Henny Penny Farmette

If you are someone like me who loves to garden, you have the first day of spring circled on your calendar. For 2020, spring arrives on March 19.

Plant bare root fragrant roses and engage in mindfulness practice. Both will have you stopping to smell the roses

Bare-root season (when fruit trees, roses, and other plants are dormant and sap is not flowing) is now. Here in the Bay Area, the soil is currently soft and makes for easy turning with a spade. Now is the time to incorporate some roses or other bare root plants into your garden. There are several reasons to do so.

1. Planting bare root saves you money. If you are buying from a local nursery or a seller who ships, you’ll find the cost cheaper because you’re not paying for soil or containers.

2. Better selection. You can purchase heirloom varieties of deciduous trees and shrubs from all over the world when you buy bare root. Bare root fruit trees are popular with back yard gardeners but you might also consider artichokes, rhubarb, strawberries, grapes, asparagus, and many other plants that are sold as bare root.

Rhubarb is a bare root plant that flourishes in rich soil with some protection against direct overhead sun

3. You have flexibility. Planting in February just before spring means the ground has thawed in areas where freezing temperatures are the norm. When the ground is growing warmer and is workable is the time to tuck your bare root plants into the soil.

________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about country living topics, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries, including A BEELINE TO MURDER, THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE, and A HIVE OF HOMICIDES (Kensington Publishing). These mysteries also include farm to-do lists and delicious recipes.

Get the three-book series of cozy mysteries with elements based on the real Henny Penny Farmette

I’ve also written over two dozen self-help and wellness books, including THE SELF-CARE PLANNER,  HOW TO LIVE WITH INTENTION, and MY POCKET MEDITATIONS (Adams Media/Simon and Schuster).

Find Meera Lester’s books online and in traditional bookstores everywhere. Barnes & Noble will be featuring THE SELF-CARE PLANNER on its self-care table for the New Year, New You promo, starting Dec. 31 and running through March 2020, in select stores.

Start at any point in your year or life with this self-guided planner

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Self-Care-Planner/Meera-Lester/9781507211649?utm_source=author_post&utm_medium=adams_outlet&utm_campaign=adams_lead_fall&utm_content=

Love the tropical foliage and brilliant color of dahlia and Canna lily blooms? Plant them now through April  if you live in Zones 8 through 11. Long prized as cut flowers for bouquets, dahlias and Canna lilies do not fail to dazzle also when grouped in flowerbeds alone or with other summer blooming plants.

Dahlia “Lake Michigan” cultivar with large purple blooms

Indigenous to Central Mexico, dahlias are herbaceous, leafy plants that offer blooms in a wide assortment of colors (except blue and black). Bloom size ranges from a  couple of inches across to roughly a foot wide (the largest size is known as “dinner-plate”). Tall varieties need staking and all types can benefit from dead-heading when blooms are spent.

Dahlia roots are actually tubers and do best when planted in moist, well-drained, loamy soil. If growing them in areas where there is frost, dig and store the tubers in a cool, dry (and frost-free) place in the fall for re-planting the next year. In extreme climates like the high desert, dahlias benefit from several inches of mulch covering the bed.

The main pests of dahlias are slugs, snails, earwigs, leaf hoppers, and aphids. Powdery mildew and gray mold can also infect the plant.

Canna lilies, like dahlias, are herbaceous summer-blooming plants that come in a wide variety of colors. Indigenous to sub-tropical areas of North and South America, Cannas can be grown as perennials in zones 7 through 11, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In other zones with more extreme climates, mulch the plants two to four inches deep or lift the rhizomes (roots) and store them in dry peat moss in a cool, dry place until ready to replant.

Plant rhizomes of tall Canna lilies at the back of the flowerbed (or at the front of the bed if the plants are dwarf) in three to six inches of rich, well-drained soil. Position so that the eyes are facing up. Pests include slugs, snails, Canna leaf-rollers, and Japanese beetles. Aphids can spread canna viruses that can cause leaf streaking and bloom disfigurement. The plants are heavy feeders so will need a good organic fertilizer when they begin to look ratty and two to four inches of water each week.

Use tall dahlias and Canna lilies at the back of your flowerbed and add mid-size blooming plants in the middle and dwarf or low growing bedding plants with lots of color at the front to create a spectacular garden area this summer. If you live in a relatively frost-free zone, your dahlias and Canna lilies will spring back to life and carry on with colorful displays amid tropical foliage for years to come.

__________________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about gardening and the natural world, check out my series of cozy mysteries that include information on growing heirloom plants and keeping chickens and bees. Also see my self-help empowerment and well-being books. All are available online and in bookstores everywhere.

The Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries–lots of delicious recipes and information for country living

Start at any point in your year or life with this self-guided planner

CLICK ON THE LINK to see more.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Self-Care-Planner/Meera-Lester/9781507211649?utm_source=author_post&utm_medium=adams_outlet&utm_campaign=adams_lead_fall&utm_content=

Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

A special book that will be treasured for a lifetime of spiritual pursuits and practices

It’s winter, the time when many plants (including succulents) go dormant. But that doesn’t mean you cannot propagate new plants from your existing succulents. You don’t need any special tricks to get a cutting to root (you can often just pluck a fleshy leaf or stem and ease it into soil or suspend in water and it will root). However, root hormone powder is a great way to get roots started on just about everything, including succulents.

Lovely lavender rose-shaped succulents add interest in garden or pot when grouped together

Root hormone powder makes short work of getting new roots on your succulent cutting. You just dip the cleanly cut edge of a fleshy leaf into the powder and shallowly plant in a succulent planting mix or potting soil (a half leaf or one not cleanly detached should not be used). Gently water directly, give lots of light exposure, rotate often, and mist regularly to keep the soil moist and the plant happy.

Outside, succulents in a pretty pot sits on a porch

Succulents planted in attractive pots make lovely living gifts for the holidays. For friends with garden windows that offer lots of light, why not group three pots of succulents on a tray? Find a variety of pots and succulents in a diy center or local nursery.

In the garden, succulents lend interest when paired with other potted plants and garden statuary

Diverse succulents in a range of sizes (tall, medium, and short heights) are particularly striking when grouped together a a round shallow pot or long rectangular container.

Combine different types of succulents in a single pot

They’re not just for winter holiday gift-giving, succulents are appreciated all year long. They love light, but not a blazing hot sun. They appreciate a soak and dry method of watering. And some prefer the outdoors. Some even reward your efforts with a bloom.  To give a succulent as a holiday gift, all you need is a healthy plant in a pretty pot. Just add a ribbon and a gift card. The plants are so easy to grow, propagate, and care for, that everyone loves them.

_____________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about gardening, country living, and health and wellness, check out my various books on these topics. They include THE SELF-CARE PLANNER, HOW TO LIVE WITH INTENTION, MY POCKET MEDITATIONS, and many more. All are available online and in traditional bookstores everywhere.

Also check out my series of cozy mysteries. These are also available in many formats online and in bookstores.

Get the three-book series of cozy mysteries with elements based on the real Henny Penny Farmette

Start at any point in your year or life with this self-guided planner packed with inspiring quotes, self-directed activities, and motivational tips

Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

Anyone can find peace, clarity, and focus…all it takes is a moment

It’s nearly Thanksgiving and our Henny Penny Farmette continues to bring forth delicious, organically grown edibles for our table for which we feel truly grateful.

We give thanks, too, for neighbors like Dan and Annie. This past Sunday, Annie carted to our house a box of persimmons and bags of apples and pomegranates. We harvested all our apples last month so her timing was great. While we have persimmons and pomegranates hanging on the trees in our small orchard, many are not yet ripe enough to pick.

Ripe pomegranate

Last month, I froze cubes of butternut squash in freezer bags and readied pumpkin flesh for pie. While picking a few ripe persimmons recently, I noticed that we’re sharing them with a visitor who seems to sneak in and munch during the night. I’m thinking the culprit could be a raccoon, opossum, skunk, squirrel, fox, or a gaggle of wild turkeys that seem to make an annual pilgrimage through our area.

The two main types of persimmons grown on our farmette are Fuyu and Hachiya. The Fuyu is rather squat-looking and Hachiya has an elongated shape. Both take on a bright orange color in the fall. When fully ripe, Fuyu is sweet and crunchy like an apple whereas the Hachiya is soft like jelly. Though commonly thought of as fruits, persimmon and pomegranate are technically berries.

Pomegranate and persimmon are plentiful this time of year

Fuyu persimmons can be peeled, sliced, and eaten fresh, roasted, or tossed into salads. They add a vibrant splash of orange to a winter salad that could include slices of citrus and pear tossed with greens,walnuts,  pomegranate seeds, and goat cheese.

Pomegranates are ripe when their leathery outer covering turns red and begins to crack. Inside each pomegranate is white tissue separating compartments of ruby-red seeds called arils.

Ripe pomegranates hang heavy on the trees this time of year

The seeds are high in antioxidants that reduce inflammation and free radical damage. Though they are messy to remove, the pomegranate seeds are healthy and nutritious additions to any diet.

To preserve pomegranate seeds, freeze them on a baking sheet. Once frozen, slip the seeds into freezer bags and return to the freezer. The seeds can be kept frozen for months.

Pumpkins come in a variety of sizes and types. Personally, I prefer the sugar pumpkins for recipes calling for pumpkin as an ingredient.

French sugar pumpkin are small but perfect for pies

This week as we prepare for the big feasting day of Thanksgiving, lots of cooks are already baking pumpkin pies.  Many will use canned pumpkin as a shortcut to their pie preparation but pumpkin filling made from scratch is especially delicious.

Our pumpkin pie features leaves of pie dough, brushed with egg, and sprinkled with sugar before baking

The old fashioned way to make pumpkin pie from scratch is to use fresh, organic pumpkin puree from the produce that you’ve grown in your garden. The process to make a pie takes longer because first the pumpkin must be peeled, seeded, and cut into manageable pieces and then cooked down. Then just follow your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.

_________________________________________________________________

Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you can do over your lifetime and it starts with healthy ingredients and fresh produce.

My newest self-help wellness book is  THE SELF-CARE PLANNER, A Weekly Guide to Prioritize You.

My books are available for purchase through online and traditional bookstores everywhere. Buy The Self-Care Planner and other titles offered by my publisher, Simon & Schuster online. Visit my author’s page at https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Meera-Lester/2137649823

It’s never too late to get healthy and live a richer, fuller, and more meaningful life. Self care is not selfish but rather an act of love.

YOU NEED THIS BOOK. WE ALL DO.

Buy it now from:

 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Self-Care-Planner/Meera-Lester/9781507211649

Check out more recipes and tips for healthy country living in my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries (Kensington Publishing, NY).

This three-book series of cozy mysteries features elements based on the real Henny Penny Farmette

Each year on the first day of autumn here on the Henny Penny Farmette, I take stock of my fruit trees and vegetable and flower gardens.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac points to mid-October 2019 for early rain in Northern California, so there’s much for me to do over the next two or three weeks.

Nothing says “autumn” like ripe pomegranates

My chores list includes the following items. They’re roughly the same from year to year.

1. Gather seeds from self-seeding or heirloom, open-pollinated plants (flowers and vegetables) for next year’s garden. Dry seeds and store them for planting next spring.

Gather seeds from plants such as coreopsis, cosmos, and marigolds for drying for next year’s garden

2. Sow spring-blooming bulbs (such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, ranunculus, crocus, and buttercups available in garden centers now).

Siberian scilla adds a lot of color for a small grouping of bulbs

3. Turn soil and prepare beds for the cool-season vegetable garden (broccoli, cabbage, beets, and parsnips).

4. Inspect and divide perennials.

5. Harvest olives and preserve them.

Bartlett late summer pears

6. Pick late summer pears and ripe pomegranates. The leathery covering of pomegranates already may be splitting open and showing ruby red seeds. The juice of the seeds makes a wonderful jelly.

7. Check persimmons for ripeness. Pick if they’re ready. They might need another month.

Hachiya persimmons are delicious when they ripen to softness

8. Harvest and store pumpkins and butternut squash. Peel, remove seeds, and cut the flesh into squares for freezing.

9. Compost old garden vines and vegetable plants that are done bearing for the season. Check tomato plants infected with bacterial or fungal diseases and do NOT add any of these to the compost pile.

10. Begin the process of cleaning and storing gardening items not required over the winter.

11. Sow spring-blooming wildflowers in prepared beds.

12. Schedule time to prune back crop-bearing fruit trees (like apricot, peach, and plum).

I actually look forward to those chores. They’re part of the natural rhythm of farmette life. With a list and plan to get everything done, I won’t be caught by surprise when the weather turns cold, dark, and rainy.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about farming, country living, keeping of bees and chickens, and gardening, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries. They’re chocked full of ideas, tips, and delicious recipes for country living.

Also, take a look at my numerous self-help and wellness books. All are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Walmart.com, and other online and traditional bookstores everywhere.

T

Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

A special book that will be treasured for a lifetime of spiritual pursuits and practices

More than 150 rituals for sound mind, strong body, and meaningful connections to the people around you

My biggest issue with our 1,100-square foot house on the Henny Penny Farmette is lack of storage for all our stuff. Okay, so most of it is my stuff.

We turned a small, former chicken house into a shed, but it doesn’t offer much room

There’s no good place for the juicer, bread maker, mixer, taco press, deep fryer, sewing machine, dress form, extra dishes and pans, honey buckets, bee keeper suit and gloves, fabric and threads, boxes of jars with rings and lids, books, and art supplies. We keep moving our stuff around to accommodate other stuff.

Henny Penny Farmette honey bucket and jars to be filled

When I want to put honey into jars, make jam, or do a ceramics project, for example, the process of hunt and find becomes exhaustive. For a ceramics project, I have to track down the tile saw. In my closet, I’ve moved boxes of shoes to accommodate hammers, drills, a box of drill bits, an arm saw, a saws-all, boxes of screws and nails of various sizes, and power tools. Seriously. What woman in her right mind forgoes her collection of high heels for power tools?

My easel, oil paints, brushes, cans of turpentine, and canvases are all stored in different places around the house. Supplies must be found and laid out on the kitchen counter before work on the piece begins. The easel goes up and a time-consuming search begins for the canvases.

We’ve even gotten rid of furniture to make the space feel more open

The solution to the storage problem might seem obvious. Buy a shed. I did that. But it  didn’t turn out so great. I bought a ten-foot square wooden shed to assemble onsite.  It was duly delivered. But upon opening the box, we realized how inferior the building materials were. We could see it collapsing under the first hard wind and rainstorm.

Constructing floor struts

Hubby hurried off to the DIY store in his truck and brought home everything we needed to build a really, strong storage shed. He’s an architect and knows such things. So the piers were set and leveled. The floor struts went in and up went the walls. I’m confident that when it’s finished, it will be a great place to keep all my extra stuff. And my high heels can reclaim their space in my closet.

___________________________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about home renovation, farming topics, gardening, and keeping of chickens and bees, you might be interested in my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries: A BEELINE TO MURDER, MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE, and A HIVE OF HOMICIDES. Or, if you like nonfiction, self-help, check out my comprehensive list of books and information about me on Amazon.com, where I maintain an author’s page.

All available online and in bookstores everywhere

I called my neighbor just after sunup this morning and asked her to come help me pick plums. I have trees of ripe plums, three different varieties, as well as apricots that are ripening too fast for me to keep up with drying and jam-making.

The smallest plums we picked have tart skin but sweet flesh

She came laden with a dozen boxes. I had ladders and buckets and bowls ready. We were soon joined by her husband who also brought a ladder. We picked until the containers were full and still the trees held a ton of fruit.

Apricots are sweet treats eaten right from the tree

He backed up their van and we loaded the fruit containers inside. They would drive the containers full of fruit to our local food pantry–the Contra Costa County Food Bank Warehouse at 4010 Nelson Avenue in Concord to distribute to needy families.

Saying thanks didn’t seem adequate enough, so I took my neighbors to my veggie patch to find some items just for them. I promised to deliver pumpkins when they were ready but for now we found heirloom zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes.

Their gift of time and energy spent picking and packing fruit and delivering it to the food bank freed me up to start my jam-making.  A friend once told me that what blesses one blesses others. It certainly proved true today.

Heirloom tomatoes on the vine

If you’re interested in donating fresh food from your backyard garden, contact the Contra Costa Food Bank warehouse, located at 4010 Nelson Avenue, Concord, CA 94520 or call 925. 676.7543.  Hours are Monday through Thursday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Pumpkins will ripen in autumn

If you don’t have lovely, helpful neighbors who will assist you harvesting your bounty, contact gleaners in Contra Costa County at  www.theurbanfarmers.org

_____________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading this blog about my Henny Penny Farmette activities, check out my cozy mystery series (A BEELINE TO MURDER, MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE, and A HIVE OF HOMICIDES) as well as my current nonfiction books.

All are available online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart as well as traditional bookstores everywhere. The cozy mysteries are chocked full of delicious farmette recipes, tips of keeping honeybees and chickens, and farm trivia.

Novel #1

Novel #2

Novel #3

A special book that will be treasured for a lifetime of spiritual pursuits and practices

Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

Following the historic long seasonal deluge of rain, our fruit trees are loaded with peaches, apricots, plums (the cherries are gone now). While there is plenty of stone fruit, it’s all ripening late this year.

Apricots are plentiful this time of year and easy to dry or make into jam

Our Blenheim apricots were ready to pick, dry, and make into jam in late May of 2018. On this last day in June,  I plucked an apricot that was ripe on the side facing the sun but the opposite side was green and hard.

The cherries, too, ripened late this year. We picked about 8 gallons of cherries from our two Bing and Stella trees. I dried some and we gave away a lot.

The Black Tartarian cherries didn’t produce as heavily this year as last. By the time we discovered the ripe cherries, the birds had already beaten us to the super-sweet fruit. I don’t mind sharing with the local wildlife, but would have loved a bowl of these for snacking.

Wild plums make a delicious sweet-tart jam

The yellow and red plums are finally ripe now. Today, I’m making plum jam. Nothing beats hot toast with spreadable summer jams and marmalade for breakfast on a winter’s day. In a normal year, most of my jam-making of stone fruits would be finished by now.

The early Desert Gold peaches are gone now, a tasty memory, from a month ago. However, we still have summer peaches clinging to the tree. I check them daily. Fresh peach pie for the fourth of July is a favorite at my house.

Desert Gold early peaches

While the fruits and berries seem to ripen more slowly this year, my vegetable garden is blowing my mind. I have several raised beds in a fenced-off area so wild animals won’t bother it. Most of the raised beds were used for composting (think, tons of chicken manure, yard clippings, and cardboard). Still, I added other organic amendments. Boy, is that soil paying off.

It’s a banner year for vegetables on the farmette. Most will be eaten fresh but the sugar pumpkins won’t ripen until autumn. Love them in pie.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been told I’m living a “charmed life” on my Henny Penny Farmette. And so it is. But this chapter of my life didn’t happen by accident. I once lived in Silicon Valley and was part of life in the fast lane, which I enjoyed. But I grew up on a farm. I missed time in nature, eating foods that I knew were healthy and wholesome and pesticide-free, and the slower pace of life. I set an intention to manifest the life I have now. You can, too.

FIND ME ALSO at Meera-lester.com (don’t forget that hyphen…very important.)

Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

If you enjoy reading about gardening, keeping chicken and bees, and other farm topics, pick up copies of my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries. The books are chocked full of farm and craft trivia as well as delicious recipes and, of course, intriguing mysteries.

Novel #3

Novel #2

Novel #1

There’s nothing to rejuvenate a weary soul like time spent in a garden. Death of one season’s plants yields to new shoots the next. Because I appreciate the ever-evolving nature of a garden, I choose plants, bulbs, bushes, and trees that offer visual interest in each season. Thoughtful planting generates an ever-evolving landscape of color, texture, and visual interest.

Pumpkins show orange and yellow, signalling the arrival of the cool season

The autumn garden has almost completely morphed into a winter landscape now. Pumpkin and tomato vines have been pulled out and perennials in the bee garden  have gone to seed or been cut back. Winter offers little color in the garden except for the cape honeysuckle, white geranium, lavender florets, and early flowering bulbs.

Deciduous trees have mostly lost their leaves, however, the eucalyptus and the pepper trees here on the farmette remain leafy and green. The rains have come and a dusting of snow on nearby mountain peaks is in the forecast ahead. Foliage and blooms are mostly gone. It’s that time of year to cover frost-sensitive plants.

The pomegranates that were ablaze in golden color a few weeks ago have dropped all leaves. What remains is the lovely arching pattern of branches since I’ve trained them from bushes into trees.

Pomegranate leaves  turn gold in the fall

The showy pink flowers over summer of the crape myrtle are a memory. Gone now, too, are the red-gold leaves of fall. What remains is an interesting gray-green bark.

Autumn leaves of the crepe myrtle create a spectacle against the blooming Cecile Brunner rose

The seeds from the giant yellow-orange coreopsis that stood eight feet tall and towered over zinnias, Borage, and rows of lavender have long ago been harvested. Also, my patch of lavender is flourishing. The plants have pushed out long stalks of purple florets.

Dark green shoots of bulbs are pushing up out of the earth where I interplanted them with chrysanthemums. I cut back the mums and they will reappear in the spring to flower again. This is the time of year that shoots of bulbs and rhizomes are birthing daffodils, anemones, tulips, hyacinths, and, to come later, lilies and irises of many colors.

Siberian scilla adds a lot of color for a small grouping of bulbs

In raised beds, shoots of fall-planted onions and garlic are now pushing up. The bees are drawn to the sweet scent of narcissus bulbs that have naturalized after being planted years ago. The Meyer lemon now has lots of yellow thin-skinned fruit and also a few early blooms.

On the dark days and nights of winter, white blooming plants stand in stark contrast to gray wooden fences and leafless trees.  Honor roses, Iceberg roses, and climbing Sally Holmes roses have showy white blooms and may even have some this time of year unless they’ve been cut back. Winter-blooming gardenias and white geraniums have a quiet impact when grouped together in hedges, beds, or containers.

The “Honor” rose is an elegant white blooming rose that is spectacular under moonlight

With so many bulbs and plants available this time of year, putting interest into your winter garden is easy and contributes to an ever-evolving landscape.

Consider plants with gray-green or otherwise pretty foliage and colorful berries. Also plant trees with interesting bark colors, textures, patterns, or scaffolding shapes. When you think of plants for each season of the year, you’ll have a garden to nurture you throughout the year.

____________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about gardening, the keeping of chickens and bees, and other small farm topics AND you’d like related gift-giving, consider my Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries or any of my health, wellness, and spirituality books. All are available online and in traditional bookstores everywhere.

MY NEWEST OFFERING–Packed full of ideas for creating the life you want

AVAILABLE NOW. Tap control click in the following link:  https://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Intention-Meaning-Purpose-ebook/dp/B07GNVFWSF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544206797&sr=8-1&keywords=Meera+Lester%2BHow+to+Live+with+Intention

A special book that will be treasured for a lifetime of spiritual pursuits and practices

To Purchase, tap control click on the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Journeys-Worlds-Transformative-Spaces-ebook/dp/B07GNTCD8H/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1544038495&sr=8-14&keywords=Meera+Lester

Friends said it was a bad idea. The tree was too large, too old, and too unwieldy to dig up and transport from my daughter’s property to mine. The crape myrtle  would not survive, they told me, because its large root would need to be severely cut. Also, without a crane or other lifting device, three of us would be struggling to deal with such a heavy tree.

The bark of this crape myrtle tree is lovely in winter

I won’t say moving the tree  was easy. It had been standing for 28 years next to my daughter’s house, but she wanted to make way for new landscaping. When the family decided to part with the tree, they called on a family friend who worked as an arborist. He would do the cutting and digging of the tree.

Crape myrtles (of the genus, lagerstoemia) are available as shrubs and trees and are lovely in bloom with showy paniculate flowers in pink, fuchsia, red, or lavender. They are one of the trees that make little-to-no pollen (great for allergy sufferers). Light pruning during the growing season can produce a second bloom. Much beloved in the deep south, these trees remain stately and beautiful for up to fifty years.

My daughter’s tree arrived at the farmette in mid-October strapped onto our friend’s truck. The roots had been cut away. There were no fine root hairs or stems left–just bare wood. Ditto for the tree canopy–just a few hefty branch stubs. I wondered if our efforts would prove futile.

Hubby and I prepared a large planting hole just off from the patio. We added amendments to the clay soil and drove in stakes to keep the tree stable for a year or more until it had sufficiently developed roots. I added root hormone to the soil and watered deeply the first day and several times that week.

A leafy green canopy is developing on the limbs of the transplanted tree

The winter rains came. I watched, waited, and wondered if there would ever be sprouting of any kind on the woody ends where branches had been amputated. Despite a canopy, the tree’s trunk, a beautiful, gray-green wood, afforded a kind of beauty to the austere winter garden. Before spring, I scraped a fingernail on the back of the trunk and discovered the wood was not dried out but as green and moist as a young sapling.

A spell of warm weather and the buzzing of bees in early spring drew my attention upward. Our tree had sprouted a flurry of bronze-green leaves. Pink blooms will likely appear in June or July.

I’m happy now that we went to all the trouble of bringing that tree onto the farmette for transplanting. We’ll have lovely pink blooms over the remaining summers of my life thanks to the crape myrtle tree being so long-lived.

__________________________________________________________________

If you enjoy reading about gardening and farming topics, check out my Henny Penny Farmette series of mysteries: A BEELINE TO MURDER, THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE, and A HIVE OF HOMICIDES (Kensington Publishing).

Each book is chocked full of tips for gardening, keeping bees and chickens, and growing heirloom fruits and vegetables. There are also plenty of delicious recipes to try. Find these books on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Walmart.com and other online retailers or purchase at traditional bookstores everywhere.–Meera Lester

Novel #1 in the Henny Penny Farmette series

Novel #2

Novel #3