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Apr. 4th, 2009 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semperfionaThe yard is not having a good spring. When the griffins arrived a couple weeks ago we noticed that the English ivy up the walk is to all appearances dead. The volunteer oak by the front steps doesn't look very alive, but it might have some live buds. The baby swamp oak in the verge, which had survived being topped by some asshole last year, has no buds at all.
I mentioned the dead rhody but I'm not counting it because it's been dead for a year and dying for a while before that.
But today, I had the biggest shock yet. I noticed that the Granny Smith apple tree was about to bloom, and then I looked at the peach tree, which should have bloomed already, and realized that not only has it not bloomed, it has no buds either. Further investigation shows that all the twigs I tested were budless, stiff, and snap when broken. Dead, dead, dead. I almost cried. I may yet.
I have had this tree for seven or eight years. It's always bloomed beautifully and set lots of fruit, but except for last year they never made it to harvest. One luscious crop of peaches. Just one.
I mentioned the dead rhody but I'm not counting it because it's been dead for a year and dying for a while before that.
But today, I had the biggest shock yet. I noticed that the Granny Smith apple tree was about to bloom, and then I looked at the peach tree, which should have bloomed already, and realized that not only has it not bloomed, it has no buds either. Further investigation shows that all the twigs I tested were budless, stiff, and snap when broken. Dead, dead, dead. I almost cried. I may yet.
I have had this tree for seven or eight years. It's always bloomed beautifully and set lots of fruit, but except for last year they never made it to harvest. One luscious crop of peaches. Just one.
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Date: 2009-04-04 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-04 11:58 pm (UTC)That is so sad
Date: 2009-04-05 01:34 am (UTC)Of course, that won't guarantee that we won't get a damned killing frost in April or a hideous drought or something else that will massacre it, but it might help.
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Date: 2009-04-05 03:38 am (UTC)One thing that does well in this climate is lilac. Those things are impossible to kill up here. And they get very large! I am thinking of planting hazelnut bushes. They take about a decade to establish themselves and produce. It is all about hope for the spring and the next year. Plan for what you want the yard to produce.
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Date: 2009-04-05 05:13 am (UTC)Is the tree dead all the way down? Maybe, if it's just some top branches, judicious pruning could save it. I don't know. But I'd try to talk to a home garden expert at the Botanical Gardens before giving up on it. My fingers are crossed for you!
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Date: 2009-04-05 12:33 pm (UTC)If its any consolation, and I know its not, my fumbling efforts have managed to kill every plant that I've ever tried to care for.
I managed to have a cactus die on me, no easy feat.