esrosedotblog

PRUNES

They are pruning all our trees. Radically.

It is getting easier to take.

When we moved here from the Northeast, we could not believe that people cut back their trees' growth so severely. It seemed cruel, unnecessary, even fatal for the trees.

When it got to be our turn to get pruned, we begged them to take it easy.

Then, with a few broken branches and some shade that was way over the top, we relented and allowed some of the trees to get the full treatment. The pepper tree on the south side was a candidate for radical trim. It grows so quickly that the wood is soft and does not provide any structural strength; sagging branches. Then we found that the carob tree would drop more beans with each extra branch. Makes sense. Prune that one way down!

Little by little, we became as ruthless as the most radical desert tree surgeon.

One exception; the orchid tree. It is in bloom now. It was hard to let all those 'babies' go. So it will be a little gawky. It will fill in. They took it easy. Of course, we will probably pay the price later. This tree leans with its load of branches and flowers and had to be staked and wired a few years ago.

What we have learned is that, in the desert heat, trees grow three and even four times as fast as they do in the frigid back east climes. You gotta trim them or they will overbear, overgrow, and underbloom. No pain, in this case, all gain; tree obesity. Trim them back hard and they will flourish. There is a life lesson in here somewhere but I am not a tree, so I will take it easy on myself and not prune too hard.

Look at this orchid tree bloom. We have hundreds like it. And the aroma!