Wallace Family News
Summer Comes Early to Glen Ellyn
(posted 4/5/2012) - Well there's no doubting that we've had an early spring. The Magnolias have already bloomed and dropped their flowers and are greening up nicely. I've already mowed the lawn and will have to again today.
Warmest season on record -- but so far very pleasant (80's in March can feel pretty nice as long a they are not followed by 100's in June-July-August).
I took a few pictures of our backyard Flowering Crab Apple and of our little rock-garden at the front of the drive. The Day Lilly's haven't yet bloomed, nor have the Hosta's broken through but I suspect it won't be long.
By the way you can view full size versions of these images by clicking on them.
Our neighbor has potted 5 large rose bushes (yellow and red blooms) and will trellise them once they grow a bit more. He has a green thumb so I'm confident they will look great.
Our neighbors to the north have a huge vegetable garden on the other side of that garage -- they could feed several families all summer with the greens, tomatoes, legumes, cucumbers, onions, strawberries, and corn that garden produces.
From our front porch -- the boulevard trees are green and everyone's bushes are leafed out. Summer is a couple of months early I think.
When we rebuilt we purposefully chose not to plant large growing bushes and trees near the house because we found that the periodic trimming and gutter cleaning problems out-weigh the benefits of their beauty. Instead we planted dwarf bushes, hosta, and low-grasses and used lots of large rocks and some boulders to create a low-maintenance texture rich area around the front of the house.