New Jersey Native Cherry
Planted by birds
Spring 1990-November 9 2020
She had a valuable life on the patio. In summer masses of honey scented blossom and an orchestra of bees, in fall cherries for birds and squirrels, in winter thorns beloved of squirrels.
This was after her last big snowstorm, the 2018 March one that brought down her biggest branches, leaving this survivor.
She shaded the humans, and was especially friendly to Handsome Partner who spent summer afternoons in his last years, in his wheelchair in the shade, watching birds and the antics of the ever present squirrels.
Since she reached the roof, she gave green shade and privacy to the bedroom.
It was a long life, for a wild cherry. We should all be so useful and beautiful!
And now she'll warm a house down the street over the winter.
As my friend, reluctantly felling her, said, it's all part of the cycle.
Great memories provided free of charge too.
ReplyDeleteYes, our trees weave themselves into our life stories.
DeleteAnd, perhaps you can plant a new Wild Cherry to take her place.
ReplyDeleteIt's wild. A natural hybrid. It was a wonderful chance that birds planted it here. Once in a lifetime. But you've started me thinking of what I might plant, thank you. Thinking lilac, butterfly bush, star magnolia.
Deletehow lovely, and how poignant.
Deleteare you sure it won't resprout from the trunk? Most trees do, if you give them time.
Barring that, there is always Syringa, which has manners and rarely needs to be cut back or thinned out. Lilac is good, but it can spread, sometimes destructively.
The thing is that the rootball was exactly where it must be cleared for the new fence installation. No getting around that. And it was already sprouting in exactly the wrong place. It's gone, roots and all. That's the thing with a tree planted by birds bang under a fence!
DeleteI had a beautiful white lilac long ago, scent was so good. It never spread in any way because my young eager dog dug it up. And ate a lot of it. I think he was jealous of the attention I paid it.
I'm puzzled here. You mention syringa rather than lilac, but when I looked it up, it turns out syringa is lilac. So can you explain? maybe there's a particular kind you're referring to?
DeleteYes. It is all part of the cycle, just as we are.
ReplyDeletethe moment we come into being we start on the the path to our exit. the natural cycle. so glad you had those years of it's being.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's natural, and also hard to handle right now. But I'm thinking ahead and what I can plant now im that space.
ReplyDeleteIf and when we ever move I will miss the Blue Spruce I planted as a mere shrub - I don't even remember how long ago (maybe 10 - 15 years) bought on clearance out of some big box store's summer "nursery". I also think perhaps I didn't even expect it to become much. But today it's over our heads and wide enough to be a backdrop for photos. :) It's also now probably too close to the property line and it's possibly that if the neighbor on that side ever wants to to put up a fence, the spruce might need to come down. I hope we're not here if that happens. Yep. I will miss that tree.
ReplyDeleteBye bye Cherry.... you were a good tree. You shared your branches and your blossoms and your fruit, and you were appreciated and loved.
ReplyDeleteIt's so hard to see a good tree go. Another replacement possibility is a serviceberry. Same gracefulness for shade and beauty, same flowering and fruiting habits for wildlife - though no thorns for the squirrels. And lovely fall colors. And native. (Can you tell I'm a fan?).
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Chris from Boise
Oh, I checked and found I know this as the shadbush or shadblow. I know of it because it blossoms when the shad run. We're near the Delaware, and a great triumph of conservation was when the shad returned to the river. There's a big shad festival at New Hope, nesr here, to celebrate the return of the fish. Mot sure how the fish feel, since they're on the menu.
DeleteSuch a lovely tribute to a well-loved tree. Would that more people would feel that way over trees and not just chop them down willy-nilly because they get in the road of their view.
ReplyDelete