Storm damage

Last night a thunderstorm blew through at about 60 mph.  I stood at my dining table window and watched.  It blew hard, but there was not a lot of thunder and somehow it seemed a more mild storm than others we've had.

Until I went outside afterwards and discovered this huge willow branch came down, smashing the fence underneath it.

It missed the house by less than ten feet. 

So while I'll have to pay to have it removed, and the fence fixed, in fact I'm really lucky!

Morning has Broken, 9

A windy morning at Busy Solitude Farm.  You can hear the gusts.  Unstable spring weather as the jet stream shifts into warmer mode.

Everything is waking up after a week or two in the 40s and 50s, along with quite a bit of rain.

Walk down here and you'll see I've planted two Coppertina ninebarks to fill in a gap on the south fence.  The one on the left I bought last summer and neglected until the last moment that I could put it in the ground.
 

All winter I worried "will it survive?  Will it wake up?"  Now you can see those red leaves beginning to peek out.  Maybe it was jealous of the one on the right, which I bought a couple of weeks ago at a local nursery.

Such a gorgeous color!

The grass grew gangbusters this week.  Due for a mow again already -- I cut the main lawn last weekend.  That is what spring is all about.

That and wind.  Just look at this wind.



Hey! Who's that?!

See how we grow

See how our garden grows!  I planted this river birch a couple of years ago, and after a summer spent putting down roots, this year it really added height.  Think it's not so tall?  Here it was just planted:

Oskar hasn't shrunk particularly, so now you can see the change.

I planted river birch because it's a wet area, and because I love the peeling bark.  For the first couple of years it just grows, but I noticed while taking this morning's picture that the peel has begun!

Isn't it beautiful?  I'm looking forward to much more growth in the next years. 

Oskar -- "OK!"

My yard is ringed with evergreen trees put in by other people. I suppose the idea was to screen the yard from the street visually, and maybe as a wind block, although the predominant wind is not blocked at all.

After my first winter here, I discovered one large pine had died. Removing it left a hole in the "pine-screen". For two years I pondered what to do. Replace it with another pine? No, the monotony does not appeal to me and I would much rather diversify. Add a few bushes for color and berries? The proportions didn't seem right.

So this spring I planted a river birch inside the fence but in line with the empty spot. When grown, its height will be appropriate, but because it is deciduous, the leaf texture contrasts with pine needles, and in the winter the bare, peeling branches will be lovely next to the evergreens. And a big plus -- river birches are accustomed to having wet feet, which a tree gets most anywhere in my yard at some point!

As you can see from the photo, Oskar is quite pleased with my choice!