Landscaping Continues

When we moved to Minnesota, who knew I was going to get excited about fruit tree pollination? The fruit trees that grow best here are certain varieties of apples, pears, cherries, plums, and grapes. Our goal by next summer is to have two apple trees (they will get planted next week), grapes, and either two pear or two plum trees. Joe will be happy to have his mini-orchard.

Haralson apple is one of our two apple trees we will plant. 

The other is Honeycrisp

We have decided that part of the backyard will be similar to our front yard in Woodland. The backyard is on a slope, so Joe is removing grass, leveling one area at a time, and creating a terrace effect with brick. We will use natural shredded hardwood mulch on the ground. In addition to the fruit trees, we will plant flowers, bushes, and herbs. I have been researching and making lists of what I would like to see in the area. For plants and flowers, we are looking at Flame Grass, Tater Tot Arborvitae, Midnight Marvel Hardy Hibiscus, and a wildflower seed mix that is perennial and deer resistant. Herbs will include garlic chives, catnip, mint, thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, dill and parsley.

I suggested we get a water fountain for the backyard garden area. Joe’s response was, “Why?” It was not a ‘sarcastic’ why. It was true bewilderment. I responded, “Because it would look pretty.” No more was said. Next year when we are finished with the area you may see a fountain in the photos I plan to post.

All of this will take time to come to fruition. When we have it finished, Joe believes it will be minimal maintenance while also satisfying the farmer in him. 

The rose bushes from my Uncle Dick and Aunt Sue in Ohio are thriving in the Minnesota soil. The rose ground cover they gave us is doing well in planters at the front of the house.

This morning the tree trimmers were back to clear tree limbs from the electric and other lines that run down the backyards of our neighbors. I watched them for an hour. They trim for clearance, certainly not for aesthetics. I feel sad watching them hack up a tree leaving odd pieces at weird angles. Clearing live branches next to a dead branch – leaving the dead branch next to it because their job is to clear what is closest to the wires. Our neighbor directly behind us now has three very disturbing looking trees on his side of the property line. We had already cleared out dead branches, sick trees, and underbrush on our side of the property line before the transformer/tree fire late last month. Joe took care to trim the trees on our property with healthy future growth in mind.

Certainly, I am grateful that the lines are being cleared. We want to minimize the risk of another fire.