Puddock Hill Journal – Entry #2: Pay no attention to those mating toads.
We just experienced two summery warm days here in the Brandywine Valley, but while the grass has greened and early spring ephemerals have begun showing off, I’m mostly still looking at a landscape of browns.
Anticipation is the gardener’s dominant emotion this time of year. Did the harshness of winter finish off that struggling shrub? Will the toads that always visit us return? Did the young trees we planted last fall make it through winter?
Good news! The toads are back, and we spotted two making love by the back door just last night. (Oh, go ahead: Blush.)
The latter question, however, consumes most of my stewardship energy. Over the past two autumns, we planted 400 native trees in the early stages of our attempt to reforest the wild edges of Puddock Hill. The first tranche of these (autumn 2020) were bare-root saplings purchased in volume from the Arbor Day Foundation, an approach I would not recommend to anyone who has more than the most minimal budget. Each tree is a mere twig sticking out of the ground, and we found the quality to be poor. While Arbor Day does claim to guarantee the trees, getting the organization to honor that pledge proved a waste of time. Furthermore, we couldn’t bear looking at a forest of reedy twigs for another year.