Whatzit Tree

Day 220: Friends often hear me refer to the Whatzit Tree in my front yard, and invariably, I get the question, "Well, what is it?" In the first place, it's a Weeping Whatzit Tree, definitely an ornamental as opposed to a native species. It has to be pruned carefully to really get the best "weep," and I'm rather lax in that department. Every few years, I go out with a saw and take out the branches which stick right straight up at the sky.

"It's a Crabapple," says one friend. Um...I hate to tell you this, but it makes a fruit which resembles a Chokecherry, i.e., about the size of a pencil eraser and nothing but a single pit with a little skin wrapped around it. It's not a Chokecherry either. And to further complicate things, it's not a "flowering" variety even though it flowers prodigiously. The leaves emerge before the blossoms.

I have to admit that my area of expertise doesn't include a lot of knowledge about cultivated plants. I'm a wildflower person. I know Cedar trees and Hemlocks, and can show you the difference between a Subalpine Fir and a Noble, but I wouldn't want to be put to the test on some of our Pines. Suffice to say that the Whatzit Tree has kept me befuddled for almost twenty-five years now, but it sure is pretty.