Burgess always has enticing exotics like Angel Trumpets the size of trees and the Thailand Giant Elephant Ear, that might grow in places like Iowa, with rich black dirt and steamy summer nights. But Burgess would be happy to sell them to you in Montana. Although our climate is mild, there's a big refrigerator just down the road called Puget Sound and the evenings are cool here, even in the summer. But who knows, with climate change?
Burgess still sends me their catalog each January, even though I haven't bought anything from them in years. Some of the most invasive things I've ever planted (Hummingbird Vine, Corkscrew Willow) came from this very catalog.
But to give Burgess credit, so did our treasure of an Italian plum tree. Helped along by global warming last summer, it produced an embarrassment of fruit that brought out the very worst in our "neighbors." But it makes you feel old when that little $5 twig you stuck in the ground "just the other day" has turned into a big, moss-covered tree.
Something from Social Security came in the mail yesterday, listing every penny I've made each year of my life, except for some under-the-table babysitting. I suddenly thought: I'm in my seventh decade of life now. That had such a heavy feel, I had to count the 7 decades out on my fingers to believe it. But what is life anyway, except the choices we make in each present moment?
There's an old saying that goes something like this:
What is a good time to plant a tree?
20 years ago.
What is the best time to plant a tree?
Today.
Maybe I'll order a Paw-Paw.
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