The Charlie Brown Tree

I noticed today that our little crab apple tree that is on the corner was really leaning to the south. Not something it has done before. I didn't think very much about it and I was surprised to learn that it has been broken off, almost completely, at the foot of it's little trunk!

I got this little tree on clearance about five years ago, maybe six. It has been a good little tree and has had many adventures. My nephew, Zack won the Reflections contest by putting a cape on the tree, taking a picture of it and giving it hero status. It has the most lovely pink flowers and is a variety of crab apple that flowers later than the other crab apple trees. Stephanie enjoys putting bulbs and garland on it at Christmas time and this is how it came upon it's name "The Charlie Brown Tree". I think that Seth and Gina bequeathed this name upon it first.

I still have the tags that were attached to it when I bought it. It is a Bechtel flowering crab apple (Malus ioensis 'Plena').

I have known for a while that it may not be doing well. The trunk of the poor little thing just hasn't looked well. I really had hoped that it would pull through, but today I have had to come to terms with the fact that it, for sure, will not pull through.

Thank you, Charlie Brown Tree. Thank you for the joy you brought into our lives and into our little neighborhood. We will miss you.