The Grounds at Orchard House

For Bow, the most exciting time of day is mealtime. No two meals are the same. Each is punctuated by the good things that turn up on the menu.

Strawberries and cherry tomatoes were both on the menu today.

Bow stopped to savor every mouthful.

Outside, it is still quite windy and cold, but the redbud has fully opened its blooms

The Weigela is blooming and starting to put for the green leaves that signal that soon the blooming will be over, as quickly as it began.

Pay no mind to the bee's bottom that is sticking out from one of the blossoms

And Orchard House is vacant again. I went over there and was shocked to see several trees had been felled without my permission. But the story of what befell the tenants is so complicated and sorrowful that I soon put my loss out of mind. I am not going to tell the tale that is going around, because this  is not a gossip column, but I will share some images from my inspection of the Orchard House grounds, which I think are beautiful in their own way, and may also tell a deeper story.

The apple tree is almost blooming at Orchard House

I was so happy to see that the apple tree at Orchard House is covered with many small blossoms. almost ready to open.

The wreaths on the apple tree at Orchard House

But even more unusual is the sight of the wreaths of twisted vine that the tenants left hanging on the apple tree.

There is also one of a pair of pear trees still left there, and it appears to already have  bloomed.

There are many beautiful flowers underfoot in the grass of the lawn.

Wood violets in the lawn at Orchard House

The two dogwood trees are giving off a whiter bloom than my one dogwood here at home.

And beside the dogwood, the tall phlox are already lushly blooming.

Many beautiful sights greeted my eyes as I walked through the grounds at Orchard House.

But the one sight that intrigued and at times even dismayed me were those ever-present wreaths, hanging from trees in surprising places.

What do those wreaths signify? I kept wondering as I went on my walk.

Also, images of randomly felled or uprooted trees in strange places disconcerted me. Was this one, still in bloom, uprooted by natural forces or made to give way by man for the sake of a path?

Can you see the uprooted tree, still in bloom?

Orchard House has a story to tell, I feel. If only I could properly interpret the clues.