Gardener's Diary : Forsythia shrubs usher in Spring

Forsythia shrubs usher in Spring.

I live in a home built in 1929 and share my backyard with a butternut walnut tree and a massive white pine that dominates over boundaries and shelters everything in it's shadow. Our first sign of Spring is the forsythia shrub that towers over the fench in a huge nest of twigs.

Every season, days are spent raking, pruning, tending to the garden so this year I'm documenting it's evolution in a series of images. Looking out my bathroom window, forsythia burst echoes are a sign of things to come.



The Lilacs start on may 15th and four varieties melt into each other and ensure the sweet smell of blossoms until mid-June.

The butternut walnut tree spits fuzzy flowers that stains everything it touches with a dark eggplant dye. It sheds all summer and when the nuts start to ripen, a squirrels' feast begins.
Early morning chomping brings a spitting of the walnut's sticky outer coating on the back deck and mangles the grass struggling to grow below.



And so begins the sweeping days of summer in an effort to keep sticky walnut pieces off our bare feet.

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