Lily Days

In the midst of all of our recent storms, the lilies are blooming their fool heads off! I have been watching them and photographing them each morning for the past week, as each new bloom opens. On this morning, the final bloom (the pinkest, freshest looking flower in the upper left) began to open, and by evening when I took this shot, it was fully open, completing the show. Their aroma is heady: everywhere nearby, all you can smell is lilies.

Overnight, it rained and stormed again, and the petals from the oldest two lilies fell to the ground. So this is one of the last photos I have of the lilies at their peak. Once they have bloomed and fallen, I know that we are heading into the latter part of summer.

The day was not just about lilies, though. Our major task for the weekend was to move a tree; and we did that. I had planted lots of trees in spring of 2005, after a January ice storm devastated our property during my first winter in the house, bringing down hundreds of trees overnight onto the house and property.

The week after the trees fell, I received a mailing from the Arbor Day Foundation, and I took it as a sign. I ordered many trees, hoping to restore good tree karma on our land. I planted a row of tiny evergreens (not much more than twigs at the time), including Norway spruce, along the front edge of our property, hoping that someday they would make a privacy screen between us and the road and the neighbors.

But we noticed a while ago that the littlest tree at the edge of the row (currently about 4 to 5 feet tall) was being subsumed by the tree next to it, which had grown much larger than all the rest. We had been talking about moving the little tree for months; possibly years, even. And so, while summer is not an ideal time to move trees, that's when we actually accomplished the task.

Late last week, my husband dug the new hole for it. And on Saturday morning, we were planning to dig up and move the tree, but the ground was far too wet and that whole area of the yard was flooded. The water went down, and on Sunday morning, we got to work on our task. It took much longer than I expected to dig around the little tree; getting beneath the root ball was a trick in and of itself.

And then we were done digging, and the little tree was free. We slid it onto a tarp and then slid tarp and tree across the yard to the new spot, where the tree was promptly lowered, the roots thoroughly watered, and a mixture of mud and soil placed back on top of the roots. Ta-da! The tree was moved! (See the picture in extra photos area of the little tree in its new location.)

After that, all we had left was clean-up: getting all of that thick, clay mud off our boots, implements, and selves, and putting everything away, then heading indoors for a shower. I hope that the little tree lives. I hope it is happy in its new spot. Now, at last, it has room to spread out. Grow well, little tree!

The song to accompany this posting is about the flower image above: the Irish Rovers, with Lily the Pink.

P.S. When I post a photo of lilies, I always include this warning. Lilies are deadly to cats - all parts of the lily, even the stems and the pollen powder that falls from the center. So please do not bring lilies indoors if you have cats in the house!