Add A Leaf Springs

Spring plants offer color and variety for garden

One of my favorite spring flowering shrubs is Viburnum juddi, also called the Judd Viburnum. If planted near the front door, this deciduous shrub will greet visitors with a lovely fragrance when it bursts into flower in mid-spring. Rising 6-8 feet, it needs full to partial sun and moderately moist soil to thrive. The lovely and fragrant white blossoms of the Judd Viburnum are followed by a raft of ornamental fruit that make an excellent food source for birds and wildlife. If putting in a mixed shrub border or privacy hedge consider including it in the mix.

Kerria japonica, "Golden Guinea," lights up a semi-shaded area in my yard in spring with large, golden coin-sized blossoms and sporadically on through the growing season. In winter the bright green arching branches of the 41/2-by-41/2-foot shrub add color that is a welcome sight on a gray day.

Kerria japonica "Pleniflora," also called "Flora Pleno," the most common variety available, grows up to 8 feet and produces glorious double flowers in spring with a sprinkling in summer and another light show in fall.

Last summer was the year of the butterfly in our gardens and we loved watching dozens of these lovelies dance about on the shrubs outside our living room windows every afternoon. The winged beauties fed on Hydrangea paniculata "Kyushu" but were attracted by the half-dozen Buddleia bushes (butterfly bushes) in my gardens. My collection has several of the new dwarf varieties from the Proven Winners Color Choice English Butterfly Series included in my foundation plantings. With a more compact growth habit than older varieties, these beauties climb to just 5 feet. But they can be cut back hard in spring, which will keep their height to 3-4 feet. Older varieties can climb to 6 or 8 feet.

This winter mother nature took charge and all my Buddleias died back to the ground, so I have no choice but to cut them back hard — to within an inch or so of the new growth.

Buddleias are one of the last shrubs to leaf out, so I have to be patient to see how they do in spring. After pruning, I fertilize the shrubs with a good quality slow-release organic fertilizer such as Espoma's Plant Tone.

Buddleias thrive in full to part sun locations in moist, well-drained loamy soil. They bloom from July through frost if the spent blooms are removed. Flower colors include dark and light purple, mauve shades and white. Some produce light fragrance and they make good cut flowers.

Any interest in 65-72 F100 leaf springs? - Ford Truck Enthusiasts ...

As some of you know I own a spring shop and the one spring none of my suppliers has ever produced is the 65-72 F100 springs and I get some calls for them here and there but was just wondering the interest on the following springs. They'd be an exact OEM replacement, made in USA and would range between $150 - $170 per side. All input would be appreciated. I have a 71 F-100 4x4 and I've swaped mine out used for used Three times. Tried rearched with only poor results. Mine are nine and ten leaf spring packs. What does 5/1 leafs mean? My problem is axel wrap from the weak narrow 2 1/4 inch springs. The last used set I installed I added a Full lengthed add a leaf from a Highboy kit. I'm not ready to buy springs right now. Thought I'd give you some feed back though. RKD. There where a couple different springs made for the 4x4. One was the 9 leaf and the other was the 5/1 and when I say /1 that means it's a 2 stage spring with the top 5 leaves arched together and then a thicker, flat bottom leaf called an overload so when you put weight on the rear the overload engages not allowing the other springs to bend past this point. They both sit the truck at the same height so that's another decision is to build the 9 leaf or the 5/1?

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