Redlove Calypso ♀ x Columnar Golden Sentinel ♂ About To Bloom. 24 Apr 25.

 During Spring 2020, I applied pollen from the columnar apple, Golden Sentinel, to isolated flowers of the red flesh apple, Redlove Calypso.  An apple developed.  I stratified the seeds, and three germinated - a red leafed seedling, a seedling whose leaves were green / red combined, and a green leaf seedling.  (Blog Post)

The leaf color is from Redlove Calypso.  The red color even shows in the roots.  Here.

After growing for some time, the green leaf seedling was obviously not columnar.  I planted it put in the garden.  The red and red-green leaf seedlings clearly have columnar trait - thicker, mostly vertical stem.

Today I noted the red/green leaf tree has two clusters of flower buds.

They look quite red.  Here is the form of the tree, with no pruning.

Developers of new apple varieties, evaluate thousands of seedlings to find something special.  I have no expectations for that.  If this tree's flowers develop into apples, and if they are "good enough" apples, that will be good enough for me.  From the flower color and the coloration of the leaves, I'm already certain the apples will have red flesh,  From the tree structure, I already feel certain it will be columnar.

Trapping Coddling Moths. 24 Apr 22.

 Coddling moth worms have not been a huge problem for me.  There have been some.  Last year there were more.

With all of the deer cages gone, it will be easier to remove fallen apples, which will help in the future.  I plan to spray kaolin clay this year too, partly to reduce sunburn too.  Tanglefoot on the trunk may also have a role.

I will try this approach as well, more or less.  I don't usually reference youtube, because there is so much garbage there.  I thought this one made some sense.

So far I only have a few bottles.  I will watch for more.

Lilac Season. 24 Apr 24.

 The lilac hedge is blooming nicely.  There are no two alike.

Most of these were from a batch of tissue culture starts from the Canby garden show, 20 years ago.  A few are starts from a neighbor, or from our old house.

Making a Sturdy Rolling Garden Stool. 24 Apr 24.

 Here's my garden stool project so far.  The ends and top are a 3/4 inch thick wooden plank, 11" wide.  The back and bottom are from a piece of 3/4 " thick plywood.  The supporting parts are cut from 2 x 2's.  All of this was from the wood storage shed.

I based the height on a metal garden stool that is about right but becoming bent and wonky.  I decided I want it about 3 inches taller, to suit my legs.  Since it will be heavier than the old stool, it will be on casters.  I chose 6" casters, which add 7" height.  So, I subtracted that.  That's good, because more weight means heavier stool.

Here are the cut parts just sitting there. View of the front, which will be open to hold tools and stuff.

Back view.   Back is closed, to give rigidity.

I've assembled most of the top, using deck screws.  I think I'll back them back out, and apply liquid nails before re-screwing it together.  That should give more strength and rigidity.

Using 2x2s as shown on the bottom, will give strength for the casters.  I might use a hole saw to cut openings in the ends, to lighten the weight a little.  The back too, if a practice piece of plywood cuts OK.  I ordered a pad for the seat.  It will need a pull handle or rope.  Once the wooden parts are assembled, I will apply a coat of deck stain, same as the raised beds have.

TLC'ed Daylilies Gradually Looking Better. 21 Apr 24.

 These are the Molokai and Bettylen daylilies that had an extended stay in the garage before planting.  I planted them 24 March. They are in full sun now.

I didn't label so don't know which is which.  They have excellent root masses, so today I gave them a general purpose fertilizer, 1/4 strength, to boost leaf production.

Here is how they looked when I planted them a month ago.

And out of the box.

So far, so good.  I wonder if the larger one might bloom this year.