The arborist

Back in the summer, Fairy Girl's bunny died. It was sad for all involved, but I buried it on the spot where I'd unsuccessfully tried to grow an apple tree a few years earlier, with the promise we'd plant a tree there once the weather cooled off. Well, January's about as cool as it gets in Texas, so Saturday we took the short drive over to Marion to peruse the fruit tree selection at Schulz Nursery. I like Schulz. Heck, I love Schulz over all other nurseries--and that includes some pretty good ones in the San Antonio/New Braunfels area. First, they always have a good selection. Second, there's a playground there for the kids to entertain themselves on. This may seem trivial, but it's not. Thirdly, and by far most important, when you're checking out they ask questions like "Have you checked the chill hours on this peach tree? Are you sure you've gotten one appropriate for your climate?" Call me crazy, but I love competence! I've gotten such spectacularly bad advice from otherwise highly-regarded nurseries (for the record, pomegranate bushes do not come in male/female varieties, and fruit-producing types are not double-flowered) that Schulz has earned my loyalty.

Seeing as how I killed two apple trees in my ill-fated apple experiment, peaches were the way to go this time, since they have a long and successful history in the area. We came home with an 8-foot La Feliciana type, which is a low-chill variety that produces large, free-stone fruit which ripen by early July. Yay. I planted it just north of the departed bunny's grave, mixing sand and topsoil with the black clay subsoil to improve downhill drainage (although standing water's never been a problem around here). I then pruned said tree back an appropriate amount, spaying pruning sealant on the scars to protect it from any sort of infection. Now we just wait for spring to see what happens.

While I was at it, I pruned the dead branches off the Wife's palm tree (and got plenty of cuts and bloody scratches from the barbs for my trouble) and then did the annual pruning/thinning of the two back yard pear trees. We have two pear trees--a moonglow and a warren. Of the two, the warren is most highly recommended for my area. It's supposed to produce some of the best dessert pears anywhere. Unfortunately, it's growth has been anemic over the years, and it's yet to flower. sigh The moonglow, on the other hand, is growing at a prodigious rate and has flowered the past two seasons, but not produced any fruit due to lack of a pollinator. I'm seriously toying with the idea of trying a graft of branches from the warren to the moonglow. In any event, I cut many, many limbs from the moonglow, and still it's a big tangle of branches. If it ever starts producing fruit, I'll be in heaven, as I love pears.

There's even a pear-based wine called perry. I suspect they'd go into mead very well. Maybe we'll find out this year. Fortunately, peaches are all self-fertile, so with luck I'll be harvesting some in another year or two.

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