The Trees and Me

The pear trees behind the barn were so loaded with fruit two years ago, and the branches hung so low, that all three of them grew into odd twisted shapes. I don't think the various ice storms helped much either. Every time I pass them I apologize, "So sorry guys!" and then hurry on because they looked so uncomfortable. Actually we have several uncomfortable looking trees on our property and I would love to hire an arborist with a bucket to fix that problem. Or somebody with a huge chain saw. The big scraggly one in front of the house especially bothers me as I pull out every morning to go to work. Ugh. Like a mild headache behind the eyes, every morning. The Pin Oak by the driveway, on the other hand, looks perfectly comfortable because the branches are all orderly in their spacing. It makes a pretty pointy shape over all, and every leaf is gracefully located at even intervals.

So Gene and I finally took a trimmer to the pear trees and they now smile and thank me every time I go by, and I enjoy visiting again. Now I wander out there every day to check their progress and have a chat.(Just say what's on your mind. Yes, I know the word FREAK is in there somewhere.) They are just beginning to bud, of course, since we have had a ferocious wind for several days. Last year there were only 7 or 8 pears on all three trees because that's how many delicate blossoms were able to withstand the wind that came up just when blossoms were full. It was lovely to see the snowy blossoms drift through the air, except that I knew they really ought to still be attached to the tree!

Anyway... I gathered some of the branches we trimmed off and put them in a vase in my kitchen. It's been sweet watching the buds open a little more each day.

Here's are a couple of picnik.com versions of the bouquet.





More enthralling garden news follows:

1. Lettuce and peas are planted.
2. We need rain.
3. My basil and other herbs are coming up nicely under the grow light in the kitchen.
4. We need rain.
5. My garden is all turned and waiting for rain.
6. The day lilies in the front bed are growing like crazy and don't seem to notice it's so dry.
7. The tiny daffodils that oddly line the median all along Northwest Expressway are in full bloom.

Today's favorite quote from Christopher Lloyd's The Well Tempered Garden concerning "the pleasure of hand weeding."

"Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have countered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness."

That's how I see it. What do YOU think?