Friday, May 16, 2008

Get Your Eyes On

I live and garden beneath a large, gargantuan actually, pin oak. My emotions toward this tree define a love/hate relationship. We considered getting rid of it for a brief moment in time (we thought that would be the answer to our kitchen remodeling woes) but have realized the beauty of it's presence in our lives. However ...

It drops leaves (and the leaves, they are many) from November until February. That's four months of heavy raking. We spend a ton of money replacing the slate on our roof after hurricane season every year. And some years the acorn drop is so thick, we advise just staying under the patio umbrellas for safety reasons.

You would think that spring would be the season when I just unequivocally love the tree - no leaves to rake, no acorn missiles, no hurricane winds propelling limbs through the air. Just the shade, the wildlife haven, the cooling effect on our home ...



and yet these buggers keep popping up ... everywhere. The squirrels have not done their duty. They buried. But they did not recover and eat.

Have you read "The Omnivores Dilemma?" Michael Pollan writes about how mushroom hunters "get their eyes on" for their particular mushroom. Well, I get my eyes on for these oak babies. I can sense them hiding under the hellebores and almost smell them tucked amongst the coreopsis. After a particularly good day of hunting, I see them every time I close my eyes. I see them in my sleep.


I love the first day after a good rain when I can pull them out easily (of course without stepping in the garden and compacting the soil -- that's for all you garden professionals out there). Tomorrow will be that day and I'm ready for them. Watch out pin oak babies. I'm coming for you and I've got my eyes on.

2 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

Little oak and maple seedlings drive me crazy in the spring. I pull them up and the next week there are more and more to pull.

Aki said...

A flower of a hydrangea and an orchid is also in bloom in my Japanese garden. Just similar.