Gonzalo swell rolling in at sunrise

sunrise series

this morning's surf

sunrise on the Sunrise

Two days driving up-island and back before the sunrise sure makes me thankful I don't have to do this commute every day like so many others do.

day on the Sound

 This morning well before dawn I headed north to Connecticut for the day.  The mission: to enjoy a "Quick Trip" up to Imperial Nurseries in Granby for a day of great lectures, tours, and excellent networking.  My coworker and I took the ferry from Port Jefferson across Long Island Sound up to Bridgeport, CT.  I climbed to the top deck about the time of sunrise, this morning hidden behind fabulous clouds, and was the only one aboard the entire deck. 

 It was a fantastic start to the day, so you knew it was going to be a good one.

And it was.  Fun and inspiring, definitely what Mary and I needed. After our day jaunt in New England we caught a 4:30 back to Long Island.  We lucked out with such a beautiful day to travel around.

 The day was sunrise to sunset but it felt so great to get out of town and get a breath of fresh air.

(I was all about the Fire Station)

thankful. (full series)

walking dunes

 the walking dunes, Long Island, New York

Tree of the Week: Hardy Orange (Poncirus trifoliata)

 Poncirus trifoliata is commonly known in the Northeast as hardy orange or bitter orange.  It's a member of the family Rutaceae, like all of it's other citrus and citrus-like relatives.  This is a shot taken now, as the fruit begin to form.  You can see the formidable thorns that hardy orange are known for.

 

It's a big oval creature, whether you consider it a shrub or tree is up to you.  They tend to grow 10-20' tall and often two-thirds as wide.  On the eastern end of Long Island they bloom late April.  As you can see the white five-petaled flowers are fantastic, and this year very prolific.

 When the flowers pass it begins to leaf-out with the three-part leaves from which it gets it's specific epithet, trifoliata.  Ultimately it's a gnarly, thorny thing that requires a lot of maintenance to be kept really picture perfect but just the same I love it. 

 

The thorns and hardy acidic fruit make it a fun conversation piece here in our Zone 6b or 7a.  It's safely hardy in Zones 6-9.  Native to China and Korea it was introduced to the US around 1850.  

 It's one of those rare trees that are fun to observe in every season.  The spring flower is sweet and wonderful.  The stems of green and serious thorns mix in well with the summer landscape while still giving it plenty of character.  Not to mention the great fuzzy fruit that begin to form.  By fall they will mature yellow, loaded with lots of seeds and very, very sour.  According to Dirr if you let the fruit set for a few weeks it develops a nice acidity, as well as the peel worthy of being candied, but can't say I have ventured that far with my love of this small tree.  Perhaps I will experiment with a few of these fruits this fall.