Pam who lives straight across the street & whom I've been helping with
some landscaping ideas has a great deal more area to garden than do I, &
most of it as yet untouched, because she & her hubby bought the
neighboring lot to make sure no one ever built that close to them. On that
big lot they have three very-very old twisty gnarly fruit trees that date
to a century ago when this hillside was still an orchard with only two
houses (hers & mine are the oldest houses here). One pear, & two apples, &
one of the apples is unusually large & marvelous in its Addams Family
twisty charm. Well, Pam nonchallantly said they'd been talking about
cutting down the old fruit trees, because they were so scary. I was
horrified; they are the central anchors for an area that can be
transformed into a splendid garden, & they're nowhere near the house, so
no reason to be afraid of them even if one of them ever blew down, which
wasn't likely ever to happen. Turns out she wasn't afraid of them falling,
she just thought they were way too spooky.

I went into high gear pointing out some of the beautiful twists & turns &
telling her how she'd never have old trees in her yards ever again if she
took out the only ones she had &amp to imagine a sweeping garden she could
construct in & around these old trees. I gave her every excuse under the
sun to like the trees, & seemed pretty definitely to have changed her way
of thinking, she ended up saying, "well, I guess they are awfully nice,
aren't they". But she's so pliable, & if the rest of the family says
anything to negate my lecture, they have way more influence than do I for
an easily swayed lass. But I assured her these trees wouldn't strike her
as scary once they become the tallest thing in a full flourishing garden,
rather than the only things on austere ground.

Anyway, I'd've thought even spookiness was a plus.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

In article , "Cereoid+10"
wrote:

Maybe she had nightmares as a child about the talking apple trees in "The
Wizard of OZ"?

Now I'm gonna have to ask her if she thinks that's part of it.

paghat wrote in message
news
Pam who lives straight across the street & whom I've been helping with
some landscaping ideas has a great deal more area to garden than do I, &
most of it as yet untouched, because she & her hubby bought the
neighboring lot to make sure no one ever built that close to them. On that
big lot they have three very-very old twisty gnarly fruit trees that date
to a century ago when this hillside was still an orchard with only two
houses (hers & mine are the oldest houses here). One pear, & two apples, &
one of the apples is unusually large & marvelous in its Addams Family
twisty charm. Well, Pam nonchallantly said they'd been talking about
cutting down the old fruit trees, because they were so scary. I was
horrified; they are the central anchors for an area that can be
transformed into a splendid garden, & they're nowhere near the house, so
no reason to be afraid of them even if one of them ever blew down, which
wasn't likely ever to happen. Turns out she wasn't afraid of them falling,
she just thought they were way too spooky.

I went into high gear pointing out some of the beautiful twists & turns &
telling her how she'd never have old trees in her yards ever again if she
took out the only ones she had &amp to imagine a sweeping garden she could
construct in & around these old trees. I gave her every excuse under the
sun to like the trees, & seemed pretty definitely to have changed her way
of thinking, she ended up saying, "well, I guess they are awfully nice,
aren't they". But she's so pliable, & if the rest of the family says
anything to negate my lecture, they have way more influence than do I for
an easily swayed lass. But I assured her these trees wouldn't strike her
as scary once they become the tallest thing in a full flourishing garden,

rather than the only things on austere ground.

Anyway, I'd've thought even spookiness was a plus.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Maybe she had nightmares as a child about the talking apple trees in "The
Wizard of OZ"?


paghat wrote in message
news
Pam who lives straight across the street & whom I've been helping with
some landscaping ideas has a great deal more area to garden than do I, &
most of it as yet untouched, because she & her hubby bought the
neighboring lot to make sure no one ever built that close to them. On that
big lot they have three very-very old twisty gnarly fruit trees that date
to a century ago when this hillside was still an orchard with only two
houses (hers & mine are the oldest houses here). One pear, & two apples, &
one of the apples is unusually large & marvelous in its Addams Family
twisty charm. Well, Pam nonchallantly said they'd been talking about
cutting down the old fruit trees, because they were so scary. I was
horrified; they are the central anchors for an area that can be
transformed into a splendid garden, & they're nowhere near the house, so
no reason to be afraid of them even if one of them ever blew down, which
wasn't likely ever to happen. Turns out she wasn't afraid of them falling,
she just thought they were way too spooky.

I went into high gear pointing out some of the beautiful twists & turns &
telling her how she'd never have old trees in her yards ever again if she
took out the only ones she had &amp to imagine a sweeping garden she could
construct in & around these old trees. I gave her every excuse under the
sun to like the trees, & seemed pretty definitely to have changed her way
of thinking, she ended up saying, "well, I guess they are awfully nice,
aren't they". But she's so pliable, & if the rest of the family says
anything to negate my lecture, they have way more influence than do I for
an easily swayed lass. But I assured her these trees wouldn't strike her
as scary once they become the tallest thing in a full flourishing garden,

rather than the only things on austere ground.

Anyway, I'd've thought even spookiness was a plus.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

The message
from (paghat) contains these words:

(snip) Pam nonchallantly said they'd been talking about
cutting down the old fruit trees, because they were so scary. I was
horrified; they are the central anchors for an area that can be
transformed into a splendid garden, & they're nowhere near the house, so
no reason to be afraid of them even if one of them ever blew down, which
wasn't likely ever to happen.

The angular reaching branches on an old apple tree can look a bit like
the scraggy grabbing arms of an ancient hag :-). Why not encourage Pam
to plant some mistletoe berries in the bark, then the trees will be
mystically holy and protective. Or, she could invite visitors to write a
wish on a rag strip and tie it on a twig...another very old custom.

Janet.

You people have been watching too many reruns of the Wizard of Oz.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885