lonrombough (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lonrombough) wrote,@ 2007-12-29 12:05:00 |
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Time Passes
There's a new cord of wood stacked to cure and a couple yards of chips for mulch. All from an oak I planted in 1979.
In that year, a friend had a volunteer pin oak seedling in her flowerbed. She's a plant lover and hated to kill it, so she offered it to me. It was planted where it had room to grow on good soil, but otherwise not given special care other than some removal of low limbs that were poorly placed. It eventually reached a height of 60 feet and had a trunk two feet thick at the base. But while many trees of that type have good fall color, it had a bit of yellow for a couple of days, then the leaves went brown and would hang on all winter.
This year I had a chance to get another oak that has red fall color, and has it for at least a couple of weeks or more. More interesting to me, it has large acorns where the old tree had tiny ones. So the old oak came down and there will be a new one planted next to the old stump. The stump itself will be innoculated with mushroom spawn, both to give us something to eat and to break down the old stump.
Now, if it just didn't make me feel old to know that a tiny sapling got THAT big in my lifetime, and is now gone. Maybe the new tree will make it to that size while I'm still around.
"The best time to plant trees is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
There's a new cord of wood stacked to cure and a couple yards of chips for mulch. All from an oak I planted in 1979.
In that year, a friend had a volunteer pin oak seedling in her flowerbed. She's a plant lover and hated to kill it, so she offered it to me. It was planted where it had room to grow on good soil, but otherwise not given special care other than some removal of low limbs that were poorly placed. It eventually reached a height of 60 feet and had a trunk two feet thick at the base. But while many trees of that type have good fall color, it had a bit of yellow for a couple of days, then the leaves went brown and would hang on all winter.
This year I had a chance to get another oak that has red fall color, and has it for at least a couple of weeks or more. More interesting to me, it has large acorns where the old tree had tiny ones. So the old oak came down and there will be a new one planted next to the old stump. The stump itself will be innoculated with mushroom spawn, both to give us something to eat and to break down the old stump.
Now, if it just didn't make me feel old to know that a tiny sapling got THAT big in my lifetime, and is now gone. Maybe the new tree will make it to that size while I'm still around.
"The best time to plant trees is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
