Back in the mid-80's, when we were busy planting trees in our little yard, a friend (who had several acres) asked if we'd like to transplant some small trees from his property to ours.
We gladly took him up on his generous offer and came home with a maple, a double white lilac bush, and a mulberry tree, all small enough to fit in the bed of his pickup.
At this time of year, the mulberry tree takes center stage. Its berries seem to ripen right before our eyes....
Oh, there's no doubt about it, it's a messy tree. Due to very limited 'planting locations,' our above ground pool once sat next to this tree. Over the years, as the tree grew and the branches spread, mulberries would fill the pool as they dropped from the branches. (When the girls were young, one of their favorite games was to swim to the bottom of the pool and gather as many berries as they could to help keep the pool clean)... Now that the pool is gone, the mulberries cover the ground under and around the tree...
The birds and wildlife this tree attracts far outweigh any mess from the berries (at least as far as I'm concerned!). It attracts squirrels, bluejays, robins, cardinals, mockingbirds, catbirds, flickers, orioles, and mourning doves, not to mention the possums and skunks who stop by for late night snacks.
This afternoon, while out filling birdbaths, I came across a mourning dove on the ground. It was so close to me, yet didn't fly away. The doves usually fly away long before I get that close, so I was concerned that he might be hurt. I stood still for a minute, watching him, and vice versa. Apparently I had stumbled upon him during dinnertime because, after a minute or so, he went back to eating mulberries off the ground and ignored the fact that I was just a step away. Those must have been awfully good mulberries for him to ignore the instinct to fly away!
This trunk belongs to our non-fruit bearing cherry tree (why, oh why, did I let hubby talk me into a non-fruit bearing tree?)
I'm not sure what this 'interesting' growth is on the trunk, but hubby says it's probably "not a good thing." We don't have it on any of our other trees so hopefully, if it is a bad thing, it's not contagious.
I just love the main trunk and the multitude of branches that spring from it...
It has been a very, very, very wet June here in New England. Not much has been accomplished in the yard due to the constant rain.
It's also been difficult for me to find time to post anything recently due to my dad having been sick and in the hospital for a while. The good news is that he is now home and feeling much better. There are still many transitions taking place so I don't know that I'll get back to posting as frequently as I once did, but hopefully I'll get to visit blogland a bit more regularly in the upcoming weeks!
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Donna