Tearing Down and Building Up

Watching the ginkgo I planted ten years ago grow taller and more mighty. I've trimmed it once already. Tried to weigh down the branches so it would look curved like the wonderful "sport" at the Arnold Arboretum. Healthy tree that it was, it sprouted from the bent branches ever upward.

This past year it grew more than 6 feet. With the look of a maturing tree it spread its branches and took on the unmistakable form of the conifers to which it is related.

I could let it grow forever. Such a lovely tree. Alas we live in the city and our garden is as big as a postage stamp. Conundrum. Let the tree grow past the second floor bedroom window or allow some sunshine into the garden?

Based on my past experience with this tree I decided to give it a radical haircut. The branches were so healthy and supple I could barely cut them off. Sorry to say but it didn't give me one bit of pain to cut this beauty. The tree responded in kind. Here is a picture of it. You can barely tell it was cut. It's raring to go for next year.

I learned something else by trimming the tree two years ago. I stuck one of the young branches in a pot and it has given me leaves for the past two years. Looks like we have a new ginkgo coming along.

So I had an idea. Why not stick some of these young twigs in the ground along the fence and start myself a new hedge? So that ginkgo can regenerate in two ways. The tree I trimmed will grow as good as new next year maybe all the way to the second story. And the twigs I stick in the ground will give me hope for the years to come. Maybe one or two of them will sprout.

It sounds trite but it helps to tear down if you want to build up.