They're Here!!

Big box! On porch! For MMMMMMEEEEE!!

Today, we received our two trees from Stark Brothers. One is a Fuji apple, the other a Korean pear. I looooove Korean pears (all Asian pears, really), and they tend to be kind of hard to find (and expensive) in the grocery.

But in Kentucky we frequented Evans Orchard, where one of the great success stories is the row of Asian pears (several varieties) they harvest every fall. It was a great option, especially since locals weren't yet aware of how great Asian pears can be. So we'd wander the rows, picking the pears alongside our Japanese co-transplants (mostly visitors working with Toyota in Georgetown).

What I learned: Asian pears grow well in a temperate-ish climate. Lexington was 6b on the USDA scale. We're 6a here in Salt Lake City. You know what that means. Time to plant a tree.

Stark Brothers has a gazillion options, but we have a small yard and we want to create a Japanese-themed garden. So we're starting with just two trees. Fujis are Charles' favorite apple, so that choice was easy.

I'll plant them along the fence, and espalier them so that they protrude only a little into our teensy space, but grow up and out, providing fruit, color, and green for our delectation.

Tomorrow: get a bucket, soak the bare-root saplings for 4 hours (meanwhile, I'll be touring the school where Iain will enroll next year), then plant them in a nice little hole, with rich soil and some dry leaves to hold water. Saturday it'll rain, so we're in great shape. The little trees can spend the fall growing roots, the winter chilling, and then emerge in spring ready to rock.

In two or three years...apple pie anyone?