Forever Young

She's a beauty again.  How many years since she looked vibrant, I have no idea.  It has taken over a year of focused shaping and pruning by my Yard Wizard to bring her back to glory.  Dame Apple is young again.

In the beginning--February 2012--covered with Ivy
and not yet in leaf.  Is there really an apple tree in that mound?

For the thirty-five years we've lived next to her, the apple tree has always look like a mound of green garbage.

Ivy and Nightshade removed.

A grant from the city to restore native plants started the clean-up process.  That's when Yard Wizard took on the challenge.

Happily shaped and blooming last spring

She responded well to every step of the rejuvenation.

Perhaps someday the Things I get to do today will include finding out what kind of apple tree she really is.

New plantings of native trees surrounding her at the base, Dame Apple glows with new life.

Even Steven

The question caught me way off guard.  "Do you need someone to take away the wood?"  A helpful concern brought it forth.  Why did I feel funny inside when I heard it?

From "Coaxing Back Her Youth," you know I've been hanging out in the ditch with Dame Apple (tree) off and on for about 10 days, and not just holding her hand.  Tyler, friend and landscape/arborist, did the big tree-and-chainsaw work.  His skill and talent were not required for the clean up.  I could do that.  Clamoring up and down the steep, slick-as-slime, muddy bank, and hefting chucks of wood have filled in for my weight training and were the Things I get to do today for a couple of days as "tidiness and order" were restored to the work area.

Once-a-week pick up of yard debris 

So when the question came about the wood, for some reason I thought of "The Little Red Hen":  the heavy work is done.  Do I need help eating the bread (taking away the wood)?  Further reflection revealed that where help was truly needed was in removing the brush pile!  And a trade could be arranged. What a good idea!   Bring your yard debris bin, fill it with twigs and small branches, and help yourself to an armload of wood.  Even Steven.

Stuffed with apple twigs and branchlets

Many cans worth still waiting to be stuffed

Coaxing Back Her Youth--part 3

He can hardly wait until she blossoms.  We talked about the best part of bringing a tree back to life. Tyler was certain that it was hardly the shape, the fruit, or the shade.  It is, instead, the blossom time--spring, when she will blush with her own enthusiasm over the scent of the season.

So we will wait for the buds, the leaves, the flowers, the petals falling when a passing breeze admires this apple tree's new pink dress.  There may be few blossoms this first year as the tree finds her balance, but they will glorious in their freedom.

Before

Tyler has completed the major structural work, and, for now, the pruning and cutting are finished.  In a couple of weeks, the ends of some of the branches will be finessed. The now-bare arms will soon sprout strong, lush green. But  it won't be until next year that she will be really pretty. Handsome and shapely are enough for the present.*

After.  The stream is now free to flow.
Vines on the banks are part of the contracted clean up: work in progress

Before (side view)

After--crowbar will help us take off the last
of the ivy

I've been on the ground organizing and cleaning up--the only Things I get to do today--all the debris, branches, and trunks that were removed from Dame Apple.  It took all day, it required considerable effort, it was closer to "work" than "plark", but it pleased me very much to do it.  Gifting wood will be on tomorrow's list of Things. . . 

Many sweet fires with the chiminea 

For the yard debris bin or the chipper

Great for the fireplace

Excellent for smoking meats, I hear

*Epilogue will follow.

Coaxing Back Her Youth--part 2

In the beginning(yesterday)--just for a point of reference

Tyler came early today: 9:30 AM.  Tyler is the plant wizard who designed my back yard exquisitely when he was only 17 or 18 and now loves the plants into their finest shape.  I swear he is half monkey and has tree sap flowing through his veins instead of blood.  He is also the "arborist" of yesterday's post.*

At the end of yesterday's work--form emerging

He was eager to continue the make-over process and went right to work. He admitted some uncertainty about what the final results would be, but there is always a conversation between the plant and Tyler that blends into the highest and best outcome.  I'm confident of that and head off to other Things I get to do today.

Unveiling of an heirloom treasure.

Upon my return I nearly sprinted to the work area and sucked in my breath with the sight.  There she was, not finished yet, still some hag bones interrupting the vision, but she was coming, with remarkable strength for such an old lady, into a very handsome presence.  (To be continued).


*Tyler Doggett: email me through the "comments" on this post for his contact information and rates.

Coaxing Back Her Youth

My chickens are sitting in the shade.  It's not hot out.  They'd prefer a warm, sunny spot, but there are none to be found in their pen.  Poor chickens!

Hidden in the mass of ivy, blackberries, and nightshade is an apple tree.

Along side our property is a city right-of-way that is disguised as a drainage ditch.  Recent habitat restoration work has cleared much of the blackberry bramble and other invasive vines from its steep banks.  But an ancient, forever-untended apple tree has wandered up in all directions, bound and gagged by ivy and nightshade.  This mass/mess shades my chickens--and my garden beds.  Additionally, there's still some beauty in that apple tree that longs to be uncovered like an old hag in a folk talk who is transformed into a lovely princess.

Seen sideways, the tree shows a trunk.

The Things I get to do today are watch my arborist skillfully begin finding the dignity of this grand dame hidden under the vines and bring him coffee to keep warm in the gusting wind.  It will take several days, as he removes the wrist-sized ropes to find the trunks, and then calls forth the most elegant shape possible from their configuration.  As I watch, it is comforting to know that the demolition and debris are all part of the process, will be tended in their own time, and that all is well, even now.  Creative destruction it is called--an essential piece in moving toward balance, beauty and elegance.

Arborist removing chocking vegetation and beginning to shape the tree

The chain saw snarls through random arms, leaving those whose reach has hope of some purpose.  I love the process.  It has the flavor of organizing a room, rearranging the furniture, cleaning out a closet. Things get oh-so-much-worse before they get better.  And the better is bliss.  Join us for the ride there. (To be continued.)