Why I Oughta...

Last Fall, I collected a few dozen acorns off off a small stand of upright, columnar Oak trees that are planted in a parkway near our downtown.  On many of my early morning walks, I'd stop by, see if the acorns were 'loose' and then grab a few before they fell to the ground.  Our Oaks in our yard last year threw off A HUGE amount of acorns - a mast year.  These columnar oaks were simliar. I identified these as Regal Prince Oak trees and here's a look at some of the acorns as I collected them in September 2023 .   In November, I water-tested them (if they floated, I tossed them), then buried them in wet sand for a long Winter's nap via cold stratification .  I also grabbed three large Chinese Chestnuts and did the same - tested, then tucked-in the fridge for four+ months.   In 2022, I collected a wide variety of acorns, but didn't label them.  This year, I went with JUST ONE species - the Regal Prince Oak. Earlier this month, I took the contai...

I've long been fascinated by the idea of a backyard tree nursery.  On a small scale, of course.  But, something that I could tend-to in terms of planting and growing trees from seed over the course of a number of seasons.  I've made no secret of trying to coax myself into accomplishing some 'seasonal projects' like compost, dividing plants and even planting native trees.  And, I've had a VERY limited look at success when it comes to nursing trees to life from seed:  a tray of Kentucky Coffee Tree seedlings from 2021 .  I also have seemingly grown some Catalpa trees from seed in a wine barrel planter.   Over the past few weeks, I've begun to think about (and watch YouTube videos) about collecting tree seeds with the goal of storing, stratifying and eventually germinating and planting in containers to grow.  During one of my walks around town, I started to look at which trees were throwing off acorns and nuts and started to pick some up off t...

By now, I think I've been pretty clear that this place - Luxembourg Gardens in Paris - has left a pretty significant impression on me garden-wise.  Just yesterday, I posted about the metal walking path edging and before that, the many love letters to this Garden/park include: The chairs .   These amazing vines/ivy that have been trained between posts and trees .   These orangerie tree boxes .  The fact that they use cocoa bean shell mulch in their beds .   And how I copied the color pallete of one of their beds in our raised planter box . Today, I'm sharing this photo above that shows off the 'bottom' of the pleached row of Horse Chestnut trees.  Pleaching is training/pruning trees that is kind of a close Cousin to espalier.  More here . For a wider-view perspective on these Horse Chestnut Trees in Luxembourg Gardens, do a Google Image Search for [ Horse Chestnut Trees Luxembourg Gardens ].  Go there now and poke arou...