Sad Beautiful Tree.

My neighbor has trained a wisteria plant, or plants, to create this tree -- picture taken in May 2015.

Here's what it looks like today, April 22, 2016.

It's getting very late in the wisteria season...I've seen wisteria shrubs and overgrown vines in full bloom nearby. But this guy has only a few emerging leaves. My neighbor is worried. I'm worried too, mostly for her mental health. This lady is very attached to that tree and will mourn grievously if it dies. I suspect, but really don't know, that it might need a serious pruning, now rather than later. Any opinions?

A frost we had a few weeks ago got to it for sure, although there wasn't much visible spring growth at the time. But much of the emerging greenery got fried by that frost -- it just didn't seem like enough damage to make the entire tree stop producing leaves and blooms.

I know wisteria is a wildly invasive plant, scorned by true gardeners. But with care you can prevent it from spreading.  

Ever try that toothpick-in-the-avocado-pit trick?

I have composting worms in three bins in my backyard. I used to blog about them. The other day I was harvesting some worm castings (aka poop, humus, black gold, etc) to amend my soil in the backyard and I came across this avocado tree, happily growing under several inches of worms and rotting food. So many times I've tried to force a seed to root in a glass with no success. Now I know that I can grow avocado trees in my worm bins. They are indeed my lovely and productive worms!

Name this plant.

Every winter I see this bright green plant in the park next door. Always in this exact spot. I don't remember ever seeing any blooms on it, and I don't notice it in other parts of the park. But it's not like I ever made a project of noticing. Maybe this year I WILL make a project of noticing. 

Happy Cold, Snowy Weather! [to those few of us who like winter.]

Dare me to?

 

Above picture was sent to me tonight by Book Buddy and all-around good friend Stephanie. She knew I'd love it. And I do.I will put my tree on the sun room. Very excited! Being vaguely pagan, heathen, or at least a-religious I'm not much of a Christmas person, but I do worship books so what could be more perfect?

My lone bedraggled sunflower survived the deadly storm that blew through town yesterday, but the next door neighbors' picnic table did not.

We were very very lucky, and lost power for just about 15 hours. But there are more storms heading our way.

It's mulberry season and I'm harvesting the lazy way this year.

This may be a red mulberry tree (Morus rubra) but there are many kinds of mulberry trees and this one just appeared in our yard 15 or more years ago.  I usually stand under the tree and pick the berries but too often I eat them before they make it to the dinner table.  Collecting them with a blanket works much better.

Not sure what this is other than a pretty red-budded tree about to bloom. I know it's not redbud.

From the park next door.

What is this?

It looks sort of other worldly.

Tree gone. Very sad. Guy shown climbing broke a bone in his knee while cutting down a limb. Dangerous work, but he'll be OK.

Middle picture shows how the tree was leaning toward our deck. And much of the weight was on that side of the tree. Too many huge tulip poplars have fallen in this neighborhood this summer. We weren't willing to gamble that this wouldn't be the next one to fall. Of course there's a twin poplar about 20 feet away that isn't on our property. If it falls southwest it will fall on our house. Can't (won't) worry about it. What's the point? Best news? The beehive is still standing. The first crew who arrived to remove the tree last week left because the workers refused to work in a yard with a beehive. No amount of reassurance would convince them that it would be OK. The crew that came on Monday had no trouble of course. The bees were perfect ladies.

Scott (with a bee tattoo!) may take down this massive tree. I'm not going to tell you how much he wants for the job...too painful to type the number.

I'll get a second bid on the tree removal but I really want to give the job to The Bee Tattoo Man. What are the chances of him coming along to give us an estimate? He's been in the neighborhood for 2 weeks removing other tulip poplars that crashed into back yards across the street. Not sure exactly why he has such a beautiful bee on his arm -- he saw my hive immediately upon entering the back yard and asked about it. His soon-to-be-ex-grandfather-in-law (life is complicated) keeps bees so maybe that was the impetus.

More tree damage from yet another nasty DC storm.

This go-around brought down a couple of huge limbs from a massive tulip poplar very near our house. We haven't dug out completely because the limbs are too heavy to lift. The big old tree will probably have to come down. ($$$$) The cleanup from all of this will make mincemeat of our backyard. Lost a dogwood, much of a redbud, and part or all of some maples. Power was out for only 16 hours this time. Third time we've lost power in 2 1/2 weeks. Life goes on. Change is good. Blah, blah, blah.

Down it came. I'll miss it but will have fun with the new bedding area. Unfortunately, the ferns will have to be moved.

And the stump and roots have to be removed. Tree guy said he'd be back to do that...we'll see.

From the park next door. The tree trunk caught my eye.