![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/tree_shipment.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI like eating apples in the fall, especially now that we have five apple trees in Casco, but even more than apples I like seckel pears. So naturally I’d like to have a seckel pear tree on the place. The nursery catalog says that seckel pears need two other varieties in the vicinity for proper pollination, and that Bartlett can’t be one of them. The same nursery catalog sells three pear trees, of which one is Bartlett, in a package deal. Well, Bartlett is my second favorite pear, so I ordered one seckel and the set of three.<\/p>\n
They came UPS in a long paper bag, only 6 and a quarter pounds shipping weight for four trees!<\/p>\n
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There wasn’t much dirt on the roots, just bare roots in some shredded bark to hold water around them.<\/p>\n
I put them in Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/trees_one_hole.jpg\")
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![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/more_dirt.jpg\")
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![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/yet_more_dirt.jpg\")
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Voila! One tree planted —<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/first_tree.jpg\")
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And to sum up, coming up the driveway and then past the house,<\/p>\n
Seckel,<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/seckel.jpg\")
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red Anjou,<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/anjou.jpg\")
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Bosc,<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/bosc.jpg\")
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and Bartlett.<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.rollingonone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2007\/05\/bartlett.jpg\")
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That’s special tree wrap around the bottom of the trunks (if you can call them trunks rather than twigs at this stage), to keep the tree protected from sun and gnawing animals. We went to the Aubuchon hardware in Naples first and asked if they had the stuff to wrap around newly planted trees, and they didn’t have any idea what I was talking about even when I said, “it sort of looks like very coarse masking tape.” Then we drove up the road to Mark’s garden center. Nobody was in the store when I walked in, but after several minutes a woman showed up. When I asked her, she said, “Oh, tree wrap, it should be … right about …. here!” and it was. It comes in a roll about the size of two tuna fish cans on top of each other and sure enough, looks a lot like very big masking tape or an oversize crepe paper streamer.
\nThis weekend, by golly, they’re starting to leaf out. All four seem still to be alive. So I’m not a pear tree murderer. Maybe in three or four years I’ll be picking a few pears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I like eating apples in the fall, especially now that we have five apple trees in Casco, but even more than apples I like seckel pears. So naturally I’d like to have a seckel pear tree on the place. The nursery catalog says that seckel pears need two other varieties in the vicinity for proper … <\/p>\n