Why I Oughta...

Our little 'pear tree that could' is back this year with a plentiful bounty on it's limbs.  Here's a look at just some of the fruit that is hanging pretty low.  The branches are droopy with the weight of fruit clinging to them. Last year, I didn't post any shots of the tree or the pears because I *think* it didn't produce anything?  Do pear trees take the occasional year off?  Those of you who have been following along for a while might remember that this is the same tree that snapped in half back in a big storm in 2010.   Check out this photo showing how skinny it was and how it - at basically chest height - snapped the top off . And now it is this big, healthy, vibrant tree!  Pretty cool to see it come back to life.  Here's what the tree looks like today: Here's a post with a photo of the tree from 2013 .    Not sure how much it has grown, but it is filled out a bit.  Hopefully the tree will pay dividends for some new folk...

I picked up two S piked Gayfeathers at the Elmhurst Garden Club Plant Sale a week or so back. They grow tall and provide some height in a perennial garden and they do well in full-sun, so they'll - hopefully - do really well in the backyard right to the West of our family room.  I put them in and the greens are doing really well even though the Babe stepped right on one while she was chasing a wiffleball.  Which...as her father is a GREAT excuse for trampling my plants, btw.