Existing Trees

Before I start thinking about fruit trees, I have to make sure I set aside some room for my existing trees.

That's right, the cheerful pot specimens I've been lugging around with me since my University days, when they wouldn't let me have my cat in the rental apartment...so I brought trees.

While this was a gift from a Canadian, I have a sneaking suspicion that my "Sugar maple" is in fact a liquidambar. I don't want it to be, because the liquidambar doesn't have the romantic appeal - nor the Canadian connection! - of the maple.

Nevertheless, I've enjoyed having it as my little companion; it turns yellow in Autumn when I'm living near the coast, and turns red when I'm further inland.

We had a week of Ludicrously Scorching Weather about six weeks ago which burnt all its leaves off, but to my relief it's come back from the Twiggy Dead, and hopefully I can get it into the ground soon and give it the reward it deserves for ten years of potplant service.

I'm pretty sure these two are real maples. On the far left, though you can't really tell from the photo, the coral maple has the most attractive pink bark and pale, frost-green leaves. I wish I had a dozen of these.

Next to it is the Japanese maple, which was a spectacular weeping specimen before the LSW burned all its leaves off, and killed everything above the graft.

Oh well. I'm not exactly horrified by the interesting regrowth that's happening below the graft. And I'm sort of from the "if it dies then it's not tough enough" gardening school, so I'll make the best of what's left and see if I can't train a new trunk out of that tangled mess.

The tree on the right is a lilly-pilly which I begged Action Man to buy me for Christmas one year (it was trimmed into a perfect cone, and worked wonders as an indoor Christmas Tree covered in fairy lights and blue baubles).

My argument at the time was that I'd use it as a Christmas Tree every year, and we'd save money by not buying pine trees.

HA HA, save money HA HA.

I've had to repot the thing ten times because nasty green ants keep taking up residence in its pot, and when the baby came along I totally neglected the topiary aspect, so it's not really conical any more.

Can't wait to put it in the ground. The little magenta fruits are yummy, and neglecting to prune seemed to encourage heavy fruiting.

Finally, my trusty blueberry. Also took a beating in the hot weather. Also has made something of a comeback. I can't remember what kind it is, which is a shame because it's always been a good provider and I'd like to get more. Unlike the strawberries, which were always getting devastated by slugs no matter how many pellets I put down, a meagre scattering in the base of the pot was always enough to keep the pests off my blueberries.