Relative Something

*this* John W. Hays' take on things and experiences

Posts Tagged ‘frost damage

Those Days

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It’s been one of those days lately at the day job. Several of those days, actually. So, on my off-day of the week, I’m still grinding away on the work email to address issues. Issues that come in bunches. Bunches of issues that I prefer not occur.

But they do.

DSCN4750eI looked out the bedroom window this morning and spotted a volunteer oak sapling that I staked up last year in hopes it would become well established and fill a void created by the loss of a pine. The new leaves are all wilted and sad.

It got me thinking that the same thing would likely have occurred to the new transplanted maple in the center of our labyrinth, had it actually sprouted new buds this spring.

So is it a good thing that it didn’t grow?

Maybe I’ll look at it that way. By not thriving after being transplanted, it avoided the fate of frozen new growth last weekend. Smart little tree.

It’s been one of those springs, thus far.

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Written by johnwhays

May 20, 2016 at 8:35 am

Wilted Leaves

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IMG_iP1369eI heard on the radio yesterday that the local vintners suffered significant losses to their grape-vine crops because of the two nights of below freezing temperatures last weekend. Of all the plants on our property, the wild grape vines look the worst. Luckily, we don’t need to harvest any fruit from these vines. Ours are all volunteer plants spread most likely by the activity of birds.

Growing right beside the vine in that picture is a large poplar tree. It doesn’t look too good, either.

The first thing that stands out is simply the lack of healthy green color in the leaves. They all look too pale and are a little droopy, but a small portion are curling along the edges.

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I took a picture of a maple tree across the driveway from it for comparison. Does the difference in coloring show? Maybe not as obviously as the difference in number of leaves on each. The maple is way ahead of the poplar, and maybe that contributed to it surviving the freeze so much better than the other. New growth seems particularly fragile in the presence of freezing temperatures.

It’s sad to see how harsh this can be on growing plants, and frustrating to be so powerless to protect them all.

It has me feeling a little wilted, right along with the leaves.

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Written by johnwhays

May 19, 2016 at 6:00 am