Thursday, March 25, 2010

Japanese Weeping Cherry & Other Stuff


Several years ago, I purchased a "dwarf" Japanese Weeping Cherry for my back yard. Said "dwarf," which should have stayed at about 6'-8' high, is now approximately 25' high, due, no doubt, to lack of proper pruning. I've been rather disappointed in that since it was planted, it has never had very many blooms --- until this year!  I was thrilled to look out my kitchen window earlier this week to see the limbs literally covered in blossoms, from the tippy-top to the ends of the drooping branches, which almost touch the ground.

In trying to determine what could have caused it to blossom so beautifully, I came to the conclusion that it was the removal of several tall trees (the Raccoon Caper) from the west side of the yard. These must have been blocking the proper amount of sunlight required by this particular specimen. I can't think of anything else that has happened, environmentally speaking, that would have caused the change.

Below is a closer look at one of the blossom clusters. I love this pink!


This is my first full post since coming back online, and I've found that Blogger has changed somewhat. New options keep popping up, and I have to stop to view my choices.  I'll get used to the changes, I'm sure, and will eventually think they are just peachy-keen but, right now, they are simply distractions.

I've also discovered that I need to find the software for and reinstall my antique Photoshop Elements. I forgot how much I relied on it to resize my photos, something I haven't figured out how to do in Picasa. I tend to not try to learn more than I must to accomplish a specific task, a short-coming which keeps me in a perpetual learning mode.

Other stuff: While my computer was away, I finally tackled the enormous amount of paper I had allowed to build up (read:take over) in my office space. I've cleaned out nine book shelves, directly recycled about 500 pounds of non-sensitive, out-of-date materials and, for the past several days, have spent hours sorting through boxes of other papers which contain sensitive information and must be shredded. I've previously admitted to being a paper pack-rat, but I didn't realize until the last few weeks the sheer amount of stuff I've allowed to accumulate.  Nearly all of what I've been going through could and should have been eliminated years ago. Now, almost every piece of it has to be examined and either shredded or sorted into "office paper" or "mixed paper" before it can be taken to the recycling center.

I've actually found some things in the overwhelming stash that I want to keep, at least for a while, some of which I'll share with you as I need post fodder.

14 comments:

Hilary said...

Oh Pat.. this tree is beautiful. I've had a cherry tree which turned out to look like a dwarf tree due to lack of proper sunlight. There's a huge pine tree in my neighbour's yard - keeping it from growing properly. It's slowly dying.

Pat - Arkansas said...

Hilary -- I'm so sorry about your cherry tree! Perhaps you'll be able to plant another one elsewhere on your property where it will thrive.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Your Weeping Cherry is gorgeous... None in our area have bloomed yet. In fact, except for a few Daffodils, we don't have much spring color YET.... It will be here --just late this year.

We just ordered the new Photo Shop Element 8 from Amazon.com... They had a special for $59 ($79 with a $20 mail in rebate). You may want to order it.

Resize your photos in Picasa when you export your picture... You can resize it there.
Hugs,
Betsy

Jackie said...

This is simply gorgeous....each branch covered with these beautiful blossoms. I know you were thrilled beyond words to see it in full bloom this year. Your photos of it are great.
Love,
Jackie

Pat - Arkansas said...

Jackie -- please email me at patsschado_at_yahoo_dot_com. My hard drive had to be reformatted to bring my computer back to life. As a consequence, I lost my favorite blogs list, on which I had a connection to your site. Currently, I can't get there from here. :( Thanks, Pat

Anonymous said...

I feel somewhat sorry for you being a paper pack rat. I have been there and did that myself but had excuses because I did need paper samples from all the paper companies so I could find and specify a specific paper for a job to be printed on. So when I stopped doing advertising work for companies I had a lot of stock paper. Over the years I have thrown most of it away and gave a lot of it to the school.

You should feel better once you are finished with the job.

Your photograph of the weeping cherry is really nice. We had snow over night last night and about two inches with ice is covering everything this morning. So I am thankful we had nothing in bloom around here.

Arkansas Patti said...

Now that is a beautiful tree. Don't you wish they could let us know what they need instead of discovering by accident what makes them happy. I once moved a rose about two feet and it loved the new site much better.

Snap said...

WOW! I want a Japanese weeping cherry! I'm making a wish list for the garden. Poor thing, it really got the beejeebers (how do you spell a grannyism?!) knocked out of it this winter. So much bit the dust. Nice to have you back.

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful tree! I have a false cherry tree in the middle of my lawn which should, by now be flowering; but the winter has been severe and it is only now budding.

bittenbyknittin said...

Oh, the paper wars! I too struggle with keeping it under control. That tree is lovely! Several years ago I took out four silver maples and the additional sunshine has transformed my yard.

Femin Susan said...

Those photos are incredibely beautiful.your weeping cherry looks gorgeous.You must have been very trilled at this beautiful site.
Cheers!

Femin Susan said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.
Cheers!

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

How beautiful. I think you might be right about the increased sunlight making a difference.

Wanda..... said...

Your weeping cherry tree is beautiful. We have been doing the same with numerous papers!
Thank you for the visit to my blog and Birthday Wishes!
...Wanda