Pink Oak! Thursday, May 7 2015 

gardening acairfearann 19:24

No not ‘pin’. Actually, this is our baby white oak. A carefully found (that took a bit of doing thanks to the high deer population) offspring of the big white oaks down below the Royal Oak pasture. When I dug it up several years ago, it was about six inches tall with a tap root deeper than the shovel. Careful excavation was required.

Today it is almost two feet tall (several years have passed) with multiple branches. Someday, it may rule the northwest lawn. Maybe in my nieces’ generation?

One of the reasons I selected it (aside from the repeat failure of commercial white oaks) was the spring color: rose pink. It should have lovely form as well, that will be told only by time.

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You will observe the fence and the white flag (deer repellent)

 

Daffodils two Wednesday, May 6 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 20:41

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Amazing how the sun angle changes the colors!

 

Daffodils Monday, May 4 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 20:22

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A quick walk Saturday, May 2 2015 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 20:35

around the place, widdershins as seems typical, from a few days ago, at this time of the year things change so quickly that these are now out of date:

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Nightmares Thursday, Apr 30 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 21:19

There are, of course, many things to keep one up at night. I don’t usually post about the house here, only the garden and the odd bit of history. That is mostly due to requests by various family members. The house is a nice house, a bit too sprawling perhaps with an eclectic interior. It has a lot of family heritage in it, quite complete.

I am, no surprise to those that know me, something of an Anglophile. Indeed, were it not for this place, I’d likely be quite happily back over there.* Part of this is due to an appreciation for the British approach to estates. It may be, often is, observed in the breach; but there is an idea that an estate should be maintained and passed on to the next generation and reciprocally that the generation in question has a responsibility to it. This, of course, is less common in the UK than it used to be; but it has never been common here.

Frequently, generations of the same family work to maintain such estates; increasingly they are at the forefront in agriculture, forestry, museum, library, and other such professions. These aren’t just tourist attractions, but a working legacy to be passed on, with a love for the sentimental past balanced with practicalities of modern budgets and interests.

This place is nowhere near the size or grandeur of such places; but I feel a certain kinship to such people. What will happen to this place? I don’t know. I do know that when one works daily to maintain and improve such a place one does, in a very real sense, fall in love. It is part of one, whether you own it legally or not.**

There are day time worries, usually about taxes and bills, but then there are the nightmares. I confess, my thoughts went to the people of Clandon House, Surrey, England today. There are much greater tragedies of course, but I can’t imagine what the staff feels like right now.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-32528435

Good reason to double check the electrics.

 

*As odd as it may seem, despite still firmly believing the American principles, I find the lower level of hypocrisy in British politics refreshing; they are still All bastards but they are more honest in admitting it.

** Is it stupid of me? That is a matter of opinion.

 

Unusual plant for the day Wednesday, Apr 29 2015 

gardening acairfearann 21:38

I haven’t found the ideal location visually for this one yet. The chionodoxa (bright blue) are spectacular against the river birch, the scilla (Siberian Squill) tend to be happiest in areas where the lawn greens up fairly early (so one has a saturated blue against the green). On the other hand, the Puschkinia are very happy, and multiplying, beneath the Paper birch; but the reflective, light tan leaf litter in the area reduces the impact of their flowers. Fussy of me!

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica (Striped Squill), native to the Causcaus. Similar in timing, growth, and habit to the scilla and the chionodoxa, very tough, white flowers with a blue stripe, about four inches tall.

 

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Not Pooh Monday, Apr 27 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos acairfearann 20:31

While contemplating our big Cucumber Magnolia for some troubling die-back*, I noticed something odd. At first, I thought it was an ambitious woodpecker. This was worrisome since ambitious woodpeckers mean ill trees. But, when I put my hand against the marks, my nails fit the marks….

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The red mark on trunk is about six and a half feet above the ground. You can see some other scrapes on the trunk to the bottom right.

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Here is another mark, on the other side of the tree. The spacing is roughly an inch in between slashes. The sets of slash marks are roughly paired, and about four feet apart, climbing the tree.

No guesses?

It would appear that one of our local bears climbed the tree in the last few days. I agree with them that it is a lovely tree to hang out in, nice big horizontal branches, a good view, and all….but!

 

* It is officially #16 on the Connecticut Notable tree list for size, but may have moved up the list since the measurement. The tree is probably the most central tree in our landscape, so any dead branches are worrisome.

 

Learning Sunday, Apr 26 2015 

Landscapes acairfearann 20:46

It is always useful, interesting, and otherwise educational, to go to nearby places and look at them from a different angle. Even when, especially when, you think you know them.

For example, I have crossed this bridge many times, almost daily recently, but I have never bothered to go down below it.  It is a good sized bridge (that white pine over there is a fully mature tree, no twig). Yet, we are so used to our environment, in this case a fairly narrow road deck, that we don’t stop to appreciate it nor to look at the thing as a whole. Go look, again, from a different angle, on a different day, and the world is new.

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(Satan’s Kingdom, if you were wondering)

 

 

brrrr Friday, Apr 24 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 20:13

It snowed!

Still we will get there. A photo from last year, I wish it was a bit sharper, but rather fun nevertheless.

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Busy! Wednesday, Apr 22 2015 

gardening acairfearann 22:02

We got the fallen pine tree, one of two fallen pine trees actually, shifted today, with the help of the red dragon. Hydraulics are wonderful helpers! Now to find a nice replacement spruce for the one that was squished by the old pine. Probably a Norway spruce, similar to the mature one a bit to the south. (Much smaller though!! Pity one can’t move 80 foot trees…)

The vegetable garden is being dug, slowly. The peas aren’t in yet, though, which seems a bit  late; but then the lilacs are only just starting to swell.

The crocus are almost done, with only a sparkling scatter of pure white crocus out in the meadow, (which is lovely emerald green, quite elegant).* The daffodils are beginning to bloom, all at once for some reason and relatively short. Don’t ask.

*Including one way, way out in the field about as far as one can go.  A very ambitious chipmunk no doubt, I feel bad about him forgetting his dinner location though…

 

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