BEACH PEAS AND TREE LILACS

BEACH PEA ...

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, BUT NOTE THE LONG, CLIMBING STEMS

JAPANESE TREE LILAC USED AS AN ORNAMENTAL  STREET TREE..

HUGE, GORGEOUS BLOOMS...

...MILKY WHITE AT MATURITY

Saturday, 8:30 AM.  67 degrees F, wind N, light.  The sky is mostly sunny with some high, wispy white clouds and some haze in the east.  The humidity is 78% and the barometer is trending down, now at 29.97".  It will be a nice summer day.
   Beach pea, Lathyrus japonicus, in the pea family (Leguminosae), is beginning to bloom.  It is native locally along the shores of Lake Superior and other Great Lakes, and in the seacoast provinces of Canada and the shores of a few large lakes in the northeastern U.S.  It's Latin species name refers to the fact that it is circumpolar in various maritime locations, including the coast of Japan.  It is a beautiful plant in nature but can be a troublesome weed in cultivation; enjoy them where you find them.  I usually let a few grow along garden rocks, but keep a wary eye upon them.  Use the blog search engine for additional information.
   Japanese tree lilacs, Syringa reticulata, in the olive family (Oleaceae), have just started blooming and will enliven the city with their giant, long-lasting white lilac flowers.  They are hardy here in Bayfield and make a fine ornamental street tree, relatively trouble free and tolerant of a wide range of soil and moisture conditions.  They even have a light lilac scent.  There are a number of cultivars of the species reticulata, as well as a closely related species, S. chinensis.  All are nice ornamental trees of rather similar habit, and at this point I could not recommend any one over another.
  We probably are at the point in Bayfield where we should not put too many more of these "eggs" in our tree basket, as it is never good to over-plant any one genus or species and thus limit the diversity of the urban forest.