For the past month and a half, give or take a few days, my husband and I have been working on our "project", the landscaping of our new (old) house.   As I write this, I realize that it was just a little over a year ago, that we took possession of our new (old) house and began rehabbing  and renovating it.  With the inside basically finished (and yes, it still has a few niggling things that need to be completed) this spring we started replacing trees, the first of which was a clump river birch.

So far, of all the trees we have planted including the newest dogwood we planted yesterday, the clump river birch has been the biggest disappointment.  It still has no leaves, and frankly, it looks like a bunch of dry, spindly limbs. Every day we check for any growth and the possible lengthening of buds, but little progress seems to have been made.  Yes, we recognize that sometimes the replanting process shocks the tree, and slows the growth, but at what point, do we call it quits on the river birch?

All the plantings that we have done so far, except for the birch, seem to be thriving.  The grape plants' limbs are leafing and stretching out and will soon need to trained to grow up the arbor Rob built.  The kousa dogwood, that is beside the water feature in the front yard, has buds that are sprouting tiny green leaves.  The pansies located at the base of the dogwood have already rebloomed after they were deadheaded when we first planted them.  The  dwarf spruces and salvia, that we planted after we removed the old yew bushes in the front, are putting out new shoots.  Everywhere we tossed the grass seed, including the swale we created in the backyard, has begun popping up and filling in the lawn.  The hens and chicks that we added to the rock grotto of the water feature are adding to their flocks.  Even the irises that we moved from one flower bed to another managed to bloom. Everything has flourished, that is, except the clump birch.  Again, at what point do we give up on this tree and purchase another in its place?