These Chinese dogwood trees have been blooming at the post office all week. Every day, when I go to get our mail they take my breath away.
Of course I love the flowers, but I also love the leaves and the shape of the small trees. I can't believe I never noticed these before, or perhaps I have, but since I wasn't thinking about gardening they just slipped my mind.
I would love to have a couple; I'm not one to want one of much of anything when it comes to the garden. I have no idea where I would put them though, really there is little room for trees unless I rip out part of the woodland overgrowth at the edges of the property. But I want these to be somewhere where I see them daily, not on the fringes.
Perhaps, if I ever pull out the Cottonwood tree, which is in the island in the middle of our driveway, I can plant small trees around the island with a patio in the middle? But the cottonwood is not about to go. G is completely unwilling to have it taken down because it is the only large tree that provides shade in that half of the yard and in fact the cottonwood and a large Maple at one corner of the house are the only two trees that provide any shade to the house.
The cottonwood is in a location where it does not impede any of my neighbor's views of the Hudson. If it did, I would have to cut it down, or top it at 20 feet, according to the covenant which comes as part of residing in this neighborhood. There is no other place I could plant a large tree, and I am not sure that it is important enough that I would pay the cost of bringing in a tree large enough to replace the shade of the cottonwood. Perhaps a collection of small shrubs and decorative trees, perhaps an arbor as well, around a patio would be the perfect plan. But I have to really track the sun's path. I don't need another patio or deck with the hot afternoon sun beating down on it, and I am not sure the house alone will provide enough shade to offer the afternoon respite now afforded by the large tree.
No rush anyway. My gardening plans tend to be of the very long term variety.
Comments
5 responses to “Things I wish I had in my garden”
I can see why you’d want at least one of these — they’re quite beautiful! I’ve done some similar scheming for years about how I could get a winter-flowering hazelnut (can’t come up with the proper name right now and didn’t, obviously, bring any gardening books to France with me to look them up!). Sadly, I’ve had to let that project go çause I just don’t have the right space. Hope you have more luck with your plans over the long term. It’s all part of the fun of gardening, isn’t it!
The petals on that flower are unbelievable. Such a beautiful tree. And what a lot of rules you have to follow. You should come to the city where anyone can impede the beauty at any moment and you have no say whatsoever. 🙂
“Your view of the Hudson”. I must pause so as my envy doesn’t get in the way. Okay, I am feeling better.;-)
Those flowers are so graphic in design that they almost seem too amazing to be real. Gorgeous garden.
Mater, a winter-flowering hazelnut sounds wonderful. I am always falling in love with things and then not finding the right space for them, or falling in love with something else and then forgetting my original plan. I love having a garden and watching it grow is fabulous but planning and dreaming about what to do in the garden is awfully entertaining also.
K-line, I think the petals are unbelievable also. It looks so exotic to me, and to think it can live right here in my own zone 6 garden. Wow. Rules are a pain, And my neighbor below me has a few trees that impede my view, but the main tree is the only one that provides shade to his house, and also provides a screen between him and his neighbor. I don’t feel that I need to cut that tree. They have offered to top it, but I have studied that and they would lose most of their shade. Besides I would be looking down on this tree with most of its head cut off, and that upsets me even more than having the tree there. I have enough view of the river without taking down that tree. No need to be greedy.
Most of the neighborhood would only have seasonal river views (winter) without the rules and perhaps this makes the property more desirable. I don’t know.
Belette, it’s odd, we used to travel a lot and every time we would come home we would think that people take vacations here, and we are so lucky. We tell ourselves that we should just stock the bar and settle down with a pile of books and order takeout and pretend we are away. But we don’t.
I try to appreciate it but still I find things to grumble about. Must be human nature.
Those flowers look so exotic to me, like something that couldn’t possibly grow here. And yet they do.
Mardel