tent caterpillars

Every spring we get Tent Caterpillar webs in our Crabapple trees...right at the time the trees are beginning to bloom and look their best.

The blooms are so pretty, although they never seem to cover the whole tree.

This is what the webs look like...

We have tried a lot of things to get rid if the caterpillar webs. One time my husband even tried burning them...not recommended!

It seems like the best thing to do is to try to find the nests before the caterpillars get very big, and break open the web with a stick or a rake.  Knock the caterpillars and webbing down. 

I believe they can't survive cool nights if they aren't bundled up together in their nests.

Sometimes they are just too high to reach and they hang there looking ugly for months.

But on to more pleasant things...more blooms around the yard...

The pear trees are blooming.

This is something I just put in last year, a Mahonia. Two plants actually.  It looks like they have had a rough winter but I love these yellow blooms!

This is also new. Bought last fall from the marked-down rack at Lowes.  It is a Flowering Quince.

Normally, I won't plant anything with thorns...so it had better put on a good show to earn it's keep!

This is a bloom of a Sassafras tree. Usually they are so high up in  the tree you can't see them. i was able to pull a branch down a little on this small tree to get a photo.

And the Redbud trees are blooming.  We have a couple of them in the yard but I like to see the wild ones along the edge of the woods. They look so bright and pretty against the still bare branches of the other trees.

I feel like I have to go out and look around nearly every day to see what's waking up next. It happens so amazingly fast!