Ginkgo Biloba

Day 223: Late last fall, a rather sickly Ginkgo followed me home. I had serious concerns about its chances for survival, so rather than putting it directly in the ground, I stuck it in a one-gallon nursery pot to confine its roots and buried the pot. It's a system which has almost always given me good results. The tree was about three feet tall with only a couple of branches. I watched them very closely for any sign of new growth this spring. Sure enough, little green buds began appearing about six weeks ago. I was honestly surprised that it had survived the winter. I transferred it to its permanent location about two weeks later, and I'm happy to say that it is leafing out beautifully. In fall, the leaves turn golden-yellow, definitely a showpiece in the garden.

Walking The Talk

Day 358: However inspiring Zeno's words are, they are impossible to live by in today's society. I try to make environmentally-sensitive decisions, but my home is not plastic-free. I discard and replace things I could probably repair. I even occasionally resort to using chemical controls on certain persistent weeds in my yard. I recycle extensively, but not all materials are accepted by our service. What do you do when you order a product and it arrives packed in styrofoam? I often choose the lesser of two evils when one or the other is necessary to satisfy creature comfort, e.g., weighing whether the shorter lifespan and greater power draw of incandescent lighting are a better choice than mercury-containing "curly" bulbs (given that mercury is now being detected in many birds, incandescent wins). In short, I do what I can to "walk my talk," but still feel I fall very short of the goal. Still, I'd like to think I make up for a portion of the deficiency in other ways, answering to my environmental conscience's insistence that I could do more during my tenure upon Mother Earth.