What color are our thumbs?

This is the question of the season. We decided to try our hand at planting some things this spring, mostly inspired by an Asian Pear tree we bought on a whim last weekend. We were out for a motorcycle ride on this great local stretch of road we found and decided to stop in this cute little nursery along the way. The staff told us that pears are great fruit trees to try; the words "more or less indestructible" were thrown out there, which is perfect for us.

So Friday night we got to work putting this guy in his permanent home. The spot we originally chose for him on one side of the house wasn't going to work since I realized it doesn't get more than a few hours of sun each day. And we didn't really want the fruit tree in the front yard, so we opted to move our existing dogwood tree from its current location and replace it with the Asian Pear tree. The dogwood had a bad winter the first year we were here and Willy's mom lopped off a bunch of the dead branches so it was looking a little sad to be in such a prime spot in the yard. So, we put the Asian Pear tree in that sun-soaked spot. Isn't it purty? Even if we don't get fruit eventually (it's possible we'll get them next year), it's still got pretty flowers.

We're still hoping that the dogwood recovers too, but it will take him a while to fill out again I think. He bloomed last year and he's started blooming this year too, so we'll see. Hopefully he doesn't throw a tantrum for losing his previous spot. He's still got a nice area by the side of the house now. Oh, and we learned that we have A LOT of rocks right under the surface of our soil. That made for some fun digging. I planted some astilbe bulbs earlier in the week too so hopefully I'll be showing off some green thumb pics later in the season and not bare, brown patches.