In keeping with my To Do list for the year, one of the first orders of business around the ranch was to remove our dead and dying street trees and replace them with healthy saplings. While we're at it, we've got a large stump in the front rose bed we're looking at removing, our cherry tree is quickly growing too large and needs a professional pruning and the apple and pear in the front could probably use a good pruning by a trained eye as well.
As for our plum tree, you may remember last year that it never grew. It briefly budded late in the season, but then went dormant. The first year we were in our house the plum tree was beautiful and gave a hefty harvest. In fact we still have some canned whole plums and plum jam from our first summer in the pantry. One day when I was out working in the yard a woman stopped while driving by to let me know her niece used to live in our house and that the plums were delicious; they enjoyed them every year. But then, this last year - no plums. No flowers. No leaves. We've had two arborists confirm, the plum tree is dead. I'm very upset by this. If one of the trees was going to die, why couldn't it have been the cherry tree? It's almost too tall to harvest from anyway!
Moving forward we will have to make a new plan for future trees on our lot. I have been wanting to get some of the multiply-grafted fruit trees. Several varieties of one fruit, ie apples, plums or pears, are grafted onto one tree. Then from one tree, each branch grows a different variety of the same fruit. Maybe we will put in a small studio in the backyard where the plum tree used to be. Though this opens up space for new possibilities it is so sad to see a mature tree that had spent so many years to get to the point it was at, have to go. We will be doing the tree removal in a few weeks and then start replanting.
As for our plum tree, you may remember last year that it never grew. It briefly budded late in the season, but then went dormant. The first year we were in our house the plum tree was beautiful and gave a hefty harvest. In fact we still have some canned whole plums and plum jam from our first summer in the pantry. One day when I was out working in the yard a woman stopped while driving by to let me know her niece used to live in our house and that the plums were delicious; they enjoyed them every year. But then, this last year - no plums. No flowers. No leaves. We've had two arborists confirm, the plum tree is dead. I'm very upset by this. If one of the trees was going to die, why couldn't it have been the cherry tree? It's almost too tall to harvest from anyway!
Moving forward we will have to make a new plan for future trees on our lot. I have been wanting to get some of the multiply-grafted fruit trees. Several varieties of one fruit, ie apples, plums or pears, are grafted onto one tree. Then from one tree, each branch grows a different variety of the same fruit. Maybe we will put in a small studio in the backyard where the plum tree used to be. Though this opens up space for new possibilities it is so sad to see a mature tree that had spent so many years to get to the point it was at, have to go. We will be doing the tree removal in a few weeks and then start replanting.
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