Brown Turkey Fig Tree

The weather was perfect on Sunday and it was time to plant my wedding anniversary gift from my husband.  I have been wanting a fig tree for several years and  we finally bought one on our 32nd wedding anniversary in October. 

With all the rain we have had the last few weeks I was unable to plant it until the ground had some time to dry out.

 I dug a big hole, yes I do this myself! Tony was standing by just in case I hit some granite. I recently removed a white Buddleia davidii  from this area so most of the soil was loose enough for me to dig deeper.

I used the leftover soil to make a berm around the tree to create a basin to hold the water.  This area is on a slope of ground so this will keep it from running off until the roots take hold.

We decided on an Improved Brown Turkey Fig.  Our local nurseryman said this one would not grow that large and since we don't have a lot of space left for trees we thought this would be a good choice. 

"Blessings upon thee, gentle bud of hope!"

The bird bath was another gift from Tony. The old one I had was Italian clay and was here when we bought the house. The raccoons loved to tip the edge of the bowl to get to the water.  One October night they must have had a party; they tipped the whole thing over and broke the bowl into so many pieces it was not salvageable. It had been broken once before but I was able to repair it. This new one is far too tall for them to reach, I hope, and is so heavy I don't think they will be able to. It is actually a base for a fountain, we negotiated with the nurseryman and got it for $100.00. 

The birds are really enjoying it, it is much deeper than our old one.  I saw a Black Phoebe in it yesterday, he was diving in and then resting on the center area after each dive.  He never really bathed like most birds do, he just kept diving in and up to the center; I have seen this bird often but this is the first time I have seen it bathe; maybe it likes a deeper bowl. 

Here is a picture of the base I was able to recycle from the old birdbath.  I hate to throw anything out that can be re-purposed.  This worked out perfectly for one of my many Pelargoniums.

After all my hard work I sat down for a nice cup of Hibiscus tea.  I recently cleared this area of ground cover to create another seating area.