My New Dawn climber was way, way past its mid-summer pruning. In fact, some folks recommend not pruning this late in the season, in order to prevent the growth of tender shoots. But I think that a trimmed and tied up rose over-winters just fine--and poses less risk of personal harm from wind-whipped canes.
I had delayed taking to this climbing rose with ladder and clippers in deference to the family of robins nesting at the top of the arbor. And, also, pruning is difficult to do when there is still a spattering of flowers in bud and in bloom. This cultivar continues to throw off just enough flowers for it to be touted as "ever blooming."
Even though the robins disappeared in mid-August--flying out under the radar--imagine the cognitive dissonance when, peeking into their empty nest, I saw something small, green, and egg-shaped.
A butternut. Crazy! A squirrel must have scaled the arbor, negotiated the thorny branches, and cached the butternut for winter. Talk about squirreling something away! The butternut is still there, even after the pruning, should anyone need a snack.
2 comments:
I love the shot of the squirrel's larder. It has lots of space to fill still. I often wonder how much a squirrel remembers about each storage spot. I wonder if they have a mental map, or if they just get lucky when they find them later?
I generally find three or four little butternut trees sprouting up around the backyard in the spring, so that map must have some blank terrain!
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