The Cherry Tree Dilemma: Mindfulness, Complexity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

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  In attachment blossoms fall, in aversion weeds spread. Dogen, Genjo Koan (1233 CE) Smack in the middle of the back yard is a non-native, very short tree that, when I moved in, looked like a dwarf, would-be weeping willow. Scraggly, neglected, it stood just over five feet high, and its branches hung down to the ground all around. It took up a fair amount of space; of course nothing grew in its shade. I did recognize it: a weeping cherry—not a naturally grown specimen of one of the beautiful Japanese varieties, but a “frankentree,” which, as Brian Funk of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has written, “are the flowering cherries on sale at home improvement stores” that “look like mops, or umbrellas, or octopus trees.” They are created when “weeping cherry branches… are grafted onto a straight trunk that was cut off at five feet tall.”  Well yes, exactly. Not only was it ungainly, but: what was the point of its existence, and what good would it do?  I mentally tagged it for rem...
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May Has Almost Slipped Away

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And I haven't posted blooms. So here is a list, sans the beautiful pictures on display at other blogs.

Non-native: Peonies (Shirley Temple? very old); Salvia 'May Night'; Siberian Iris 'Caesar's Brother'; Geranium sanguinum 'Striatum'; Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'; Clove-scented pinks; Nepeta; Centaurea montana; Gas plant (Dictamnus); Bleeding Hearts. White clover in lawn.

Native: Prairie phlox; Monarda bradburiana; Viburnum dentatum; Columbine (A. canadense); Honeysuckle vine (L. brownii); Amsonia; Blue-eyed grass; Prairie phlox; Viginia waterleaf; Coral bells; Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Unknown: raspberries.

Today is a beautiful blue-sky day.

Comments

Unknown said…
Monarda bradburiana . . . never heard of this one.  It's beautiful. I'm trying Mondarda punctata from seed this year. Hasn't bloomed yet, but already seems pretty drought tolerant.
May 29, 2010 at 8:47 PM
Adrian Ayres Fisher said…
M. puctata should do well in your zone. M. bradburiana is fairly rare. Someone gave me one plant which did well, and this winter I cold stratified seeds and have a number of starts which I've given to various friends.
May 30, 2010 at 6:17 PM
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