A sad passing and a happy recovery

Ever since we settled on this house, some 17 years ago, we have loved our flowering crabapple tree, delighting in its spring blossoms and the fragrance they emanate.  But the severe, cold, dry winter of 2013 was too much for it, and it never put out a single blossom in 2014, so we regretfully took it down last week. It wasn’t a terribly big tree, but we hired professionals to do the job, as I no longer trust my knees to do any agile climbing. We asked them to be careful of the emerging plants below it, one red-orange tulip in particular, which had not yet fully opened, but one small dropped branch clipped one of the petals off, so that it hung by a thread. It didn’t seem to mind the injury, though, and has gone on to develop fully. I made this photo a couple of days ago, just before the petal let go its hold. Its repositioning left a window into the flower’s interior for an angle that is not normally available. We are completely recycling the crabapple, having had it chipped and saving it all to add to the rest of the garden as mulch, so it will continue to live on through the other living things it will nourish. Surely a rather happy ending to its sad demise.