I almost worried that my upstairs neighbors or those walking by on the street might think I’d murdered a tiny person and was getting rid of the body.
As you can see, that’s what the disposal of my arbor vitae pretty much looked like.
The rest of my Urban Garden is a total triumph.
The mint and tomatoes, in particular, have grown Little Shop of Horror-style gargantuan almost overnight.
And yet, like George Clooney on ER, somehow I let this one tree’s life slip through my fingers.
Confusingly, browning on arbor vitae leaves are caused by either under-watering or over-watering.
At first, I thought it was because its pot had no holes and the method the nursery suggested of crinkled up plastic flats to create some drainage wasn’t working.
I drilled some holes but that didn’t seem to help much either (although it’s possible by that point the tree was too far gone to be rescued.)
I developed another theory after I removed it from the planter. I saw that the soil around the root ball had really never loosened. It was caked and muddy. Perhaps that may have been the culprit.
Disposing of the tree so it would not leave a trail of dried needles in the hallway by covering it in plastic bags on its way towards the incinerator, I did feel a hint of shameful failure. A brown speck on my otherwise green thumb.
The next morning, however, I saw a beautiful juniper for sale on the street on my way to Trader Joe’s for only $40 and I bought it instantly.
I’m glad I was wise enough to realize that this particular tree had no life within and was never going to spring back to life.
I wish I could be quite so forgiving and able to let go of other failures.
Maybe if I focus on the fact that all 30+ other plants and trees in the garden are thriving…or maybe if I realize that there’s a juniper wanting a new home…Or maybe just realizing that, even when you do everything right, sometimes you lose some…I can.
Menu
