Reclamations (A Mostly Crape Myrtle-Themed Blog Post)

The farm giveth. The farm taketh away. But pretty much the farm is in a giving mood, especially when it comes to trees.

Back in April we decided to dig up a tall, spindly crape myrtle that was growing at the base of a cedar tree along our lane. It was well over 20 feet tall and was growing and blooming out of the top of the cedar tree. We used the auger on the tractor to make holes around its base, but that didn't turn out so well as the auger got stuck on a cedar root and broke (we got it fixed later that week). We finally had to finish digging it out with a shovel and broke it into several pieces at the root. We didn't know if it would make it or not but we cut off the top fifteen or so feet ("crape murder") and planted the biggest piece.

It was a windy day and I'm desperately trying to stick the chopped off top back
on the trunk to show how tall it originally was. No luck. Too windy.

The tree just sat there for weeks and did nothing, no buds. We didn't know if it was alive or dead. One thin little piece had leaves and continued to live (wilted) as we watered it daily for at least two weeks. Eventually Neta planted a yellow mandevilla at the base. It it wasn't going to live it could at least serve as a trellis.

Then one day while cutting grass I noticed something...buds...all over the trunk. The skinny piece also had new foliage and flower buds! IT'S ALIVE!!!

Today it looks like this:

Quite the comeback!

We managed to keep another piece alive as well and it had been planted in our Goat Garden.

Another survivor!

We also have some cuttings in our greenhouse that Neta is nursing along. They came from new growth that was on it when we dug it up. Once they are more established they'll get a place in our yard/gardens as well.

We recently noticed two other crape myrtles growing up through a large camellia that has been on the farm for years.

The camellia beside the house.

I dug them both out while fighting off a ferocious nest of fire ants. Once again most of the roots tore off as they were entwined with the camellia roots, so survival is questionable, but expected.

One is a tall, skinny specimen like the previous crape myrtle, the other is smaller, but still spindly. They are getting daily soakings until they get established.

The taller one. It needed staking.

It's the Ichabod Crane of little crape myrtles.

I'm always on the lookout for "good" oak trees as I cut grass or walk around the farm. Recently I found a white oak growing next to the base of, you guessed it, a crape myrtle. Despite finding other oaks, the much sought after white oak has eluded me...until now.

A bucket of white oaks

It was just a little stub sticking up out of the ground, its roots entangled in the crape myrtle. Again I dug. Again I managed to mangle it and created 5 pieces from one oak. One piece had no roots at all and we determined that it wouldn't live at all, but we're keeping the other four in water for now and we'll see how they do before potting them for transplanting next year. I have visions of a grand and stately oak growing among all of our big, old live oaks here on the farm.

A couple of final notes:

A Peach! From our two very immature peach trees (planted last year) we got one edible peach. We weren't really expecting any with the trees being so young. Storms and other things knocked off all but one throughout the spring. It was ugly, but VERY delicious. It was shared during a visit of Neta's brother and his family.

The awful look belied its sweet and delicious flavor

And finally...despite being around since the early spring, Dragonfly season has come on strong. We love to watch them fly around our farm. They love to perch on anything that sticks out above anything else, including tall grass, cages around our fruit trees, the garden fence, bare twigs and your hand, especially when it's on the handle of a lawnmower or something similar.

Here is some video I shot where the dragonflies are backlit by the sun.

Have a great week!!!