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30 Gladiolus Corms Planted - 2019

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 25, 2019

The two varieties of orange Dahlias that I posted about a few days ago aren't the only flower that we planted recently. The Dahlias aren't bulbs, technically. They're tubers. The flowers (or...hopefully soon-to-be flowers) here in this photo are 30 Gladiolus. Turns out, Gladiolus aren't bulbs, either. They're technically corms. What the heck is a corm? I had no idea, but I found this post that walks you through bulbs vs. corms vs. tubers.

These are the first corms that we've planted and the first time I've planted gladiolus. I don't know why, but they've never been something that I've been drawn to over the years despite the fact that growing up I attend the Glad-Peach Festival in Coloma every year. There were always tons of gladiolus. But not that many peaches.

The Bird helped me plant there and I put them all in the bed between the last and the second to last Hornbeam on the North fenceline. I decided to not plant them in rows, b…

More Bonsai Nursery Stock Juniper

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 24, 2019

Back in the beginning of May, I posted a few photos of a piece of nursery stock from Home Depot that was a Cedar tree and talked about how I was beginning to go down the bonsai journey. At the time, I knew that I was better off pulling some cheap ($10) pieces off the shelf from Home Depot, work them a bit and see what happens versus say...buying an *already* trained and pruned bonsai tree. Then, just last week, I posted an update on how I think I might have GONE TOO FAR with my first tree. I pruned the heck out of it. And..I worked the roots. Doing both at the same time is not a good idea, but I have to say...live and learn. Right? That Cedar tree is basically done for the season. I've put it in a bonsai pot and now I am just keeping an eye on it with water - which...the pot that I put it in has a tray below it - and that meant that the water ran through the pot, but was sticking around underneath it...thus keeping the feet of the plant wet for a few days. Once I disco…

#TBT: Lincoln-Way Soccer Club In Ireland

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 23, 2019

The last time I posted a #TBT photo of my youth soccer team it was the core group of guys that I played with for almost ten years. Today's photo is of the same team, technically. But it isn't all of the core boys. There are some guys like Tom, Loran, John, Ted, Matt, Chris and Russ in here, but we supplemented with a few older/different guys from what I can best describe as a 'different soccer dimension'. They were skilled players, but from a different club scene.

This photo is from either my seventh or eighth grade years, so I was 13 or 14 years old and I had the pouty teen thing down, right?

We're playing in Ireland in 1991 or 1992 and you can see the sign in the back reads Pike Rovers Football Club. We were representing the USA in some fashion (not officially), but we were wearing French National jerseys because they were pretty close to what the US Men's National Team were wearing at the time - but the US ones had the colors only on one shoulder.

If I…

Both Orange Dahlias Planted In The Ground

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 22, 2019

With the soil temperatures finally getting around 60 degrees in our Zone, I was able to get this year's Dahlia Tubers in the ground. I planted them here - in the photo - along the south fence line right in front of the Teardown Hydrangea. The Semi-Cactus ones on the left and the Dinnerplate ones on the right. Last year, I put a few different types in containers and they did well. I watered them in and will try to keep an eye on the spot in the next few weeks to hope that we get some growth out of the mulch.

Weeping White Spruce - Acquired But Not Planted (Yet)

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 21, 2019

I first came across a Weeping White Spruce tree via Laura @ Garden Answer on Youtube. I've embedded her video below and have set it to start at 1:03 mark in the video where she talks about how they picked this tree out. In particular, she talks about how we're not supposed to judge an evergreen by what it looks like as a 'baby tree'. The Weeping White Spruce is a columnar evergreen and it is a weeping tree. By now, you guys know I love columnar varieties of trees and are drawn to those because it means that I can pack more trees into the yard as they grow.

The first weeping conifer that I bought was last year was the Weeping Himalayan Cedar Tree that I planted about a year ago. Earlier this month, I posted my concern for the tree as it had suddenly turned brown, but the good news is that it seems it has recovered and there is new, green growth all over the place. I also added six (but just three of them planted so far) Canadian Hemlocks to bring the count …

Fertilizing Our Columnar Hornbeam Trees

Posted by Jake Parrillo on May 20, 2019

Adding this to the [garden diary] here on the blog to remind myself (mostly) that I put down 15 fertilizer tree spikes near our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam Trees that we put in last year. I put two on each tree but the most Western one that got just one. (7 trees x 2 spikes) + (1 tree x 1 spike) = Feed trees for the spring. I am going to supplement the last tree (and maybe a few others?) with a direct application of Milorganite (or the generic that Menards claims to be selling soon).

What made me decide to go with these Jobes Fertilizer Spikes again is that the tree leaf that is featured on the packaging appears to be a Hornbeam leaf (or something like it...) so the product seems fit for purpose, right?

I last showed the view from our screened porch BEFORE the Hornbeams went in here, but to mark the fertilizer application, I took a similar photo and am sharing it here below. The angle is different, but I wanted to show the leafy-ness of these trees prior to the application…

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