The rhododendron is West Virginia’s state flower.  Rhododendron bushes are found in wooded areas throughout our state, although some people plant domesticated varieties in their yards.  They look exactly like the wild rhododendrons.  We went hiking at Kanawha State Forest today, and while en route, we saw many rhododendron bushes blooming in yards throughout the South Hills area.   

Our neighbors have a lovely rhododendron bush in their front yard that is currently in full bloom.  I’ve admired it each spring for the 12 years that we’ve lived in our house, and it only gets bigger and more beautiful every year.

Our daughter Caroline turns 13 this Saturday.  She is not materialistic, so we usually don’t have to buy her a birthday present.  She typically asks for only money, and she saves nearly every cent that comes her way.

Last year, however, she asked for a rather unique birthday present.  She wanted some type of fruit tree that we could plant in our yard.  I took her to Lowe’s one afternoon, and we went up and down the aisles of their garden center, looking at the fruit trees.  We read the tags with the name and description of each and every tree, trying to decide which would be best for our front yard.  Caroline eventually decided she’d like to have a cherry tree.  We didn’t buy one that evening, but instead, we went home so that she could research all the cherry trees on the Internet.

Her final choice was a Montmorency Cherry.  We returned to Lowe’s and bought one the next day.  Alexander helped us plant it in our front yard.  Caroline watered her cherry tree religiously throughout the spring and fall.  That took some dedicated effort on her part, considering that last year’s summer was very hot and dry.

The tree began dropping leaves last summer, which prompted me to contact the West Virginia Department of Agriculture to discuss the situation with one of their staff botanists.  He said that in his estimation, the tree was afflicted with a fungus called cherry leaf spot, which commonly affects cherry trees in this part of the country.  He recommended the application of a fungicide, which we did every two weeks or so until the tree lost its leaves in the fall.

Truthfully, the tree didn’t appear to be in the peak of health, despite the fungicide.  We wondered if it would survive the winter.  

Lo and behold, the tree began to sprout leaves this spring.  We were so relieved, especially Caroline.  The tree was covered with white blossoms last month, and by this time, it is covered with small green cherries.  Its leaves look quite healthy thus far, so hopefully, the fungus won’t come back this year.  

Garrett’s dad is a land surveyor, so I hired him to come over and locate the property line to the right side of our house.  Since we intend to plant trees there, I figured we’d better be safe than sorry and put them in the correct place instead of encroaching on the neighbor’s property.

Our lot was last surveyed when we bought it in 1996.  That surveyor put pins in the ground to mark the property lines, but they’ve long since disappeared, or at least the ones on that particular side have.

I spoke with Garrett’s dad on Monday night, and he said it wasn’t necessary for anyone to be at home during the survey.   Alexander is still working in Louisville, and the kids and I were gone nearly all day yesterday, so we weren’t at home when the surveying crew arrived and did their work.  Peter’s friend from down the street watched them, however, and he told us all about it last night.

I had forgotten that the property line on that side is so close to our house.  We’ll have to plant our trees very close to the line, if not directly along it.  The surveying crew put 5 or 6 of these pink markers, which are attached to metal pins, along the property line.  I wadded up the tape and shoved it into the ground next to each marker when I mowed the grass this afternoon. 

I haven’t seen our neighbors lately, but I suppose they’ll be surprised to see that for a number of years, I’ve been mowing a 10-foot swath of grass that’s actually theirs.

Alexander and I are still planning to plant either Green Giant Arborvitae or Leyland Cypress (or possibly even both) on our property sometime in the near future.  I’m still working — mostly in fits and starts – at getting the brush, sapling trees, and vines cleared off the rear and one side of our back yard. 

While I was hacking away at it last week, I inadvertently uncovered some stuff that was partially buried in the back corner of our yard.  There was part of an old “Big Wheels” trike (those things were popular when I was a kid), a yellow plastic patio umbrella, some pipes and miscellaneous pieces of rusted metal, and last but not least, this ceramic squirrel with one front leg broken off.  It has a hole in the bottom, so I think it’s the kind that people out in the country used to hang on a tree in their yard, to look like a real live squirrel.

I dug up nearly all the junk and put it in black plastic bags for the trash collector to haul away.  I thought the squirrel was funny, so I carried it around to the front of our house and squirted off the mud with the garden hose.  Peter and his neighbor friend were riding their scooters up and down our street.  When they spotted the squirrel, they both came running over to take a look.  Peter exclaimed, “Wow!  Can we keep it?”  

Well, it isn’t in very good shape, but I agreed to keep it, anyway.  I put it on our deck, next to the plastic turtle and frog yard ornaments.  The squirrel is almost the same color as our cat, Ginger, who often likes to sit on our deck.  I’ve already mistaken it for her a couple of times.