The little tree that almost could

About five years ago now she started pressuring me that she wanted some plum trees, or any kind of fruit trees so she could make jam. I pushed back a bit. We don’t have the greatest history with fruit trees, especially starting them off.

So she went to the garden center and found two, end of the season, nobody wanted them, plum trees for $50 apiece. She phoned me, such a good deal she said.

I relented, and she came home with two plum trees and one tiny cherry bush, you know, for jam.

So I dutifully planted them for her. Close enough so they could keep each other producing. And they were already trees, not just little plants.

Five years later one of the trees is dead, the cherry bush has never produced even a flower, and this one that’s left just struggles along. Last year we had the son in law over, a tree guy, who helped us trim and care for the little tree a bit.

Well, this year we have a few blossoms on the tree but I’m way past watching for plums on it.

I figured we’d be eating plum jam by now, but it has been a disappointment to us.

I tell her to give up, (Lauralea, not the tree) but she continues to wait patiently. Who knows, maybe one of these years we’ll see plums.

We should call it the “Maybe Next Year Tree.”