Spring continues to trek on and it’s not stopping for no one! We are on the spring seasons last flowers as spring bulbs give way to a flurry of other spring favorites including Crab apples, Redbuds as you saw last week and of course Lilacs which are in full bloom right now and have been blooming for about a week.  Who doesn’t love Lilacs? They are famous for their signature fragrance that one bush can fill an entire yard with. I grew up in a yard that had many large lilac bushes and It was always a special time of year when the smell of the lilacs drifted through the yard on a warm sunny day. Lilacs are very easy to grow and come in three main colors white, this light purple above and dark purple. The are some others but they are just off colors of these main three. If you’re looking for a Lilac be sure you smell each color and make certain of the one you like because each one has its own fragrance. There are also lilacs that come in “double” blooms and “Dwarf” ones like Miss Kim and Dwarf Korean, these smell totally different from Common Lilac and bloom much later.

This is the blooms from the old Lilac in my yard. I’m not sure which variety this is but the blooms are not nearly as full as I remember the ones growing up ( like the one above) and it seems to have especially loose or “open” blooms this year which may have been that hard freeze we got.  I also noticed it comes into bloom a week later than all the rest of the ones in the neighborhood. The blooms may not be right but it does have that very signature smell that I like.

Another tree that is very popular this time of year for its blooms and smell are Crab Apple trees because they are loaded right now with thousands of blossoms that come in shades of pinks and white. There are earlier-blooming ones which have already completed blooming and later-blooming ones are still very colorful at this time. These above are the Prairie Fire variety. Crab Apples are another one of these very hardy easy to grow trees that you can find growing throughout the state.

Now here is a tree that you don’t see much around this area. This is a Flowering Dogwood that I am trialing in my yard to see if they can tolerate winters in Iowa. These plants are rated for zone 5 but are not known do well around here since temperatures get so low in winter. So this spring I decided to test this theory and give one a try. You can find Flowering Dogwoods everywhere in areas just south of us in such places as Kansas City and St. Louis. This is my first time seeing the flowers of Flowering Dogwood and I do really like the way the four petals come together. I did notice however, that they do not have a smell. This variety is supposed to turn pink as the flowers age. This is the first Spring for this tree and it hasn’t been through an Iowa winter yet so If you see me reporting on this next year you know it made it through next winter! If you’re considering trying this tree I wouldn’t plant it much farther north than Des Moines.

Apparently I’m not the only one giving Flowering Dogwoods a try. While in West Des Moines today, I was very surprised to find this pink Flowering Dogwood in front of a new store that just went up. Since the store where these are located is new, I’m not sure if they were just planted this spring or if they went in last year so they may not have been through a winter yet. I was very much a fan of the pink color of which ever variety this Dogwood is.This is the only other place so far I’ve seen these planted around the Des Moines area.

I’m on the 3rd mowing of the year and soon the 4th which is really fitting since It’s really starting to look more like summer each and every day with as the trees put on leaves like they are currently. Three-quarters of all species have leaves large enough to shade lawns. As one looks across the tree canopy of most neighborhoods there are enough leaves that trees look green and dense with the exception of a few late trees which may still have small leaves at this time.