Blooms

Working in the garden has been an absolute delight as immediately adjacent are three apple trees and a humongous hedge of lilacs - all in their glorious full-bloom.

You'll have to click on this photo for a better look

 

The panoramic photo doesn't really do justice to the view - the rise in the turf marks the location of the ancient farmhouse that stood on this site.  Beneath is the crumbling and rocky rubble stone foundation.  A refuge filled with countless voids that are a wintering location for the resident snakes.  A hibernaculum. 

In any event, one of the early settlers of this place planted three apple trees of indeterminate variety.  The fruit is edible and makes for fine table fare if you like smaller tart apples for apple sauce and pie filling or picked and enjoyed fresh.

The tree on the left and the one in the middle are positively ancient and gnarly.  They've got to be more than 100 years of age.  The one on the right is not quite as old and is the best producer of those small tart apples.

The lilacs (also planted by an early settler) have grown into an impenetrable hedgerow that is habitat to the hummingbirds and other migratory song birds.  They also provide thermal cover to the occasional pheasant that overwinters in our yard.

And the blossoms this time of year are a short-lived - yet an absolute delight to enjoy.

 

IMHO - our ancestral lilacs rock......