Happy Little Trees

John has issued a no-more-new-trees-plants-bushes ban for our small patch of green, and I have to admit he's right. If I had my way, I'd pack the yard full of just about anything that my favorite plant nursery has for sale. Which would make our property look like some kind of Pacific northwest jungle.

So if I'm limited to a finite number of trees and plants, I have decided that the greenery that grows in our yard has to be healthy and happy. On our little splotch of land, there's not much room for unhappy vegetation.

This week John rolled up his sleeves and took a chainsaw and shovel to a few trees that just didn't make this year's happy tree list. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I still couldn't watch as he took down a very bug-infested and overgrown ornamental plum tree and an oddly shaped spindly ironwood tree. Once they were neatly stacked as campfire wood, I unscrunched my eyes and started thinking about what would take their place.

Nice of Greg to loan us his truck to haul away leftover brush.

This little honeycrisp apple tree is going to tentatively be allowed to stay, but I'd say it's not particularly happy. Wonder what we're doing wrong? It's been here for two years but has yet to sprout one blossom, unlike all of the other fruit trees that have been blooming and producing fruit from season one. Which makes our other apple tree unhappy since it's supposed to cross-pollinate with it.

Now these guys are so happy they're laughing. In pear blossoms.

Keep it down out there, guys. The neighbors might complain.