anghara (anghara) wrote,
anghara
anghara

Of elderberries

There's a last stand of blackberry thicket that I'm having cleared out and replaced by other, tidier, prettier, more reputable stuff (and yes, I know I"m setting myself up for a fall, trying to eradicate blackberries from the Pacific Northwest. I'll weed, okay?) - and while the fellow who's been entrusted with the job of doing so was tramping about in the back of the current blackberry thicket he discovered three things - one was that we have an absolutely lovely maple tree back there which was almost buried in blackberry hedges, that said maple tree has a lovely little grotto right underneath it now that the blackberries are on the way out, and that we have an elderberry bush beck there that we knew absolutely nothing about.

I'm leaving the elderberry in there. Birds love it, it blossoms pretty (I am told), and it's an unexpected little find. But instead of the blackberries I am planting stands of sumac, for bright fall foliage, and a scarlet oak which turns a fabulous golden bronze in late September. So next year, I'll have a heap of stuff to look forward to.

Oh, and the sixty-odd different tulip bulbs that I got from the Skagit Tulip Festival earlier this year have also been planted. Next spring will be a riot of colour in the front yard. Can't wait.

Did I mention that I loved living here?...

(now if only the deer would stop using my poor little dogwood tree to rub their antlers against...)
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