First, you'll never see this green bush. It's nearly hidden on the east side of the Mount, at the opening of a little indentation in the building. But, the sun was shining on it so nicely I just had to take its picture and I think it turned out quite lovely. Plain green can be beautiful, too.
This evergreen was planted by our prioress, Anne, over 20 years ago, as a sapling that was given out free to her school children as a part of an Earth Day celebration. One of our experienced sister-gardeners told her to plant it in a garden area, not out in the grass so that it would have a protected place and perhaps make it. It sure has made it! Twenty years and twenty feet tall. Gorgeous.
And this is the ugliest tree on our property. It has a straight center, but nothing else about it is symmetric, balanced, or beautiful and yet every spring it is still there and even has new growth--sporadically popping out of course, but new nonetheless. We call it our Charlie Brown tree; we look for it to see if it survived the winter and, as you might expect, despite all its less than desirable features, have come to look on it as unique, interesting and displaying character. In other words, we have grown to love it!
