Saturday, March 13, 2010

Tassel Winner and Apple Trees

pansy
Hi everyone! I’m really thrilled to announce that the winner of the tassel giveway is………

      Vee @ A Haven for Vee!

Thank you to all who entered and for all the lovely birthday wishes!

Heather is such a sweetheart! She’s offering a 20% discount on her tassels if you let her know you’re a reader of this blog. Be sure to check out her etsy Butterfly Genes if you haven’t already.  So now you have no excuse to be  “under tasseled”! I do believe she ships everywhere.  Leave her a message when you check out and she’ll refund you 20%. Thank you Heather!
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I took advantage of  the few beautiful days that we had to do a little planting and I wanted to share with you my new fruit trees.
Mytrees

These are columnar apple trees. I know, it looks like I planted some sticks! You get full size fruit on a narrow tree and they can be easily grown in pots 17” or larger. I think these would be perfect for people that live in apartments but have a sunny balcony/patio or people that are renting homes and don’t want to invest in landscaping that they’ll leave behind. Or maybe you have a small garden that doesn’t have room for even a dwarf size tree.

columnar-apple-trees

     Image from Raintree Nursery
     
This is what they should look like next year.

They get to be 7 to 10 feet tall and only 2 feet wide. They’re supposed to be early producers. So you don’t have to wait years and years to get some fruit.  I got mine from Starkbros.com. They have several varieties of apples available including a Maypole Flowering Crab Apple. So pretty!**Edited to add: here are the catalog #'s for the trees. 2180, 2178, 5142, 2179, 2177 & 8558 for the peach tree. Put those #s in their search box and the different varieties will come up.

tree

     Image from Backwoods Home

I do have room for traditional fruit trees but I’ve had so many problems with them due to the weather (drought, too much rain) and I don’t know what,  that I’m actually getting rid of a few. Some of them are just too fussy and I don’t have time for all that. So my hope is that it’ll be a little easier to control the environment for these potted trees. Which will equal less problems (I hope)!

dish

Later in the day, I found a broken plate in my plate border that I placed in these containers. I must have hit it with a ball while playing with Maxie.

Maxie

There he is!  What a life! Must be nice to be able to just plop yourself down any old where and go to sleep!

yellowpansy
Anyway, I thought I’d let you guys know about this type of space saving apple tree (Stark Bros also sells a Crimson Rocket Peach) in case you thought you couldn't have  fruit trees because of space limitations. Now you can!

SouthernHospThriftyTreasures-copy_thumb   
Monday starts Rhoda's linky party Today’s Thrifty Treasures (yippee – I love to see what people find yardsailing and thrifting).

I had a  great birthday! I went to two thriftstores on my birthday and found some really great stuff which I’ll show you on Monday.  I wish I had a truck! There was soooo much good stuff at Goodwill, it was down right amazing. I should always bring my camera!!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by!

33 comments:

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Congratulations to winner Vee!!! Couldn't have been a nicer gal to win.

And how lucky for you to be seeing flowers.

Gentle hugs for the weekend...

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

Congrats to Vee!!!! And thank you Manuela for the links to these great apple trees!
Hugs,
Penny

Robin@DecoratingTennisGirl said...

Mauela,
I have never seen these trees before, so thanks for sharing! I love your dog. So sweet :)
Robin

A Southern Rose said...

Congrats to Vee! I love your apple trees. I will have to go and check those out. Spring is almost here!

Hugs,
Lee Laurie

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing all the tree information. What a great way to grow fruit without needing an orchard. I was talking to a gal at our local nursery one day and found out that's the best way to grow lemons here in my part of Oregon because the trees need to be brought inside during the winter.

Megan said...

Congrats to Vee! And thanks to Heather for the discount.
Manuela--I love your apple tree containers--I don't think I've ever seen one with a plate for an accent. I'll be checking out those sites and see if there's anything for a FL garden. Your pictures have me itching to get out in the yard and get busy--but I'll be working my last day at the library today. Then it's time for all the fun stuff after that.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Creations By Cindy said...

Congratulations to the Winner! Love all the pictures here! Thanks for info. on trees. I want a tangerine and lemon tree. Will have to contact my local nursery to see how to grow them in my area. Thanks again and be blessed. Cindy

Unknown said...

Thanks for showing us those apple trees. We don't have any apples yet. Only pear, fig, lemon, lime, orange, and soon plum. I wanted apples but we are running out of space. Those would be a perfect addition to the garden.

Kathleen Grace said...

Happy belated birthday Manuela! How on earth did I miss it? COngratulations to Vee and a big thanks for blogging those trees. I will have to show those to Earl, I can think of a few places those would go very well!

Gayla said...

I can't believe I missed your birthday, too, but happiness always! Loved your pansies! We are not quite ready for them here.... But I can't wait!

~Tonja~ said...

Congrats to Vee...
Love the idea of the small fruit trees thanks for sharing the info with us...love what you did with the plate in your garden too...
Have a Blessed day...
Sweet Blessings...
Tonja

Glenda/MidSouth said...

Congratulations to the winner!
I have never seen apple trees like that before. I need to take another look. Thanks for sharing the info.

Happy@Home said...

Congratulations to Vee for being your lucky winner.
Your pictures today are so inspiring and pretty. That apple tree looks like a great idea. I hope you will keep us posted on it's progress.
Glad to hear you had such a nice birthday and I'll be back to see your GW treasures.

Enjoy your weekend.

Vee said...

This was so much fun for me...I went shopping before I even made breakfast for my poor Nan. Ha! Many thanks, Manuela. What a day brightener!

Those narrow, potted fruit trees would be perfect for me on my postage stamp lot. Lots of shade here so regular fruit trees don't fare well. Anyway, I'll certainly remember where I found the information!

Julie Harward said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love the apple trees, amazing that they can produce so many apples on a stick! The ground in your yare...it looks loke spring! Yea for Vee, love the tassle! Have a good weekend and come say hi :D

Sharon said...

Congratulations Vee!!! Lucky girl :) I love you pansies Manuela and the trees are beautiful. Maxie is a sweetheart and I would love to give her a hug :)

Have a great weekend!
Sharon

Brenda Pruitt said...

I don't have room in my yard for any more trees. But I'm yearning so for a dwarf Japanese maple. I tell myself to no longer worry about my clumsy breaking of dishes. Great garden decor!
Brenda

Becky K. said...

So very happy for Vee!

Those fruit trees are very interesting. I'm going to take a peek.

Becky K.

Heathahlee said...

Congratulations Vee! I hope you love your tassel!

:)

Unknown said...

I'm thinking garden too. Mine is mostly container gardening and these would work well for that. Thanks for sharing. Linda

Ally's Corner said...

It so nice to get outside again isn't it. Can't wait to see what you got at GW. I have a few things that need spray painted so looking forward to warmer weather.

Miss Janice said...

Congratualtions to Vee. You are ahead of me. I'm spring cleaning today and haven't done a thing in the yard yet!

Free Art Printables said...

Manuela.. I am so jealous that you have flowers already! Where did you get your half wine barrels at? I've been looking all over!

Erin | Bygone Living said...

All the pictures are lovely, and your dog is adorable&heart;s

Sylvia said...

Hi Manuela, thank you for visiting my blog, I am pretty excited about my secret garden. We've just added chippy white windows at the entrance of the garden...check it out when you can. I love your blog and have become a follower...I am off to see more.
Sylvia
P.S....love that white picket fence in the background...

Melanie said...

Congrats to the winner Vee:) I love the trees and boy could I use some pretty plants and flowers after this long winter that we have had.

Terri Steffes said...

Yeah, Vee! What a perfect winner.
Love the apple trees!

Cottage Rose said...

Congratulations to Vee I will have to check out the site,,, love the apple trees,,, we live in an apt. and it would fit great on our patio... so cool....
Hugs;
Alaura

Simple Home said...

I'm glad you had a great birthday. I'm looking forward to seeing your finds. I've never seen these trees, what a great idea.
Blessings,
Marcia

Indian Thoughts said...

Apple trees are awesome.
I wish our weather allowed something similar. :(

Barb said...

Manuela, congratulations to Vee!

Love the apple trees and the dish in the flower bed. Your dog is so sweet.

Barb

Lady Katherine said...

I love the apple trees! What great pictures! I love Maxie resting, after a fun time of playing ball with you. Looks like you are getting ready for your plantings! Thank you for stopping by Tea Time Tuesday! Let me know if you want the Loofah seeds. I been buying roses. lol I need a big pile of dirt. I restarted me a compost pile, since hubby took mine away, when we came home for working/traveling. So now I got to buy some soil. lol Going to hopefully go dig up some small fruit trees from my neighbors yards this week. A little late, but I think with our weather I still can get them transplanted in time. Good to hear from you. I missed blogging so much!

Lady Katherine said...

Hi,sent you an Email, since I did not find your Email to me. Just look for subject Lady Katherine