Search Trends from the Fox News Debate

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There's a pretty great post up on the Public Sector Blog about "live" search trends.  Go check it out here.  More on trends coming up soon.

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Columnar Tree Tips via Pretty Purple Door

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I've written pretty extensively on my love of columnar trees here on the blog.  We have this stand of eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams (that you see some of above) and have this Weeping White Spruce that I picked up this season in our yard.  And I've posted multiple times about the columnar street trees of Tokyo over the years.  My love of columnar, narrow trees is something I've think I've well established here.  But, that doesn't mean that I  know everything about them! Recently, I read a note from Amy in from Pretty Purple about her take on narrow trees and thought it was worth sharing here.   Those of you who read the blog might remember Pretty Purple Door from my post earlier this year talking about tulip bulb colors and how she outlined some of the ways to make colors work together (add yellow!). In her post about narrow trees, she talks about how/why these trees work in suburban yards (space, duh!).  She includes some...
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Chartreuse On The Loose Nepeta - Summertime Re-Bloomer - July 2025

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Earlier this year, I planted three small quart-sized nursery containers of a new (to me) nepeta named 'Chartreuse on The Loose' .  It is an interesting variety that has a unique color foliage (lime green), habit (trailing) and maintenance needs (it doesn't require deadheading to re-bloom).  Right away, one of the plants was eaten-up by the (dang!) rabbits.  But the other two seemed to do just fine.   Look back at this planting post in early May when the three small plants were just that:  small .  Lots of mulch showing between them.   Today?  They've made a drift with no gaps in between them at all.   See below for the current state of these trailing/spreading catmint perennials: I've mentioned that I need to continue to remind myself to add more of WHAT IS WORKING instead of adding net-new stuff.  But, these are both a reminder that sometimes new things can be great.  But, now that I see them working, I have put them...
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Walnut vs Tree of Heaven vs. Sumac Backyard Identification - June 2020

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That's a look *up* from the ground through a young, skinny tree limb as well as a larger, more mature (and confirmed) Black Walnut tree.  The leaves, from a distance look similar.  Back last year, I mentioned that I wanted to try to identify if a couple of young trees were worth keeping or if I should remove them.  And, knowing that I wanted to hold myself accountable, I included it as #15 on my to-do list for the yard this year . After poking around on the web in various places , I think I've settled on this clear cut detail that I found on r/WhatIsThisPlant on Reddit :  Walnut tree leaves have no notches.  Tree of Heaven (an invasive tree), do.  From u/blacksheep998 : Ailanthus has a small notch at the base of it's leaflets. Black walnut leaflets, while slightly toothed, lacked that distinctive nub. So, that's first thing to check:  Does the little tree leaves have those 'thumbs' or notches?   *Looks closer*... Sure, enough....
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