April Comes to Memphis

Murasaki Shikibu was the author of The Tale of Genji, possibly the earliest novel. The story depicts the life of a mythical prince in Heian Japan 1000 years ago. The tale describes the nature of life at court and the emphasis on poetry and appreciation of beauty and evanescence or the transient nature of life. Flowers and especially cherries serve as metaphors for these sentiments. One recurring theme in the book is the competition between Genji and Muraskai, one of his wives/lovers over what is the best time of year. Murasaki has a fondness for spring and the renewal of life, of course involving cherry blossom parties and poetry contests to describe the falling petals. Genji on the other hand is attracted to the fall, which has its own kind of beauty. They both have their own gardens that peak at their favorite time. Many short poems are exchanged in this friendly battle of wits.

Here we find ourselves in April, Murasaki time in Memphis. As already shown in the earlier post, the cherries have come, and some have gone. Many other flowering trees and shrubs are also in bloom. There are streets one should see now before the glory fades. One of these streets is Belvedere Blvd. in Central Gardens, midtown, between Union and Central. There is a wide median well planted and tended. It is wild with dogwoods, cherries, magnolias, redbuds and unidentified shrubs. Here are a few highlights along Belvedere.

Tree # 46 redbud (Cercis canadensis)

A remarkable redbud blooming heavily along the trunk, April 13, 2014 (Palm Sunday)

Redbuds are a favorite Memphis tree. Cercis canadensis or Eastern redbud is the most likely species to be seen.  This tree is a legume in the pea family and the flowers have the distinctive pea flower shape. Later in the year pods like pea pods develop. A relative, Cercis siliquastrum called the Judas tree (European or Asian) is traditionally the tree Judas hanged himself from, thus the red flowers are like blood weeping from the trunk.

I have taken pictures of two more redbuds that seems striking. The overcast day may not have been ideal for photographing them, but time is critical as the flowers will soon be gone (evanescence again).

Redbud at the southwest corner of Poplar and Manassas. April 13, 2014

This redbud caught my eye on my drive home as it sits before a line of dark green Southern Magnolias.

An eye-popping redbud at 2909 Central in front of a massive wall of Southern magnolias. April 13, 2014

Tree #47 Kwanzan cherry (Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan')

In the same block of Belvedere as the gnarled flowering redbud, we find our third type of cherry, the Kwanzan cherry. These have double flowers, a kind of prized mutation seen in many flowers like tulips.

Kwanzan cherry in full bloom. April 13, 2014 Belvedere Blvd.

Close-up of the doubled flowers.

We have a Kwanzan cherry in our own yard, but it is shaded by a large neighboring elm and a crepe myrtle making it a bit hard for it to thrive. However, these trees have not leafed out yet, so the cherry is in bloom and looking very attractive in its tight space. There may be good reason to cut back the offending part of the crepe myrtle to give the cherry more room.

Tree #48 dogwood (Cornus florida)

Characteristic trees of Memphis in spring are the dogwoods, both pink and white.

Pink dogwoods (Cornus florida rubra) on Belvedere. April 13, 2014

There are so many dogwoods and they are all so striking it is only possible to select a few to show. Here is a white one a few doors down from the pink ones.

There was another large white dogwood on Central on the north side east of Belvedere.

White dogwood on Central April 13, 2014

I have a special set of dogwoods (three in a cluster) on the southeast corner of Park and White Station. I will try to capture those before they fade and post the picture here. The owners of the property for many years have been trying to sell two adjacent lots for commercial use. My fear is that the new owners would cut down the trees. Such people should be sent to a thought police camp to have their minds reprogrammed.

Three-in-one dogwood on the corner of Park and White Station April 15, 2014

One more picture shows the clever gardener mind at work, planting a tall pink dogwood behind a shorter cluster of white dogwood. One of these trees (on the left) is a different, later blooming variety of dogwood. It makes for a pleasing view.

Three to four dogwoods of different types on the corner of Satinwood Dr and Satinwood Cove. April 13, 2014

The last picture showing a large dogwood is from a house on the corner of Southern and Prescott, north of the railroad tracks. The other notable feature of this yard is the lovely wistaria fence with an arch leading to the front door. The owner talked to me when I took this picture. He said "My yard shines for two weeks each year." I have to agree. I have serious wistaria envy.

Northeast corner of Prescott and Southern, April 19, 2014. Wistaria grows all along the picket fence.

While driving home from work for several weeks I have been admiring a tall blue atlas cedar. This tree is a multi-trunked tree that has survived the many ice storms in Memphis that often break the leaders of these trees. I had to stop and photograph it today, but the light was not ideal and the picture of the full tree does not do it justice.

Tree #49 Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica glauca) [see also trees #39 and #40]

Blue Atlas Cedar, north of Central before the rail crossing (in photo) at Cooper. April 13, 2014

Close-up of the trunk (west view)

Close-up of the trunk (north view)

Tree #50 possible black oak

Memphis has many types of oaks and some are very old and large. Storms can sometimes topple them. I saw a small house smashed in half by one of these trees. It looked like a doll's house. Here I have picked an unknown type of oak to show the odd ribbed trunk.

Oak at the corner of Satinwood Dr. and Hickory Crest

Close-up of this ribbed trunk, April 13, 2014

Newly emerging leaves from this same oak.

Vine #1 wistaria (Wisteria floribunda)

Memphis has abundant wild wistaria that grows through the trees. This time of year the purple spikes of wistaria florets cover these vines, unless you happen to have a cursed wistaria. Here is an example from a vine someone planted on a light pole on Satinwood Dr. The vine has long since escaped from the pole into the neighboring trees, but the crossover point is too high to reach to cut the vines. Good for the wistaria, not so good for the trees.

Lovely lavender wistaria flowers at the base of the overgrown lamp pole

A second view April 13, 2014

When we moved into our house on Satinwood Dr. we decided to professionally landscape the backyard. An arbor was built and wistaria vines were planted to cover the arbor. This was in 1995. After more than 10 years the wistaria had never flowered. It was a cursed vine. To remove the curse, at one of our Cinco de Mayo parties we set up a Haiku table in the yard and requested guests to write a Haiku for the wistaria. More years passed and still no blooms. Last year for the first time we did find three small sprays of wistaria flowers, so it was not a sexless vine after all. It could produce flowers. This spring I looked again and once more there are three flowers on the vine. I tried to get a shot of one but the light was not good, yet you can still see the small flower spike in the middle.

19 year old wistaria finally blooms. Flowers are seen center, just to the right of center and bottom middle

Fast forward to 2016. We sell Satinwood and then the wistaria blooms.