the garden

i recollect

intentions get gobbled up
and i find myself with so many things i meant to share.
Like these classic, brand-spanking-new concrete beauties bathing in the sun
when they arrived at Greenwood last spring .






Whose hands first shaped the original, irresistable "pots"
that people keep bringing to gardens the world 'round...
these vessels so loved and caressed by light?

Speaking of light:
In early May
the boys hauled out the brown turkey fig tree
from the cold storage greenhouse
and let it sit in the dappled light
beneath giant tulip poplars
in front of the root cellar

 

i will live. with trees.

i am of that age
with peer-friends, gratefully
who do not enjoy spending all of our time
talking about all the things that beset us.
you know
the failing bits and pieces.

we keep thinking we are just still ourselves.

And
yet
with all of the recent passings of very young people
and bed-ridden "more mature" folks
my family has begun asking me
"what do you want us to do when...?"

well, you know.

Most of them live away out west
in assorted deserts
which i escaped decades ago.

Me?
Let me always live with trees.
Like these fabulous copper beeches
with their bright as a penny tiny new leaves
(photographed 3 weeks ago)

How much do i love my family?
They understand...and have made promises.

This next one really does warrant taking a few seconds to click on it and
view it larger
if you ask me

Leafing out all over

Early morning light plays in the new leaves at the edge
of  deep green, massive spruces that line the drive
at Greenwood

 

Elsewhere in the garden
the feathery leaves of threadleaf Japanese maples
in the sun
and in shilouette

 

The tulip poplar leaves
glow like lime green sour candies

Easter morning

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

                                        e.e. cummings

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life

Proverbs 13:12...as i remember it...which is not likely exactly right

You may or may not know
that we have had very bizarre weather in these parts
bulbs, trees, and shrubs bursting into bloom weeks
and months
before their time.

and
of course
more weeds than one could ever hope to cope with.

There.
That's all i will say on the subject here
(having sputtered and fumed elsewhere)

Now
i will try to catch up
at least a little

This lovely little bloom
and its thousands of siblings
dressed a flowering almond tree
on March 3rd, at Greenwood
in a light, cool mist
and filled the air with sweetest perfume.

it was a marvelous day
moist, cool
promising

It could have been so much worse

As i posted in Twitter
before we lost our connection to the Internet
This Halloween Nor'easter = poor man's pruning service.
Big limbs came down all around us--except, gratefully,
on the house or car.
The woods echod with cracking limbs.
we received much more snow than those gleeful meteorologists predicted.
It was over the tops of my wellies.
The snow sparkeled beautifully in our head lamps
as we tromped about, shaking the heavy snow off shrubs and
sweeping it off the tree limbs we could reach.

The top of our beloved birch was forced to bend beyond
its limits. Am now pondering if our ladder is tall enough for me
to reach it with our pruning stick.

Our neighbor's gorgeous, ancient magnolia
seen here in its spring magnificence



lost most of its major limbs
but i'm crossing my fingers that half of it can survive.
And
i'm kicking myself for not making sure
i collected nicer images of it.
One just doesn't think of blizzardy nor'easters
in October, before the leaves fall.

We just learned from the sheriff
who is monitoring the half dozen convicts who are
clearing the last of the snow and ice from
the driveway we share with a neighbor who is on disability
that our neighborhood is just a small pocket that never lost power.
Homes just behind us and miles all around are still without
and the last two nights went down into the 20s.
(the men are dressed in orange jumpsuits that
in the sun and against the vast field of snow still on the garden
hurt the eyes)

i am humbly counting my blessings!

And,
considering the purchase of the heater recommended
for this type of emergency
to put in the basement where the water pipes run
close to the outside wall.
The last thing i want to deal with again
in this lifetime
is frozen water pipes.
And,
you know as well as i do
that if i go ahead and buy it
i'll never have to use it.
Cheap insurance, i suppose.
And,
i could always lend it to a neighbor.

Changing

It has been a long, slow autumn.
Too warm, early on
then cool, crisp sunshine mixed with rain
and
glorious colors

This long, slow slide toward winter
has me confused.
i don't remember going this deep into October without a frost.
Much to my surprise
the morning glories are blooming like there is no tomorrow.
And it may be the end, for them, this year.

If the meteorologists are correct
everything changes tomorrow.
The latest prognostication: 6-12 inches of snow may fall.
Marly, who lives just north of here, has some already.

i confess that part me of is excited
even though i'm also worried about that much snow
when there are so many leaves still on the trees.
i have my magnifying glass ready
so i can see the first crystals, up close.

i'm also a bit wistful.
i will miss these sweet stars.

Why it's called a "tulip tree" & Playing catch-up with more magnolias

It is also called "tulip poplar"
but this is a misnomer.
It is not a poplar.
It is a member of the magnolia family. (here is an excellent article
with a very nice illustration showing that the outline of the tree's leaves also bring to mind tulips.)

Speaking of magnolias
i am finally remembering to share these images
of the huge, intensely fragrant flowers of Magnolia x 'Judy Zuk'
named for the wonderful and very much missed President of Brooklyn Botanic Garden












And here are a few photos of the flowers on another misnamed (if you ask me) tree
Magnolia sieboldii 'Colossus' doesn't seem to fit for a flower that i can hold in my hand.
Perhaps the name was given for the size of its leaves (one source says they can reach 12" in length)



The flowers actually dangle
facing downward rather than opening to the sky

Fascination

Magnolia x wieseneri Greenwood, May 8th & 15th

 

Dear Pamela and Kelly

In honor of my big sister Pamela's birthday and her daughter Kelly's "angel day" i am posting a few photographs of trees that make Greenwood special

Pamela loves trees and misses living here in the northeast where
we are rich in arboreal delights

i know she would be charmed by the puddles of spring beauties flowering
in the lawn of the sycamore allée

and the pristine blue sky-light illuminating the soft pink dogwood and new leaves of the giant chestnuts

And walking beneath these, i can hear her say,
"So that's why it's called a copper beech"

Kelly, who adores her father and mother would be looking for the fruit trees
(of which there are only ornamental ones)
and asking all sorts of practical questions
while her mother continued looking up, all around, and sighing with contentment.

Pamela loves her home, which was near her daughter's
but has flown in the company of good friends to tour Eastern Europe
where
i trust
there are many, many beautiful grand old and new, young trees
marvels and wonders
music, art and histories to pull her mind and heart out of the grief
if only for blessed moments of relief.

Dear Father in Heaven,
You have asked a lot of our sister, taking three of her children and her husband back to where You are.
Please wrap Pamela--who has always put her full trust in You
in Your comfort and love
especially on this day and all the rest of her days here with us.
You have asked her to endure much and therefore we trust You will honor her unwavering faith
and continue to buoy her, and to help her find solace and balm in the company of her friends while she journeys.