Last spring I judged a trail ride in Kansas. I stayed with a person who had lots of trees at her house. This impresses me because I live in the middle of field and really want trees. I complemented her on the trees and she asked if she could give me a fast growing tree. I thought she meant give me the name of a tree but no, she actually meant give me the tree. This led to a harvesting mission in her yard. I ended up with about 10 little trees and a bunch of irises. I got quite a few looks in the airport as I was carrying this huge bag with trees sticking out the top onto my flight. I planted them all over. Some got mowed by my husband of course. This is the man who was running over lots of roses once so I tied a neon orange plastic stake to one. He annihilated the stake too. Then the ice storm this winter finished off the rest of them. I’m going to judge another ride in the area in a few weeks and I was dreading telling her what happened to her generously given trees.
But today I went outside and did a double take. The irises are coming up! So I walked around the beds that I have been totally uninspired by this spring and looked at the hyacinths coming up too. I pulled some weeds and checked out my dogwoods. These are the sorriest little trees you’ve ever seen. I always think they are dead. This will be their third year here and they have never done much in the way of growing. They get some leaves and the birds love to sit on them. But the tips of the branches are bright red so they seem to still be alive. Maybe this will be their year to do something spectacular.
