Following my tree: June

Finally the corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Red Majestic’) has leafed out.

The colour and texture of these leaves caught my eye last year. Impulse buying: not a great idea.

The rich deep burgundy leaves are the main reason I bought the small tree last year. The leaves and the wonderfully contorted branches.

The twisted branches create a confusing outline on the small tree,  but in a close-up they are fabulous.

As a small tree, the corkscrew hazel looks quite silly, in my opinion. When it’s bigger, will it be better? A photo sent by a friend from Newfoundland shows her version, coated in ice.

Susan’s tree, and her photo.

I bought Hazel about 15 years ago and she sat at the bottom of my shady steps not doing very much except greeting family and friends. Then, three years ago I decided to build a barn /garage attached to the house by a breezeway. Hazel had to be moved. She reluctantly was carried in the spring to the back of the house to my kitchen garden where she sat surrounded by kale and carrots. She gamely made it through this demotion and last spring she was rewarded with a new position of greater stature, the beginning of the three tier 90′ long stone wall. There she now sits, growing in her new shadier place but with far more responsibilities…guarding, a large perennial garden. I’m not sure she likes the shade but she’s growing with just a little help of vitamins. She can still look out at her carrots and kale.

My tree is quite pathetic in comparison. I am increasingly certain that I’ve put it in the wrong place. If it does grow into an attractive tree, it will need a more prominent location. But for the time being, I’m happy to hide it amongst a muddle of plants in the lower garden’s lakeside border.

The tree is now about 3 ft tall.

I’m sorry I choose to follow this tree. There were other choices I could have made, better choices. The linden tree that stands at the end of the lawn, for instance. It is glorious in summer,

In summer, when the tree is in bloom, bees come buzzing. Sitting under it then is like sitting inside a beehive. A natural high from a natural buzz.

The mists make the tree look even more romantic.

After the ice storm I feared the tree would split under the added weight. We cabled it and crossed our fingers. It seems to have straightened itself because the cables became looser in the spring.

I will plant more muscari this fall to fill in the gaps in this circular planting.

Birch trees on the drive: can you spot the wires?

Even here, the wires are hard to see. And who looks straight up? The only time I do it is when I lie on my back. Which I’m not likely to do on a driveway.

When I look at this tree, I hear my mother telling me to stand up straight.

I’m afraid these trees have to go.

If I add nets, does this tunnel become a ragnaia, a feature in Italian Renaissance gardens?