Not Dead Yet

Above, our new apple tree. It's a semi-dwarf Fuji, and as you can see it has already been espaliered. It's not much older than our "stick" (the bare-root that never was), but much farther along the path I hope it will follow for us. Fingers crossed, please.

Underplanting the apple and pear trees are a pair of tiny miniature gingkoes. They're doing well, producing those characteristic gingko leaves and adding an interesting leaf shape to the garden.

This is the new pear. It's a big improvement over the stick, don't you think? Yeah. It's a Hosui, the same type, but obviously older, healthier, and even:

Bearing fruit. I have no idea whether the fruit on it this year will mature (transplant shock and all), but I'm hoping. There are maybe 20 pears on the tree, and given its size we hope to be able to eat from it next year at the latest.

I chose to take pictures at absolutely the wrong time of day, but what you're seeing here is the backyard from the southern vantage, looking west. On the left out of the frame is the Blue Weeping Atlas Cedar. Eight feet to the north, the Fuji apple, then the Hosui pear, and in the corner our little bamboo.

It still struggles, and I really don't know if the bamboo will survive. But at this point I'm hoping that the warmth of the sun and the ample water we provide (drainage is goooood here) help everyone to settle in.

If, and this is a big if, they all make it we'll have established the basic framework of our Japanese garden. After that it's underplanting with conifers and grasses, creating the rock border, and deciding where to place a fountain and a seating area.