After a failed try at blogging and 6 months of computer nightmares I am back for another try–let’s hope that blogging finally becomes me.   Could write a book about our computer trials and tribulations–long story that doesn’t bear repeating.  Instead let’s go back to the garden–my place of comfort and sanity.

Large tree down--what comes next? From shade to sun.

Mother Nature always has the last laugh.  Thirty years ago, not knowing what we were doing, we planted two fruiting cherry trees on the west side of our new garden.  Big mistake–nothing but grief for  years.  After the first few years the fruit was impossible to harvest–hung too high in the tree.  We did enjoy the antics of the squirrels as they went about picking their fill but were annoyed that they were enjoying the fruit of our labors.

Fruiting cherries, in my experience, are disease sluts.  The trees were devastated by a series of diseases and insects.  Conks, fan-shaped, mushroom looking things, known as shelf or bracket fungi appeared.  Bacterial cankers oozed an amber colored, sticky, viscose liquid.  Branches died back.  We willingly sacrificed the tree closest to the front porch for a new front entry and terrace.

Lots of debris--some for compost some for the dump.

My own actions were part of the problem for tree number two.  I planted three rambling roses at the base of the tree hoping that they would conceal the view of the three story building next door which looms over garden–talk about no privacy for us or them.  Eventually the roses reached thirty feet providing screening and a sense of enclosure for all.  We pruned them every third year–a task requiring many ladders and a suit of full body armor.  Fred, my spousal unit, hated scaling the ladders to wrestle with whippy, thorny canes. Surely the twiggy thicket reduced air circulation in that area. We employed Integrated Pest Management techniques spraying with the least toxic and harmful products possible–to no avail.  Two years ago we removed one third of the tree.

Family and friends to the rescue--firewood and wood for an artist to turn.

Last week, the tree quietly succumbed–with a barely perceptible gasp–as it descended to terra firma surprising us with the ease of its demise.  My shade garden  took a direct hit–beautiful Aralia elata ‘Variegata’ smashed along with a Disanthus cercidiphyllum and a Daphne x houtteana.  The perennials were trampled by the boots of the friends and family who came with chainsaws to dissect the remains.  They will recover in time.

After moment of mourning my brain is filled with ideas.  The ravished space is adjacent to the north borders which are due for a total revamp this spring–it has been a long time since I had a big space to re-design.  I see a small terrace with a rill–or not –depending on finances and lots of new plants.