Sunday, December 5, 2010

Cherry Ripe ?

 While we are working on the first phase renovating our old stone house, we are renting a house nearby that Ian and I call "The Campsite."  It is a shelter and a bit of a staging area for us and our renovation adventure in progress.  And  for the most part, its features and facilities are very basic, no frills.  We have not and will not completely unpack, only the things we need for the next 3 months have been taken out for use.  The Campsite does not have all that many charms, but it serves a purpose (even I admit this !  a hot shower and bed are very nice...and I even work from The Campsite, though my network cables unaesthetically snake across and crisscross the room I use for that).

The Campsite does have an interesting tree.  A cherry tree.  In fact is is an espaliered cherry tree, someone in years past went to a lot of trouble to train it to grow along wires.  It is a fine tree now, and has a lot of fruit on it.  And for weeks, every day, Ian walks by the cherry tree and has been telling me "the cherries are ripe."  Or "we should pick the cherries before the birds get them."  Or " the cherries are ready to pick."

I did some looking on the web to try  to learn what variety cherries these might be.  I was not able to determine exactly, but learned that the ripening season is slow this year, due to cool weather and much rain.  The cherries have not been ready to pick, nor have they looked or tasted ripe !

But they are very pretty and look stunning and red, as in these photos.  And two days ago, they all turned deep burgundy color, sweetened up, and indeed...NOW the cherries are ready to pick and eat !  I will be going out and picking more cherries (first batch is in a big bucket in fridge)...Before the birds get them all !

 At the House (old stone house under renovation is The House, rental house is The Campsite), I did a bit of gardening last week.  Weed pulling and a lot of it.  And I got a snap of these stunning pink roses in front of the verandah.

 Up in the back garden, I have some fine roses, David Austin varieties by the looks of them.  Bright yellow Golden Celebration, a couple pink ones (including one named Eglantyne), peachy hued Abraham Darby, and a lovely delicate white one with the most amazing rose fragrance I have ever smelled.  All shown below.

The white one is called The Nun, I only know this because it is one of two shrubs of over 70 that has tags on it.  I can just make out the scratched name of the plant on the metal tag dangling from a small branch.  The plant is a bit frail and small compared to the others, but it produced the two white flowers you see, plus one more.  I think it is a special one and worth some work.  I will be seeing if we can bring this one back to a more glorious and vigorous state !

More soon...

No comments:

Post a Comment