Today I continue my quest in creating and posting one block a day of the fabulous That Town And Country Quilt by the lovely Susan-Claire Mayfield. This is day two hundred and seventeen of that project.

This quilt block shows five very tall pointy and skinny trees in a row against a blue salmon-patterned background. Each tree has a short little trunk at the bottom that is brown fabric, and then a long skinny and pointy foliage going up. The trunk and the greenery are outlined with yellow stitching. — Click To Enlarge

McCall was brilliant when she bought her property five years ago.

She planted Lombardy Poplars for a windbreak; look how they have grown!

A poplar can grow six feet a year. Poplars should be planted well away from your house and outbuildings because they have shallow roots.

Fast-growing trees are, as a rule, not long-living trees. They start to decline after about 20 years and die out in 30-50 years.

When they begin to decline, they are prone to suckering. The thing that most often kills poplar trees is fungal canker disease. When the canker grows around a branch or trunk, it will eventually gird the area and die off will happen.

However, McCall is only five years into this stand of poplars, and I imagine she has a backup plan in place.

Smart girl.