Storm front

The tree in spring

After the latest string of hot days last night's rainstorm was overdue, but again it took the perhaps most severe toll on our garden. The last of the old maple trees which stood there already for 50 years when we moved here about 10 years ago will have to come down today! We had it cabled a few years back, but a large crack did never heal and a few strong winds yesterday was all it took to break it apart!
Coincidentally it was also the birthday of two of our sons, boys 10 years apart, one 21, the other 11! ( : )) )

Roses from the garden and a giant 'burger' cake for the birthday boys!

The youngest son's impromptu garden party came to an abrupt  halt after we heard the cracking of the tree after the first strong winds. 
A frantic call to our tree guy confirmed the diagnosis and now the man are up there, removing branch by branch. How easy it is to reduce a tall tree to shredded wood after 60 + years of growth....
I can hear the shredder now as I write.

We will leave the last remaining large piece, unable to part with it completely, but it might buy us only a year or two more. It's sentimental, but the character of the garden and the house will be so changed, we can't bear it yet!
You must think by now that this is not a design blog at all, I am talking too much of gardens and trees. But as I understand it, it is all part of the larger picture, the frame to our lives and lifestyle.
Garden design has become of more and more interest and I feel my attention shifting, especially in the summer month!
Still the lasting impressions of our visit last week to one of Europe's most amazing gardens at Sanssouci left me again with the urge to plant and to leave a mark for future generations, more then I can perhaps leave with my interiors. 

250 year old copper beech tree at Sanssouci

A fruit tree, spreading across the ground.

Trees last so much longer!
The small land we have will hold more memories one day for our kids. At least that's what I hope for. And if it should get sold eventually, others may enjoy some large trees one day, then planted long ago, spending much needed shade in future summers.
Often I have thought about the people who build the home we live in, when our neighborhood was developed, right in the years after the Second World War.
They planted azaleas and rhododendrons, which are so large now and gorgeous, Japanese maples and magnolias, and perhaps the old trees which have shaded our house until recently where left from the natural environments, grown wild before the land was sold! 
I thanked them silently many times!
There were forests here and a small pickle farm, where our elementary school now stands since the 50's only a few hundred yards from our house.
We have changed the front face of the house and walk way, planted already a few young trees there, but now with the fall of the last giants we will have to rethink the garden plans again!

 
I know, perhaps some will say just roll with the punches, you will get used to it, but for us living with our garden is as essential as for others the kitchen renovation....

It's a summer of changes and although I mourn the loss of this big part of the last old tree I am hopeful that new plantings will be done by us with enough foresight to bring joy to us and many more in future years. And perhaps this last one standing will survive a few more withering storms!


I have been writing other posts from my "tree - house", one you might enjoy you can find here!
I guess I am a tree woman and I don't mind that image a bit!




xx
Victoria



All pictures by V.Zlotkowski