One Single Tree

We wouldn't see this tree if it weren't on a busy street.  And being on a busy street, the setting is a mismatch for its glorious shape and intense floral display.  It wants to be in a rural setting or on the escarpment. The lone Cypress tree on the Monterey Coast near Carmel is an example of perfect alignment.  On the other hand, this tree on Ontario Street near the QEW is easily accessible with hardly any travel involved.   Here are the 10 most magnificent trees in the world - the only dilemma is that to see past the Lone Cypress you have to answer a survey.  This is the first time I've experienced this. So I'll send you to Wikipedia instead - here.

Did Mother's Day Start Happy?

Did U.S. Mother's Day Start Happy? We look into history today.  And what do we find? The official holiday’s founder Anna Jarvis boycotted the holiday. Jarvis, a native of West Virginia, organized the first Mother’s Day celebration at a church in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 in memory of her own mother, who died three years earlier. She successfully campaigned to have the day adopted nationally, but by the time of her death in 1948, Jarvis had spent most of her personal wealth fighting the holiday she helped conceive. She apparently found the commercialization of Mother’s Day deplorable and sued groups that used the name “Mother’s Day” name to promote consumerism. She even lobbied the government to remove it from the U.S.’ official calendar. “Everything she signed was Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother's Day. It was who she was," historian Katharine Antolini, author of “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother's Day,” told National Geographic. So much for a Romantic beginning!  Enjoy our day and the Niagara blossoms.  This orchard is on Highway 8 between Vineland and Beamsville.  It is the best white blossom orchard so far.  What makes it so is the distance between the trees and length of the rows so that the convergence happens at the end.  My name for this is "Blossom Heaven".

Niagara's Continuing Blossoms…June Flowers

I walked about my neighbourhood earlier in the week and took some photos of the lilac tree next door.  While it is shaped like a bush, it is the size of a lilac tree - more than 10 feet high.  Here's a multiple exposure of the blossoms.

Then I returned to the Vineland Research Station to check on the Paulownia Tree, also known as Empress Tree, but it isn't going to bloom, given the difficult winter we had.  I got a big surprise, as the Cherry Grove was in full bloom - with the leaves out.  I had seen it 2 weeks ago and there was sporadic blossoms, so I had assumed it was winter damage as well.  

The Vineland Research Station was originally a gift of Moses F. Rittenhouse in 1906, and has been contributing to the development of tender fruit varieties for decades.  It has turned its attention to include the wine and greenhouse industries in the last 10 years.  Today, there's a winery located on site - Foreign Affair.