November 16, 2009

yin and yang

I spent my Saturday morning studying crap like this diagram.
So I rewarded myself by staring at this......Oh, wait, that's not what I meant. It looks like I dug a hole for David to take a dump in. Really, it was for a tree. It was just a bonus that I had his ass in my face while digging the hole. Not to mention the fragrant odor of the chicken shit manure wafting my way. It might as well have been a latrine. Well, at least there were no trips to the ER.
The hole was for this tree. It's a bottlebrush variety called 'Hannah Ray'. I have one over by hammock. When I took this picture, it had a good 6 monarch butterflies on it, 3 different species of bees, and other unidentified pollinators. Just a month ago, it had 4 hummingbirds fighting non-stop over it. I'd lay on the hammock for a study break, close my eyes, and hear the hum and chattering of them fighting.
But what about the other side of the yard where my wife and I eat eggs on the weekends? I had planted a native yaupon (Ilex vomitoria, you gotta love that latin name of vomitoria). One Christmas, I had purchased a yaupon as our living Christmas tree. It was covered in red berries (it's a holly) but a bit too Charlie Brownish for the rest of the clan. That was at our old house but I brought a small transplant along to our new one for memory's sake. But as I sat on our patio, I realized that it would outgrow it's spot. So why should the hammock have all the beauty? I planted another one right behind Michelangelo's David for balance.

2 comments:

Steve Parker, M.D. said...

Always remember: there IS life after medical school.

I miss the yaupon holly trees I had in Texas. They must not grow well in the Arizona desert since I rarely see them planted here.

Isaac said...

What part of Texas?

I wouldn't think yaupon quite that drought tolerant for Arizona.