Why I Oughta...

One of the best decisions we made when we installed our initial landscaping was the planting of a multi-trunk Saucer Magnolia tree in the center of our front yard .   That was Summer of 2017 and now eight growing seasons later ('17, '18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24), the tree has grown to be a Spring-time standout.  But, just briefly.   The crown of the tree has taken on a globe-like shape - and I've never pruned any part of the tree.  And, thanks to the maturity of the tree combined with a seemingly not-to-harsh Winter (and in particular...late Winter), that crown is now littered with pink blooms.  Below is the view from our front porch: I posted about the pink buds swelling and starting to open a week ago and this show will last for a few more days.   Then, the pink and white petals will scatter across the lawn before the green foliage emerges and this flowering tree transforms into a shade tree for the rest of the season.  

At the end of March, I posted a photo of a clump of closed-up buds that were emerging from the soil and talked about how we've 'inherited' these Virginia Bluebells from our neighbor - both by division/sharing and by naturalization and spreading under the fence.  Now, three-plus weeks later, the Virginia Bluebells have leaf'd out and showing their green-and-light-purple foliage while we wait for the little blue and pink flowers to arrive.   Below is a look at the same clump of native Virginia Bluebell - ahead of its flower arriving - that I showed in March.   And, in the photo below, you can see this same clump on the bottom right of the photo.  But, you can also see the other, smaller plants that have naturalized from under the fence.  There's that one random tulip bulb back there, but otherwise, just these Spring Ephemerals.   The other Spring Ephemeral that is naturlizing via our neighbor's garden is Bloodroot .  She was nice enough t...

Last week, I pulled out a small London Planetree that we had planted in our parkway .  The tree suffered from drought last year and didn't come back this Spring.  No buds set, no green under the bark.   Replacing it was a no-brainer when I came across that Black Tupelo tree that I posted about yesterday .   Just because this Black Tupelo was a $20 tree - sold by a Big Box store, I'm one to follow the advice of Ralph Snodsmith and gave this 50-cent plant tree a $5 hole .  Because I dug up the dead London Planetree, the digging here was easy. I dug a wide and deep hole and then backfilled it in to make sure the rootball was placed not-too low.  These big box store trees always have their root-flare buried.  So, it is easy to plant them too low.  Right now, the root-flare is under some soil.  But....in terms of position the ball, I kept this one up 'high enough' to where - if/when the trunk develops, the rootflare will be 'above' the ...

That tree at the top of this post is a Tupelo tree.  A Black Tupelo tree.  Also called a Blackgum tree.  Nyssa sylvatica .  Really nice shade tree, isn't it?  Fall color with the orange foliage.  And pyramidal shape.  I've noodled this tree over the years.   Back in 2022,  I talked about adding a Blackgum  or Black Tupelo tree.   I also talked about other native trees like a Sweetgum, too.   So, imagine my delight when I found myself nosing thru the early trees in the parking lot nursery of the big box stores this past week and noticed a few unusual (in terms of what they normally carry) trees that were marked 50% off as part of their Spring Black Friday Sale.  They had about six Blackgums (Black Tupelo) trees  What is it?  Turns out, it is a tree that is native to some parts of Illinois .  Love that.   With the Exclamation London Planetree dead in the parkway, this seemed like a goo...

The annual return of these red, sharp-pointed tips are a welcome sing of Spring.  These are (below) a couple of clumps of peonies that are emerging in the beds (kitchen curved) in our backyard.  They're emerging later than last year - here's same peonies about a month earlier in 2024 .   Note the Milorganite in the photo below.  I hand-spread a full 40-pound bag of Milroganite recently on all the beds ahead of the application of mulch.  I've had mixed results with peonies in our current garden.  First, starting them in the way back - too much shade.  And, subsequently moving them over the years.   They are Nat's favorite flower and her first love.  (She wrote a blog called 'i heart peonies'.) So, growing them is important.  But, finding the right home to make that happen has taken years.  These two peonies are younger than the one out front - IB2DWs.  That one produced the MOST flowers and really popped-off last year ...

A couple days ago, I showed how we planted two new, bareroot Disneyland Roses (Floribunda roses) in the sideyard along-side the three existing Disneyland Roses .  In that post, I talked about how I was hopeful that the three legacy roses would come back this year - despite a TOUGH 2024.  They had leaf-drop, pests (sawfly larvae) and disease.  So, I wasn't sure if they were going to make it. But, Spring is the most hopeful time in the gardening calendar.  And, that's because there are signs of rebirth all around us.  These Disneyland Roses are the latest case.  All three legacy roses are showing signs of life with red-ish tips and green growth.    Below are some photos showing the three legacy roses and their new, seasonal growth: And more good news is that the two recently-planted bareroot Disneyland Roses are *also* showing new, seasonal growth with red buds emerging on the green canes.  See below for a top-down view of both of these new p...