I took this picture of my little dawyck purple beech on April 28. I love how the new leaves are so fuzzy. It makes me wonder if the tiny hairs on the ends of the leaves serve as some protection from a predator, some bug that can’t get a grip. In any case, I love looking at her spring leaves because they are so delicate and beautiful. And I’m happy she made it through the winter, and so far survived the predator that got my gingkoes.
The beech sits in a little pot underneath the kitchen window. I’ve been blogging about her progress ever since she arrived in the mail back on May 6th last year. And *gasp!* the other day, I was sitting in the computer room when Mike knocked on the window holding up the pot. “What is this?” he said.
Remembering my ill-fated gingkoes, I jumped up from my chair and with a pained look said, “That’s my beech tree!”
“What should I do with it?” he shouted through the glass.
Um, lemme see, “How ’bout you put her back underneath the kitchen window?”
She still looks like a weed to him.
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 9:45 am
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:45 am
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 8:35 am
I’ve been taking a picture of my dogwood blossom every day, but just haven’t had time to post it. This picture is from early this morning. She’s so beautiful. Thing is, I wouldn’t know how beautiful she is if I didn’t take the time to look. Today I’m grateful for having the time to look. (Pardon the scratches on the picture. I was playing around with some textures in photoshop. It looks really pretty as a big image, but here it just looks scratched. Ahhh well, live and learn.)
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 5:29 pm
“I know why your
arborvitae keep dying,” Bradley said.
I did not look away from my computer screen.
“Mom!”
“Yes Bradley. You were saying?”
“Would you at least go out and take pictures of your arborvitae? They miss you. They’re dying because you’ve stopped paying attention to them.”
All this time I thought it was because of Bradley’s moisture-hogging, shade-birthing maple tree.But no. Uh, sorry. I have to end this post early. I’ve got trees to save…
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:09 am
Ok, see this? This is what teeny tiny scale bugs look like when they’re newborns. They’re whitish. Torpedo-shaped. They don’t move around much. You probably won’t see them
moving at all. In fact, they are so tiny, you can barely see them unless you’re looking, or unless you happen to have a camera with a serious macro lens. Actual size: ummmm, I’m looking around my desk for something really really tiny. Ohp. Got it. Go get the newspaper. Any newspaper will do. Well, not a large print one, a regular one, like The New York Times. Ok, now go reduce it on a copier about 40 percent. Find a comma. That’s how big these baby scale bugs are. In a week or so, they’ll be about the size of a pencil eraser, and they’ll be purple, and they won’t move at all. They’ll just sit there on my tree and suck.
I hate scale bugs.
For last year’s scale bug drama, click here. (If you have the stomach for it.)
posted by Julie Walton Shaver at 7:19 am
