A little story. We had 2 apple trees when we moved into our home; a Red Delicious, and a Cortland. One year, web worms attacked the Red Delicious - and brought with them fire blight. The fire blight killed the RD within a couple years... and from limbs touching, spread to the Courtland. We cut down the dead RD; the Cortland put up a respectable fight. It lost a few limbs every year, but kept cranking out apples, until we finally had to bid it goodbye. It felt like losing an old friend (and that stump became the surprise garden posted above).
Well a few years ago, just before we lost the Cortland, some shoots emerged from under the dead stump of the RD. I was going to cut them down, since I assumed they were just suckers from the grafted rootstock. DW told me no, and said "let them grow, wait and see". Last year, the tree had
one misshaped apple, and I again wanted to cut it down to plant something else... DW said "wait".
Elena was right. I would have given up too soon; she had hope, and never gave up on a plant, or a person. I will forever see in this tree a lesson, and the power of that hope.
