A Year Has Passed

The day I am writing this has been day about trees.  It is still, just (only just) the time to plant them and it is the time to be pruning them.  It is also the time to admire them in their autumn glory.
The deciduous trees are shedding their leaves quickly and quietly, they have coloured up and fallen down.  I have quite a few trees in the garden and they all play their part and all have their moment when they are at their most special.  Last year, almost to the day, I wrote about my quest for the right liquidamber.  I planted a Liquidamber styraciflua 'Stared' and I was (am) very pleased with it.
I then spent a year making sure that it did not die.  I kept it watered in the dry weeks and looked at it lovingly every time I wandered to the top of the garden.  I am pretty sure that looking lovingly on plants does help them grow.  Either that or it gives them a total complex and they wither.....
On the day of writing I stood in front of the liquidambar and thought how beautiful it was.  It only has a few leaves left and they are a great shape and color.  Next year it should need less cossetting as hopefully it will be putting out its roots and starting to settle in.  I had not realised when I was standing there that it was so close to its anniversary, though I knew it must be there or thereabouts.  It made me think about how quickly a year passes and how many more years this tree will hopefully see.  More years then I have left (not in a morbid way, just in a matter of fact if this tree lives as long as it can then it has more years than I).
All the trees in the garden are special, and on this day the liquidamber celebrated its birthday by shining in the late autumn sun.