Good Bye, Forest Pansy -- I'll Miss you!





One of my favorite trees died this spring. It's a 'Forest Pansy' redbud, a beautiful ornamental that's less hardy than the straight species. It can be iffy to grow in Chicago, but Cincinnati's winters aren't usually quite that extreme. A few years ago, my Forest Pansy split during a rough winter, and I thought I'd lost it. It came back. It has survived moderate flooding and extended droughts, coming back to brighten my early spring garden with its flowers and to take my breath away when the leaves emerged red-purple, before changing to green.

Last winter was more severe than usual, and the Forest Pansy didn't survive. It was a really beautiful tree, and I'm going to miss it. Sorry that the pictures aren't great quality -- I wish now that I'd photographed it more often -- or had my husband take the pictures, since he's a better photographer. But this gives you the idea.

Comments

Jean Campbell said…
What a terrible loss, your Forest Pansy! Will you be replacing it with another redbud, or not at all? I just have the regular native cercis but I love the heart shaped leaves. Cardinals frequently eat the blossoms in the spring, which bothers me not at all because there won't be seedlings.
3:06 PM
Houston A.W. Knight said…
Oh, I love the Forest Pansy! It's so beautiful! I'm so sorry to hear it didn't make it...it was so beautiful. I've never seen a tree like this.

Just thought I'd drop in to visit with you and thank you for droping in to see me! I do hope you'll come back...

Hawk
5:06 PM
Houston A.W. Knight said…
Hey Becke...I just put you in my (right) side bar to let others know about your B&N...go check it out and if there is anything incorrect let me know...or if you want something added, let me know. I hope you don't mind my doing that...if you do just let me know.

Hawk
5:17 PM
Becke Davis said…
I'm still debating whether to replace it or not. I was never able to grow American hollies in Chicago, and several of my neighbors here grow them. I might replace it with one of those. I'm also considering a whitefringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus) or a katsuratree (yes, they write it as one word: Cercidiphyllum japonicum). Or maybe I'll try again with the Forest Pansy. I loved the changing leaf color even more than the blossoms.

Hawk, you've visited my alter ego's website: Becke Martin.
11:09 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Problem with Black Walnuts

Image
First Published in The Landscape Contractor magazine “What You Don’t Know About Walnuts Can Hurt Your Plants” By Becke Davis How many times have you planted perfectly healthy trees or shrubs into an existing landscape, only to have them die for no apparent reason? When that happens, do you call in a specialist from the County Extension Service you diagnose the cause of death? Do you have an arborist check out the remains of the plant? Or do you just bite the bullet and resign yourself to the inevitable loss of a few trees and shrubs? Nine times out of ten, you’d be safe to do that, but the 10th time you could be letting yourself in for a repeat performance. There are a number of reasons why a relatively new plant can die -- planting too deeply (although that usually causes a slower death), herbicide contamination, insufficient watering, root burn from over-fertilization, rootballs sitting in water that won’t drain, and so on. When you are running down a checklist of possible reasons fo...
Read more

The Superior Scribbler Award

Image
A big thanks to Ryan, author of the cool Wordsmithonia blog, for giving me the Superior Scribbler Award! You can click the title to see Ryan's blog. Ryan is also a regular at Barnes & Noble's Mystery Book Club -- stop by there and chat with us both sometime! Here is how the Superior Scribbler award works (and isn't that the cutest icon ever?): Here are the rules for this award: 1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends. 2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award. 3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award. 4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! 5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her...
Read more

When We Were Very Young

Image
My kids and I were reminiscing about the books we remembered reading (or having read to us) when we were young. My daughter came up with The Lonely Doll, When the Sun Rose, We Like Kindergarten, Jessica (Kevin Henkes)and The Story of Holly and Ivy. Those were her "young 'un" favorites; these were from her pre-teen/teen years: Alice in Rapture, Sort of (the Alice series -- Phyllis Reynolds Naylor), Just As Long As We're Together (Judy Blume), Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (Judy Blume), Stacey's Book (Baby-sitter's Club -- Ann M. Martin), California Diaries series (Ann M. Martin), Daughters of Eve (Lois Duncan) andGirl Goddess #9 (Francesca Lia Block). My son liked all of Marilyn Sadler's Alistair books, but his favorite was Alistair Underwater. He also remembers the Boxcar Children books, Grover (from Sesame Street) in The Monster at the End of the Book, and a book he thinks was called "How to Make Money." I didn't recall that one,...
Read more