The Flower World

The Cage was exploding. The tomatoes were going wild, the potatoes had blooms already, the cucumbers were reaching up filled with promise of Summer bounty. Then, calamity. The first blow came via a couple of branches from the giant Cottonwood tree in my yard. It seemed the old fellow was developing root rot and was beginning to lean menacingly over my and my neighbor's house. The majestic beast had to die. I hired a good old boy with a good nature and a penchant for talking. His crew set to work on the 50 foot tree. TREE CORPSE Unfortunately, they couldn't avoid dropping a large branch into the cage. The branch hit so hard it moved the cage half a foot south of its original position. This broke the Early Girl and the Better Boy tomato plants which were doing really well. The branch also crushed my lettuce and my cilantro. After this assault, the plants recovered quite well. The cherry tomatoes especially were asserting themselves. I had also planted close to 20 pep

I was asked 'Why are you taking cuttings? Why don't you just buy the trees?" It's a fair question. I did decide to do my gardening with as little money as possible this time around. so in a sense I am a cheapskate. However, there are a few reasons why cuttings are a good idea. WINTER HARDINESS The main reason for taking Persimmon cuttings is that I know the trees I am taking the cuttings from have survived many Winters in my area. By taking the cutting and rooting it, I ensure my Persimmon tree will also survive the Winter. FUN It is a lot of fun to root a cutting. There is much to learn in this hobby/business and nothing beats experience when it comes to growing plants. PLANT CHARACTERISTICS While walking around the park with my friend, we found several Mulberry trees. One of them gave considerably sweeter berries than the other ones. If I wanted to get the same berries, taking a cutting, which produces an identical tree, DNA-wise, is the only way to

After being so very excited that I got the fruit tree cuttings to bud, they died. Apparently, I removed the plastic bottle mini greenhouse too soon and the buds and leaves dried out. I pulled out the cuttings and there were no roots present. It seems the cutting will absorb enough moisture to bud without roots. Lesson learned. Now, I have to procure more cuttings. To that end, I set out on an expedition with a friend and her daughter (and their dog Joshua) looking for Persimmon trees. We found none. After running into some Mulberry trees however, one of which gave very sweet berries, we found: Two cherry trees One pear tree One bush that gave a fruit we couldn't identify And.... A white Mulberry tree! I was told a long time ago that white mulberry trees are very rare. I in fact, had seen only one in my life until this weekend. I have seen many mulberry trees. As a child, I spent countless hours climbing them and eating the delicious berries. To my surprise, I lea