Horticulture

We had rain overnight. This morning was warm but muggy and overcast, feeling very much like rain. By about 2pm it became apparent that the window of opportunity was going to stay open for at least a couple more hours so I went out.

The lilacs are in full bloom. The streets with lots of lilac bushes are a spectacular sensory experience, visual and olfactory.

I noticed these in the extreme southwestern area of that part of Como Park that is east of Lexington, which is to say, not the picnic and zoo part of the park but the part of the park that is near the lake.Upon consideration I doubt seriously if city staff is responsible for this display as these are nowhere near either maintenance headquarters or the more traditional show areas of the park. Rather I suspect that this is the result of some sort of amateur horticultural experiment by one of the neighbors. What we have here is branches which produce white lilacs grafted onto the bushes which produce the traditional lilac colored flowers. I examined the bushes closely enough to know that there are not separate white producing bushes. Those white flowers and the lilac colored flowers are both part of the same plant.

In other horticultural news our apple tree has produced blossoms! Not very many blossoms, but blossoms.This is significant because this particular tree has only produced one apple that we are aware of in the 15 or so years that it has been part of the back yard scene. Although not exactly covered with blossoms the tree this year unmistakably has what Wireless correctly described as "dozens" of blossoms.This closeup was taken by Wireless.

Here she is leaving, taking her bike with her on the new bike rack, a Saris Bones RS. We watched the installation video and then installed the rack on her car and I must say that rack is absolutely rock solid.If the results are as successful as I think they most likely have to be I will be offering a qualified endorsement of this product. It looks to be as good as advertised.