Another Prunus among us

Voyez-vous les prunes?

I planted this Prunus tree at least a dozen years ago. If you look carefully at the first and third photos in this post, you can see tiny plums that look like cherries.

I fully expect that the most of the plums you see on this prunier will be devoured by birds rather than by people, as happens most years.

Focus on the prunus

The prunus tree in our back yard is in full bloom right now. Prunus is a genus of flowering trees that includes 340 species,according to the Wikipedia article about them. Just to name a few: plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and almonds. The one we have in the back yard is an ornamental plant that doesn't produce any fruit.

The last picture in this post shows the trunk of a fir tree whose trunk was covered in ivy until a few days ago. We had a very wet winter that encouraged its growth. I stripped all the ivy off this past week, hoping that the ivy that grows up into the tree branches will now die back. I don't climb on ladders much any more.

I took these photos with my Samsung smart phone's camera.

What things look like these days

Above right: If anybody has a suggestion about how I get the ivy off the exterior walls of our garden shed, I'd love to hear it. The walls are coated in a rough render that can really tear up your hands. We're having new shutters put on the shed window soon. Above left, a springtime sunrise.

Above right, a better picture of the Mahonia plant than the one I posted a few days ago. This one is in our hedge, not the neighors'. Above left, you can see how high the grass is growing. The riding mower's battery has failed. We are expecting a new one to arrive today or tomorrow.

Above: potted succulents. Donkey tails and hens and chicks.

Lentils for lunch

We've had lentils for lunch twice this week. Do you like them? I don't think Americans eat lentils as much as French people do. I read somewhere that the country that consumes the most lentils is India, and that the country that grows the most lentils is Canada. France grows a lot of lentils (called lentilles) too. We enjoyed them one day with Toulouse sausages (pork) and another day with Merguez sausages (beef and lamb).

As our second course one day, we had a very French salad. It's red beets (betteraves) with Belgian endives and a vinaigrette dressing. I know a lot of Americans who won't eat beets, but the French seem to love them. They are often sold cooked and less often raw. On another day, we ate radishes with salt, butter, and bread as our first course and lentils as our second course. Again, very French.