Beach Meadows, February 13
Dear Philip,
I’m sending along some photos of the woods and the clean up of all those downed trees from Hurricane Dorian. The amazing Dave and Laura and their equally wonderful Mayfair Tree Care crew did an excellent job sawing up and limbing the downed trees and took down a number of other spruce weakened by winds, the summer drought and not helped one bit by their less than tenacious lateral root system.
The guest cottage’s screen of privacy has been a little compromised: Laura was really careful and judicious in what should stay or go, bearing in mind the proximity to the cottage, road and electrical wires of the spruce with taxed and flimsy root hold. So what looked like a post apocalyptic game of Pick Up Sticks now looks like an upturned can of Tinker Toys.
The upshot is an amazing mound of mulch destined for the garden beds after spring clean up. It’s probably going to be a frozen hummock for a bit anyway but when I see it, I see a giant pot of gold.
The gardens are, well, wintering over. I’ve taken some photographs of the season’s progress and I’ll drop you another note soon with some pics.
It is snowing here today and we’re bracing for a cold weekend. I hope this finds you and Cynthia well and warm.
Lynn
Dear Lynn,
Ah yes, Hurricane Dorian. I remember it well. Saturday, September 7, 2019. Winds of up to about 150 k.p.h. Dorian arrived in Port Medway about 9:30 in the morning and stayed around for 10 or so hours. Cynthia and I and the cat nervously hid out in the house. Of course, the power went out almost immediately (and stayed out for 5 days). We managed, but the fun and novelty soon wore off.
There was little damage to the houses, but, as your photos show, trees in the garden were a different story. In particular, the wooded area to one side of the cottage was severely hit. And so, months later, the excellent folks from Mayfair Tree Care arrived to clean up the mess. One good result – mulch!
Now, you and I need to figure out some replanting. As always in a garden, disaster creates opportunity. What should we do? I look forward to imaginative discussions, perhaps over a martini. One thing we need to bear in mind is not to plant anything that could fuel a fire. The disastrous wildfires around the world have lately made people aware that putting the wrong kind of trees in the wrong place is dangerous.
Looking forward to your next set of pictures…
Philip