Garden Thoughts
We planted five oaks when we moved into this house sixteen years ago. Two Chinquapin. Four Lacy. And a Burr. The Lacys and one Chinquapin are part of the original planting. The Burr is the second of its kind, as is one of the Chinquapin. The current batch is doing well. I stand in their shade, strain to see the tops, and two of the Lacys are starting to overtop the drive, while another offers shade to our visitor parking spot.
Other trees of note are two Mountain Laurels and an Eve’s Necklace. All three are in a row and mark the end of the driveway. They are maturing nicely and should be long lived. I can stand in the shade of the Eve’s Necklace as well. The laurels have a way to go in the height area. They’re head high after starting at my knees, and it’s been slowing going. But that’s their nature. You don’t plant a mountain laurel for instant shade. It’s a tree for the future, and your old age. So, it’s best done young at a house where you plan to live a while.
As for the rest of the yard, I call it a garden, but truth be told I really like the wildland look, which means my garden probably looks weedy and untidy to most. There are numerous, small, understory trees, and nothing blooms at the same time. There’s color in the spring and over the summer, but it comes and goes as plants rise and fall. And some of the blooms are subtle. But I suppose a garden is for the gardener and this is what I like, a garden for the slow walk, at all the times of day, and in all the seasons. A garden under the trees, a garden for me.