January 31, 2007
Quercus
Our young secondhand volunteer oak (Quercus shumardii don’t we hope) started its life probably at the courtesy of some squirrel, sprouting between the edge of the asphalt paving down front and next to the stone wall holding up the front yard. It’s about six feet tall. So I asked our landscrape (sic) guy if it could be transplanted to a less hostile environment. He said Yes, but wait until the fall. So we did.
It’s got a splendid berth now in the front yard close to the connecting line to the sewer, a choice and fecund place to be. Trouble is, the transplanters were not able to save much root, so they overdosed what was left with roothelper, then crossed their shovels for wait-and-see time.
What we’ve waited to see our majestic Deodar (of previous OoN fame) do, it doesn’t seem to be doing. It’s several years old and approaching maybe twelve or thirteen feet tall. In its homeland India, it grows to 150 feet with a spread of forty. Over there, it’s called the “timber of the gods.” I don’t know what gods, or whom gods, either, but if I knew what kind of liturgy they prefer, I’d try it. Gold and frankincense, perhaps not, but maybe myrrh would offer some encouragement. Deodar’s greenery seems paler than earlier on. Maybe the new oak across the yard might inspire it, that is, if it lives.
As I reported earlier, our neighborhood fauna is on hard times thanks to the bulldozers on the once-removed lot-around-the-corner where they used to live. The builders have discovered the massive, foot-thick slabs of Devonian (or is it Silurian?) dolomitic limestone. They’ve brought in what must be a twelve-foot jackhammer hooked on to an oversized backhoe. Now, they’re busting up the rock (shaking up the neighborhood) to make a massive corner pocket retainer to level off the slope so they can build some multifamily, multi-SUV family dwellings to join our happy hood and further crowd our streets.
Our Hillsboro-West End (say HWEN) neighborhood association together with our city councilwoman Ginger are working on an ordinance to prevent this sort of thing. It’s too late to do much about the mess around the corner and the one down the street. But we’re counting on the Deodar and the Q. Shumardii to leave them in the shade.
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