A superstar small tree along the driveway bed, this cherry has impressed me from the start. Planted about five years ago, it fruited the first year. In fact, I’ve read warnings that growers should take the cherries off the first few years when they are tiny so the tree puts some energy into branch growth instead of fruit production.

Unlike the sweet cherries that seem to be hit-or-miss when it comes to setting fruit and ripening it, Morello sets loads of cherries every year. The tree is small enough that we can net the whole thing to keep the birds out. Well, almost. The crows still find a way.

This is how the tree looks today (5.2.20).

My 2020 plans for this plant are to fertilize it and net it early against thievery and make a pie from the cherries for the first time.

The second house my parents bought for the family had a small orchard, including apples, a pear, a cherry, and an Italian plum tree. I’m not naively nostaligic about that orchard. I saw all the work that went into it. But having fresh fruit was always such a treat and the trees had all-season beauty.

For my mini orchard at home, I wanted apple trees that would take up less space. I ended up adding two columnar apples at first in the orchard bed, then adding two more columnar apples along the driveway. The first two trees have grown well and they produce large crops every other year that I fight to keep from the squirrels. They varieties are Scarlet Sentinel and North Pole. The North Pole is really tall now–probably fifteen feet, and is only blooming at the top this year. The Scarlet Sentinel lost its original leader, so it is less columnar and more compact.

The second set of trees, planted about three years ago, haven’t produced apples yet–but it looks like this might be the year.

My 2020 plans for these trees are to feed them and to put nylon bags on the fruit early on. I may also create a net structure at the base of the trees so the squirrels might stay away.

Known as the Iranian Poppy or the Persian Poppy, this is my favorite poppy of all time. I started my plants from seed over twenty years ago and they impress me every year with their huge, brilliant blooms in May.

I have two big clumps of these poppies left in the raspberry bed close to Burke Avenue. My 2020 goal for them is to try to increase the population by taking root cuttings. I will feed them a bit and weed and trim around them in the spring so they keep on popping out giant poppies for years to come.

One of a few ornamental plants that existing on our property when we purchased this house, this Camellia hybrid is on the fenceline with our northern neighbor. About twenty years ago, I pruned it way back so that it looked more like an interesting tree. Lately, however, it has overgrown its space and needs to be dealt with in a drastic way again.

The flowers are huge, light pink affairs. Taken individually, they are beautiful things. The shrub, taken as a whole during the spring, is typically a mess. The older flowers hang on and turn brown while new flowers open. And rain turns them brown faster.

I wanted to figure out the identify of this hybrid but found out that there are 33,000+ different Camellia hybrids registered! Maybe someday!

My drastic 2020 plans for this plant are to cut it way back, hopefully giving it a pleasing, interesting shape. Camellias respond well to pruning, so it will snap back in a year or two. Another related project–I want to plant a clematis at the base of this plant and see if it will add some flowers to the space in the summer.