Backyard Orchard Progress Report

Here is a bit of a backyard orchard progress report. Backyard orchard also includes front yard. It also includes strawberries, grapes, and raspberries. They are all sweet fruits, so why not. Not sure about tomatoes, which are annual, but they make fruit and some are sweet. Peppers, too. Separate issue I think.

Desert King = King Fig. This vigorous, fast growing tree benefited from the pruning I did last year, to keep it compact. It is on the south side of the house. The # of brebas is amazing. King is reputed to be great in the northwest and to keep its brebas. I will hold it to its reputation. I have about a dozen cuttings in the wine barrel container beds among the peppers and tomatoes. If they grow that will be fun. Lattarula = White Marseilles = Lemon Fig. Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello. Also good Northwest reputation. Seems to have more brebas against the house, than a couple of feet further away. Interesting.

Not so many on Hardy Chicago Fig. Chicago is the first to make main crop for me. So I'm not too worried about it. Not pictured, Petite Negri Fig and Vancouver = Brunswick? Fig. Both of those have a few brebas as well, larger but fewer in number, compared to the other fig trees.

Grapes are almost to the blooming stage. I was worried that they froze. Also that I over-pruned them in Jan. Now they are looking good. So I think they will do well.

Flower clusters starting to show on grape vines.

Strawberries are blooming. These are the June bearing plants that have been there for several years, and I got behind on weeding last year. They are looking pretty good despite that. Lots of flowers. I've been snipping off the flowers from the ever bearing plants, as per the instructions, to give them a chance to establish. I will let them bloom in June or July.
Illinois Everbearing Mulberry. The top branch had some orange fungus so I cut it off last month. That left 2 branches for my backyard-orchard-culture low-pruned tree, which I think is less stable than 3 branches. Still that is perfectionism. Mulberries are reputed to be late to leaf out. Looks like one little spur or early branch has potential mulberries. I would like that.

Daniel's Ginkgo Trees

Here are the 3 seedling ginkgo trees. They are all about 13 years from seed. The tallest, generously fertilized by 13 years of doggie contributions, looks like it's about 25 feet tall. The other 2 are about 7 and 9 feet tall. They were also planted from containers one or 2 years later, and have not been watered as much.

Ning's Lilacs

These are not Hulda's lilacs, they are a selection of Ning's lilacs. Most have been establishing for about 4 or 5 years. Some older ones in Ning's yard are much larger, but folwered earlier and are not as photogenic now. The variety names fell off, and I was not diligent about recording which one was where. The goal was a lilac privacy hedge. This is a slow process, but now is beginning to develop into an informal hedge.

Hulda Klager's Lilac Garden

Yesterday Ning and I went to Hulda Klager's Lilac garden in Woodland Washington. Nice historical mini-botanical garden featuring Lilacs and the lady who was fascinated by them. Her house is a museum of the time as well.


Some of the Lilacs are massive. This one is 3 times as tall as Ning.
Some are covered with flowers. That seems to be variety-specific. They vary in the number of flowers and how early they bloom, as well as the colors.
A nice lilac-colored lilac. There are also magenta, pink, and white varieties.
Of course, I'm especially interested in the huge gingko tree. This one is further ahead in leafing out, compared to mine. It's at the stage of leaves the size of a squirrel's ear.

Maxine passed away thurs night.

It's hard to say when Maxine really left us. Alzheimer's doesn't give an exact day and time for when you lose your loved one. It makes for an agonizing fading away, until they speak no words, remember no one, cant walk, feed, or clean themselves. For the past 6 months, she swallowed when they put food into her mouth. I last visited a few weeks ago, and as in all visits for the past year, there was no hint of recognition, and it was unclear whether she was awake or asleep or something in between. I'm glad I found these photos, it reminds me of who she really was.

Maxine in the later 40s, I think. No date on the photo.

Another photo with no date. She liked smiling like that in photos.


Not so happy looking here. Nice angel food cake.

Later in life she didn't like having pictures taken. She said she looked like an old lady, and quit smiling for photos, but she did smile a lot in person. This was with me in 1989 in Indiana. Maxine liked prairie and pioneer themes.