Magnet Monday: DC in Bloom

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, May 18, 2015
"Washington DC", 3-D cast resin, circa 2010

The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC is over now, but our cherry tree is just getting started. 

Family on a high school trip to DC picked this up for us. We have them well trained. 


Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

Cinnamon Flakes Birch

Cinnamon Flakes Birch

(Betula chinensis)

WINTER UPDATE
The little birch has been a trooper through this winter. If you look closely, the branches are drawn in closer together, as if it's huddling together. Protection against wind? Reduce water loss??? Compare to the photo of the leafless tree last fall and tell me what you think. 

Look!! It's a Brrrrrrrrrr-ch!!  

I hope the branches spread out again once it warms up...

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Our little birch has really grown this season! Here's what it looked like when we brought it home in May: 

And now here in the fall, with just a few leaves left: 

Admittedly, the second photo is from a slightly different angle, but comparing the height of the tree against the window in October vs. May, and keeping in mind that the tree in May gets some height from still being in the nursery pot, I think it's doubled in size. To me that says we picked the right spot for it. 

It's growing so sturdy we were able to take away the bamboo support stake. The bark is living up to its name as well. Love it love it!

You are not imagining it if you think you've seen some of this before...  Part of this post was originally featured on my "In the Garden" page.

Service, Interrupted

UPDATED: I am pleasantly impressed to say that the service guys were very capable. Polite and efficient even. The one guy who initially arrived had a "whao dude!" moment after checking out the tree and did call in back-up, but they had everything repaired and service up in about two hours on the Monday after. 

It's a relief to be able to say something nice, which is actually a sad statement about our expectations of service calls. It's also the other side of the damn-skippy-I-pay-enough-every-month coin. 

At any rate: well done chaps. 

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We've been offline. Actually, we still are. I'm posting this out here during my lunchtime at "the day-job"... 

It's a drawback associated with large, old, largely dead trees. 

This one fell in the ravine behind our house. Thankfully it fell in the only way it could without damaging anything around it. Except for our internet/phone/TV service. I would guess the raccoon that was living up in it is also not happy about the free circus ride. 

Well... there's yer PROBLEM!!

Boy, the teenagers were not amused. Although without XBOX, we Wii-ed. Which was actually a lot of fun. 

Quick fix? I hope so...  I would really like to walk away from this feeling good about giving so much of our money to our service provider every month...

Rather than feeling, oh, I dunno, so unsupported. Disconnected even...

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Yesterday, the SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardeners held their annual plant sale. I did my homework ahead of time, poring over the 12 pages of plants offered. We managed to get at least one of almost everything on our short list, including another Woodland Poppy! Even the Cinnamon Flakes Birch tree that I knew I wanted but wasn't sure (i.e. had no idea) where it would go. It doesn't get very big and has really cool-looking bark, so I want it close to the house where we can see it. We're testing locations; this looks likely:

Cinnamon Flakes Birch possible backyard location 

We placed the other newbies out and about in the gardens where they will go. Noted with irritation that the deer are hungry - time to spray anti-deer stink. It/they ate most of the astilbes, chomped some hostas, Tiarella and even some Bloodroot. The bites that really chapped my arse are those on the Bishop's Hat and Lady's-Slipper orchids - WTF!! It only takes a couple bites to figure out they aren't tasty, but it only takes one or two bites to ruin the plant. I'm particularly miffed about the Lady's-Slippers; the plants came from my parents home and I'm keen for them to survive.

Anyhoo, we spotted a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak in our ravine. We saw him, had no idea what it was, and dashed into the house for binocs & a bird book. I've heard both the chirp and the song without realizing it; the song is likened to a robin with opera training, or one that's just really happy. That's what I've heard - a robin singing its heart out. I don't know how we ever missed spotting a bird as big and distinctive as this before.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rose-breasted_grosbeak/id

Tree + Wind = A Big Mess

Mother Nature did some serious pruning in our yard yesterday. One of the very large trees in our front yard lost most of its crown yesterday in 50mph gusts. Of the three there, it is the American Linden (or Basswood) in the middle between a Northern Red Oak and a Norway Maple. They provide a lot of wonderful shade for the front of the house (well, they did...).

Tree crown in the yard.

We're really lucky that the tree didn't come down on the house. Or anything in the road for that matter.

Tree across the road.

The trunk looks pretty rotted through, poor thing. It was probably only a matter of time before it came down. There was another branch high in the tree I had expected to go, but it is still attached. According to the neighbors, the tree was fine until about 4pm.

What's left of the trunk. You can see the long gouge up into the branch I thought would be the one to go.

By the time I got home from work the tree was down.  I made a mad dash out to purchase a chain saw; it was so overcast, the light was fading and we had to get it out of the road. There's a streetlight immediately across the street that proved very useful. I don't recommend using chain saws at night, however. As a rule.

The front yard this morning. We managed to get it cut back and removed from the street and sidewalk last night.

We're going to see if we can find someone to use the wood. geekMan found some info online that said basswood is good for carving and making instruments, but not so much for burning in wood stoves. And of course, the rest of the tree will probably have to come out. It's like a bad tooth. It makes me sad  to lose such a mature and graceful tree. The two remaining trees will still provide a fair amount of shade for the house. The space will seem so empty though, I'm hoping we'll plant another tree. A birch would be nice...

Also, if anyone in the Milwaukee area is interested in the wood, give me a holler in the comments :-)