Hello fellow readers,
What a roller coaster this spring has been. It came on like a lamb with highs up to 70 degrees stimulating early growth. Then, in comes the lion of overnight temps well below freezing. Many of the early blooming trees like magnolias ‘froze their faces’ I can hear Mom say. While it’s sad their bloom cycle was cut short and the dead flower petals hanging on will fall to the ground and not be replaced till next year, the trees will leaf out without missing a beat. That is, unless Mother Nature has something else in store.
I was speaking with Donald of Stillwater who said his doughnut tree did just fine with the freeze and his apple trees did too as they have not yet gone into bud. I had never heard of a doughnut tree so of course quickly asked the botanical name of which there is none. Donald went on to share the tale of how he surprises his grand kids with doughnuts from time to time picked from the doughnut tree just as they become ripe. One time he bought munchkins, the center part of the doughnut, and tossed them under the tree. The kids went out to visit the doughnut tree and Donald pointed out the undeveloped fruit. ‘Now don’t eat those,’ he advised. ‘As you can see, they dropped to the ground before they ripened and now they are starting to rot.’ Then there’s the seeds in the doughnuts (that look remarkably like pumpkin seeds) which is where doughnut trees come from.
At school the next day, one of the kids told where his Granddad’s doughnuts came from. When challenged that the story could not be true he exclaims, ‘I know it’s true; I just ate a doughnut from the tree yesterday.’ Perfectly logical and it’s good to know that Donald’s doughnut tree was spared from the freeze.
Devon of Race’s Farm in Blairstown kindly took my call to find out how their fruit trees fared. She thinks they lost their apricots as they bloom early. Their apple trees are in their quarter-inch silver leaf stage and haven’t come to bloom, explained Devon. Still, they have laid the quick connect pipes above their blueberries, peach and apple trees which works essentially like a big over-top sprinkler. They can run the irrigation to gain two or three degrees during a freeze; which also helps prevent frost from sitting on the plants. I wonder how they keep their doughnuts from getting wet? Maybe that’s where Joey Bagadonuts comes in. Garden dilemmas? Askmarystone@gmail.com
