I often joke to non-gardening acquaintances that their dead tree has skipped a year, it will be fine next year. Mostly, they ignore me.

Today, I wonder why the Wheel tree (Trochodendron aralioides, below) has skipped a year in bloom. It’s alive and healthy, and yes, I’m aware that many factors play into the lack of flowers. Deer nibbling branch tips of a third of the shrubby tree certainly decreased the quantity of potential buds. But, what happened to the branch tips not chewed?

Some answers will elude me forever despite educated guesses, and I am doubly disappointed after seeing several Wheel trees in glorious bloom on my recent West Coast excursion. I know, wait till next year.

This space just below the kitchen window was once occupied by a very large Alaskan cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis, until recent years Cupressus) that declined after decades of increasing shade. Finally, this prompted its removal that was miraculously accomplished with little damage to this crowded section of garden. Once removed, my wife cautioned that no taller plants should take its place.

Today, a taller than expected, variegated rhododendron (‘Silver Edge’, above) encroaches on the view from the kitchen, with the Wheel tree slowly heading towards the same. After a first year with negligible growth, a yellow variegated Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia Golden Shadows, below) has grown remarkably. It will also obstruct the view. Now, perhaps within my lifetime.