).

Raspberries

The raspberry canes are now starting to put out leaves on the 2nd year growth.  The canes that bore fruit last year die and will be pruned away soon.  For the first time since we started the patch it looks like we might not get a very good crop.  Seems like we didn't get many new canes last year, so there won't be many bearing fruit this year.   It's still early, so I may be wrong (I hope), but that would be a big disappointment, because raspberries are the favorite of the Nyhus household, and have been very prolific.

That's why they're called Strawberries

We haven't been very successful strawberry growers.  This year is our  fourth season and we haven't gotten more than a few pints of small misshapen berries.  The year we planted them we got maybe one berry, but we didn't expect much.  Our expectations were high the next year (2010 I think) but a frost came through at flowering that made that year a loss.  Last year we got enough to pick, but the fruit was small.  We think perhaps we let the vines get too thick, so late in the season Lynn thinned out the stand and made walkways.  Earlier this week I put down straw in between the "rows".  This might be the last year for the stand if it doesn't work out.  I might be inclined to try again with new plants and a new location in the garden.

April showers bring.....

Mayflowers!   Except that those pictured were brought by March showers, seeing as there aren't any April showers yet.   These little beauties grow on the edge of our property, having been planted by our neighbor's father many years ago, and the patch has spread nicely to both sides of the property line.  I don't know the botanical name of these, but our neighbor, Ollie, calls them Mayflowers, so that is good enough for me..