baglady: This is wait-and-see situation, but the new leaf and branch growth is a very positive sign. This new growth could not occur without the participation of the roots, indicating that enough of the cambium layer (just under the bark) survived to transport water and nutrients. You will want to closely watch the damaged area of the tree this fall and spring, since the damage could create an easy pathway for the entry of disease such as bacterial canker, the moreso since it is low on the trunk. If these diseases are common in your area (wherever that is), you might want to dormant spray with a strong copper solution to try to deter the development of these problems. First symptoms would be gooey or sappy blobs at the point of damage. I am sure the neighbor feels badly about the damage, but if she mows the lawn again you might want to protect the tree with something like a sheet metal sleeve. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

MB, no, not quite. Traditionally major peach pruning is done either while the tree is dormant, or to reduce the threat of canker, at first growth in spring. When establishing the tree, dormant or delayed dormant pruning is less dwarfing than substantial summer pruning. Summer training of young trees generally consists of pinching tender young growth or rubbing off buds to guide the trees development. Once a tree is established, it is fine to cut large limbs in summer but the most useful aspect of summer pruning is to remove excessively vigorous uprights and allow light down onto the new wood that will bear peaches the following year. That is, unless you are trying to keep mature trees small such as when more than one tree is planted in a planting hole or spacing is tight. If this is the case pruning can be performed two or three times during the growing season to keep trees in bounds.

I use a Black and Decker battery powered string trimmer. I don't have a mower at this property, so I use it to mow about 1/2 acre. The battery lasts about 30 minutes and recharges quickly. Since I only "mow" in the evenings, after it goes dead I recharge it and resume mowing the following night. For that size area it is nightly exercise to keep up. The reason I mow with the trimmer is I'm doing an experiment with tall grass. My city requires I mow to 12 inches. Before someone started complaining, my St Augustine grass was up to 32 inches tall in places. That seems to be the limit. Tall grass needs much less water. The roots are so deep that they can pull water from much deeper in the soil. I have an area of my lawn which has received only rainwater since October 2011. Since I live on the edge of the Texas desert in what appears to be continual drought, that is a long dry spell. That particular area is in full shade all day long. St Augustine is the only grass that will grow under that much shade. The tree above has a high canopy but not that high. The area gets only early morning sunlight and is in shade of the tree or house for the rest of the day. This year I watered one small area a couple times when I thought I could awaken the lawn early from winter dormancy. That did not work. The rest of the lawn has not been watered at all and looks great! Also I have not fertilized since Oct 2011. I expected the grass to become yellow, but it has not. Again, deeper roots bringing in nutrients from deeper in the soil.

I appreciate the comments and concerns about maintenance, and the following is NOT a rant, but rather my attempt at clarifying the specifics of this site. These are things I've thought and talked about with the caretaker. I first approached him about this back in early Summer. Being recognized as a historic site by the state of NJ, they do get quite a few hands working on keeping things up. Volunteers from Rutgers University have been coming by this Autumn to clean, prime, and repaint the fence. The small water feature was donated by a church member, and installed by the caretaker. All the plants you see in there already were donated -- and in many cases planted -- by church members. They get together for leaf raking and shredding in Autumn. Brian, the caretaker, has shared with me his desire to create something really beautiful, but he's limited by cost. He's been expanding beds, but doesn't have much more than divisions of church members' plants to fill them. Since he lives on-site, this is effectively his back yard, and I saw him out there almost daily during the growing season -- he also maintains a small veggie garden for the church which I didn't photograph. [The church is across the street from my job, and down the street from the Starbucks from where I collect used coffee grounds daily.] I told him that a few old roses could make good "anchor shrubs" around which he can continue to spread the companion plants he already has in abundance. This is not an empty stretch of land that some people "say" they'd like improved but don't do anything about it -- and this is why I took interest in it. When I was in Buffalo, I was approached by my "block club" about helping to put together a proposal for a city grant to buy plants for the empty space at the end of the street. We did get a few volunteers for helping to put it together, but I did much of the work by myself. As my free time started to shrink from classes and a busier work schedule, "maintenance" became me going down there once a week to pull weeds and pick up garbage. Once things were planted, the attitudes I kept hearing from non-participating neighbors about how "the college kids will ruin it" morphed into "no one will take care of it" -- and it was the latter which became true. So in essence, I lived on a block full of people complaining about how the neighborhood looked crappy and no one was doing anything about it, yet they themselves were reticent to make the first step -- or even keep things going after others got things started for them. I lived there for three years, and became well aware -- as they knew I am a "downstater" myself -- of that "blame everyone else" attitude for their deep-seated Rust Belt woes. What I at first thought would be an example of the "Stone Soup" story coming to life and igniting a desire for further improvement became an example of how throwing some money at something isn't enough to make a change -- you need people willing to keep it going. But this isn't what I find at this location. Instead, I find someone with the desire, energy, and know-how to make something beautiful here, but is limited by funds. Yes, there are plenty of roses I can't grow in my yard which I'd like to see in this garden, but this isn't going to be "my garden". I'd like to see them there because they'd be appropriate there, and the caretaker agrees. As for tree maintenance, as far as I can tell none is performed, other than raking leaves. I will speak to Brian in more detail about having roses up in them, but he has already expressed interest when I asked if he'd want that. In the meantime, I don't have any roses on-hand right now that will be planted there. I do have an order for Spring, but that's it. I also have my own "inventory" from which I can propagate, as well as whatever I can propagate from the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, and whatever I can get donated. If it turns out I have too much, any "leftovers" will go back to the HRF. So, in the end, this will be about me saying to Brian "Hey, I have this, and I think it'd work over there....want it? Oh, and what about putting this one over here...it'll get this big eventually, so you'll need that much space." He's really the designer. I'm just sharing my rose info with -- and trying to "make plants happen" for -- him. :-) ~Christopher