BACKYARD BURNING BUSH

We lost one of the girls this week!  Five years ago we started out with seven, all lined up in a row along our back fence.

They were much smaller when we planted them, but we had HIGH hopes of them filling in the space between our back yard, the common area and then the street. 

We felt that joggers and motorists needed to be looking at beautiful Leland cypress trees instead of into our back patio windows. The issue was not that we have something to hide,  but a  privacy hedge  sometimes protects the innocent! They grew tall and served their purpose.

They have thrived beautifully and their graceful limbs have provided shade and shelter for various birds and critters.  We love these trees.

However, this summer has been brutal on all plants in the heartland.  How can anything exposed to days and days of triple digit heat and little water survive? 

After YEARS of fertilizing, watering and decorating with white lights at Christmas, one of the girls went up in a blaze this past week and her sister is in critical condition. 

Reminds me of the burning bush of Exodus fame.  This truly must be something like the visual Moses experienced.

However, none of our trees have spoken aloud, YET!

If they COULD speak, I'm sure we'd be hearing these phrases: 

"Hot enough for you?"  "It's too hot to live!"  ""Remember last February when it was 28 below zero with 14 inches of snow on the ground?" "We'll be wishing for some of this heat come next January."  "Do you think it'll rain today?" "The temperature today is higher here than in Las Vegas."  "Could you bring me a glass of lemonade, please?"  "I think I'm having a heat stroke!"

Yep, that's what they'd be saying, because that's what they're hearing from US!

The weather man says this summer has been the "600 year experience, " every 600 years we have this kind of heat.  I wonder how he knows that.

The expert at the nursery says, there's no explanation, some trees live and some trees die.  It's the nature of horticulture!

Spontaneous combustion? For plants?  For human beings?   Is that even possible?  Who knew?

I'm headed to the AC button and turning her down to 65!