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<\/a><\/p>\nI tackled the shrubs along the fence today\u2013including the tatarian honeysuckle in the corner. \u00a0This is the only shrub that I actually pollard. \u00a0Because of the aggressive growth, its really the only way to keep it in line. \u00a0You can see to the right of it, there are three trunks. \u00a0These were suckers from the black locust tree that is haunting that fence. \u00a0The tree was cut down over 20 years ago by our neighbor. \u00a0It suckered a bit after being removed, but I kept on top of it pretty good for many years. \u00a0Somehow, one of the suckers snuck up and reached about 25 feet tall, with a six inch diameter trunk. \u00a0I had it cut down last year when the bitter cherry was cut out. \u00a0These three suckers were the result\u2013ten to fifteen feet tall each! \u00a0I have a love\/hate relationship with black locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia). \u00a0I love them in other people\u2019s yards and hate them in mine! \u00a0I\u2019m still bleeding from fighting those three suckers\u2013they bite back with stout thorns! \u00a0And it is even tougher to cut them down, knowing they will be back!<\/p>\n
I pruned the David Austen roses, too, but not much. \u00a0Most of them look pretty good\u2013one of them (Ebb Tide) looks a little sickly. \u00a0You can see what Ebb Tide looks like here<\/a>. \u00a0It is so beautiful, it is definitely worth babying a bit. \u00a0I pruned everything around it so it should get more sun.<\/p>\n The espaliered Asian pear with five cultivars looks pretty good. \u00a0Some of the grafts are more vigorous than the others. \u00a0I pruned it a bit to eliminate growth that was headed the wrong way.<\/p>\n Here is a Chester blackberry start that I purchased online last year from Raintree Nursery. \u00a0It isn\u2019t in a great place for a small plant, but once it gets some growth on it, I think it will do fine here, between the Asian pear and the Santa Rosa plum.<\/p>\n The wallflowers that I grew from seed two years ago didn\u2019t die back at all\u2013they seem very healthy and happy near the plum tree. \u00a0I should get good flowers from these this year.<\/p>\n View towards the street. \u00a0The large tree in the foreground is a Glacier cherry on Gisela 5 rootstock from Raintree. \u00a0The tree is approaching ten feet, which should be its max. \u00a0The challenge is keeping the birds away from the cherries. \u00a0I planted a few wild cherry trees and two other cultivars last year so that there would be cross pollination. \u00a0This tree is supposed to be self fertile, but it only seems to produce ripe cherries every other year so far. \u00a0It was planted five years ago. \u00a0The other berries, the goumi and the aronia are all in this photo. \u00a0Things look pretty clean at this point\u2013just need to wait for warmer weather to fertilize things a bit and enjoy the show of flowers and fruit that will hopefully follow.<\/p>\n Here are two containers of prunings from the orchard bed. \u00a0You can also see the trunk-like end of a branch that came down from the Douglas fir tree late last year.<\/p>\n You get more of a sense of the side of the branch that fell into the Doug fir bed. \u00a0I didn\u2019t have the energy to saw it up today\u2013will tackle it next weekend.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coming off multiple snowy weeks and wind\/rain storms, today dawned bright and warm. \u00a0My goal was to get out there and spend a few hours cleaning up the orchard garden\u2013and I made it! \u00a0It felt wonderful! I tackled the shrubs along the fence today\u2013including the tatarian honeysuckle in the corner. \u00a0This is the only shrub … Continue reading Springlike Day<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n