Eagle Lake Nurseries Ltd.

Spring Blossoms

Think cheerful trees and shrubs for spring colour at the start of your gardening season!

Traditionally we imagine the pink clouds of flowering crabapples, and shimmering white apple blossom bursting from the pink-tinged buds of apple trees. Mayday, 'Amur' Cherry, 'Mary Liss' Pincherry and 'Schubert' Chokecherry all provide us with masses of white blooms in spring, while the 'Ethel' Pink Mayday displays fragrant, pale pink flowers.

For a smaller site in your yard consider an ornamental plum tree: 'Princess Kay' Plum produces deliciously fragrant, double white flowers in early May, while the little 'Muckle' Plum is covered in stunning pink blossoms. This tree is sterile and so will not produce fruit, a factor in common with 'Spring Snow' Flowering Crabapple - which, as you can tell from the name, has pretty white blooms.

There is growing interest in the use of pear trees as ornamentals, with good reason: stunning white blossoms in spring and beautiful, glossy green leaves in summer which turn golden-bronze in the fall. The fruit is tasty, too!

In England, hawthorns are known as 'May Trees' because they bloom in early May. Our varieties flower in late May or early June with 'Snowbird' blooming white, and 'Toba' Hawthorn producing pink flowers.

Spring flowering shrubs add welcome colour after the long winter. For pink blooms plant Double Flowering Plum, Russian Almond, Nanking Cherry or Purple Leaf Sandcherry. 'Northern Gold' Forsythia flowers a cheery spring yellow, and 'Bridalwreath', 'Garland' and 'Three Lobed' Spireas produce a tremendous display of white flowers on graceful arching branches.

A moist, sheltered site in your garden would be suitable for 'PJM' Rhododendron or 'Northern Lights' Azalea [the pink flowering cultivars are the hardiest]. These plants like an acidic soil so dig in a generous amount of peat moss before planting and use an acidic fertilizer such as Plant Prod Everacid 30-10-10.

Common Lilac and its many cultivars bloom in spring and early summer, in a range of colours from purples to pinks, and white. These are followed by the Preston lilacs, hyacinthifloras and Villosa lilac.

Finally, for a tough spot don't forget our native Saskatoon berry, whose tiny white frothy flowers are not only decorative but will produce tasty fruit for eating fresh, cooking or canning.

Caroline Fine
Eagle Lake Nurseries Ltd.