Why I Oughta...

Just a little bit over a year ago, our Dawn Redwood looked like this .  It had mostly browned-out and was ready to shed all of it's needles.  Today, you see it above - a mix of brown and green and most of the needles still hanging on.  If you look closely, you'll see that I've attached a bamboo shoot to the top 1/3rd of the tree.  I did right before Halloween when we had that heavy snowfall come down. If you look back at the 2019 tree inventory post , you'll remember that this tree grew 3 full feet this season.  And that the tip of the leader was all green.    That means that it is pretty weak and thin.  That snow fall was tipping this thing over and I was worried that it would snap off - like the Pear Tree we had in our old backyard in Elmhurst did in 2010 .  I haven't fastened it all the way to the base of the tree, but I'm thinking that's ok.  I'm trying to protect the most vulnerable part - the green growth at the very top - from Winter damage.

The last time I chronicled this small Dawn Redwood was back in April when the limbs were full of swollen buds about ready to burst open .  Today is the tree as it has leaf'd/needle'd out a bit and is coming into its own.  This is the second Dawn Redwood we've planted as the first one died in the first season.   This area is pretty close to one of the spots of standing water that I documented a bit back , so I'm thinking that this Redwood received good water this Spring.    I want this one to thrive this year (hopefully 'creep' up, too), so I'll keep it watered when the heat hits this Summer.  I measured this Dawn Redwood at 63" tall in September of last year .  I don't see a lot of new growth out of the top of the tree yet.  But....this is a good benchmark to check against later this Summer. 

Of all the various tree-related posts here on the blog, the Dawn Redwood might have the most action in terms of posting.  I first bought our initial Dawn Redwood back in May of 2017 and planted it in our new backyard in Downers Grove.   By October of 2017, I was concerned that the tree was not going to survive .  And I was right.  It didn't come back.   So, I replaced it with a tree from an online nursery and planted it in July .  Not the best time to plant a new, young tree, right?  But, by Fall, it was showing signs of growth and it had seemingly weathered the tough, stressful planting.  Mid-November of last year, the deciduous needles had turned all brown (as they are SUPPOSED TO DO!) ahead of the hard Winter.  Finally, my most recent post on this tree was on April 1st of this year where I shared a photo of some of the buds that had set last Fall about to burst open with new growth .  The issue is that back on our initial Dawn Redwood, we too, had buds that had set, b

Last Summer, I had to replace the Dawn Redwood tree that had died in our yard.  This was the very first tree that we planted in 2017 before we moved in to our new house.   I noticed that first Fall that the tree was in trouble and posted a photo wondering if it was going to make the Winter.    It didn't. So, last year we replaced it.  And baby'd it all Summer.  It was reacting positively and we saw some new growth all the way through October - which was a good sign.  Then, I did a final check-in on the tree in November where we saw all of the needles still clinging to the branches.  Today, the limbs are covered with little buds that you can see in the photo above.  Good sign of life, right?  I also picked up a little trick that helps ascertain if a tree is healthy and alive:  you take your fingernail and scrape off a tiny bit of bark.  If you see 'green', you're in good shape.  For this Dawn Redwood after the scrape?  Green.  Could this be the Spring w

Back on Earth Day 2017, we planted a small Dawn Redwood tree in our backyard .  This was in the middle of construction of our house and we weren't even living there.  I figured, we'd get the tree in and give it a little bit of a head start.  The only problem...since I didn't tend to it for the first few months, it didn't do well. By October of last year, I was questioning if the tree was going to make it.  Take a look at the photo here to see how bare it was by mid-October . And ultimately died.   So, we replaced it this year .  Same spot, but more care in terms of water. And by October of *this* year, the tree wasn't bare.  But instead was sprouting some new growth . And now?  See the photo at the top of this post?  The entire tree has turned a bronze color and appears poised to drop all of it's needles very soon.  Which, based on what I've seen on other deciduous conifers is appropriate behavior. The tree also appears to have set some buds for

Look at these beautiful needles growing out on the tips of our Dawn Redwood.  We planted the replacement tree in July of this year after having last year's tree die and not come back.  A little under a year ago, I posted this photo of the old Redwood and asked the question: "I s our Redwood Tree going to survive? "  Turns out, the answer was "no".  And in looking at this photo of new, delicate growth vs. the brown and dry tree from last year, it is plain to me now. We've had a bunch of rain in late August and the first part of September and I babied this thing through the beginning of August, so I'm happy to say that we've given this tree the best chance at surviving the winter.  I'm also encouraged by this new growth and hopeful that it signals that the tree has found a good groove and is putting down roots while putting on this show with new needles on the tips of the tree. I'm going to go get a few bags of mulch and lay down a new

In June of this Summer, I posted a series of photos that attempted to document the full tree height in our inventory on Hornbeam Hill .  I didn't get every tree, but I was able to put a height (approximate) on most of the new trees and that post was meant to serve as a reference post for documenting some of the trees as they grow.  But, there are at least two trees that went in *after* that post was shared that I wanted to document.  First up is the replacement Dawn Redwood .  That's the photo on top.  You can see the height of the tree (currently) is just shy of 63" tall. Below is the newly planted Bald Cypress in the front yard by the driveway.  That one is currently 51" tall.  I'll be going back to these trees (if they make it over the Winter) next year and hope to see some 'creep' going on as they shoot upwards. 

Last year, in May of 2017, I first posted about the Dawn Redwood that we had bought on a whim from Menards.  It was destined to go into our backyard in Downers Grove and we ended up planting it on Earth Day with some help from the three kids .  I love this photo that Nat took of us and was reminded of it recently when my Mother-in-Law made me a framed version for my desk.  Almost one year ago exactly - on July 6th - I posted a 'two month-in update' of the tree that showed it green and mostly happy . Everything looked good.  But, we had just moved in and the backyard wasn't a priority.  And my watering - it appears - seemed to drop off.  Because we lost the tree.  At least, I know that now. Up until October of last fall, I wasn't sure.  I posted this piece asking if the Dawn Redwood was going to make it .  It had set some buds, but it wasn't looking good. I will admit that I limb'd up the redwood in an attempt to get it to focus on some of it's uppe

I went out in the #newoldbackyard to check on some of the trees we had planted this year recently and was surprised that MOST of them were doing just fine despite the almost drought-like conditions.  But the Dawn Redwood seems like it might be in trouble.  That's it above where you can see a lot of brown, yellow'd needles that have dropped off.  But, many of the 'tips' of the limbs are still green - see the photo below: See the green needles on the far edges of the limbs?  So, there is *some* life in this thing, but did the drought get to the rest?   I've seen another of these (or perhaps it was a Bald Cypress??) in the neighborhood that had all of it's needles drop, so while I'm concerned that the drought affected my dear Dawn Redwood, maybe it will be fine?  I'll be watching this one bud out early in the Spring and will - of course - report back on it here.

Two months in the ground and here's what our little Dawn Redwood looks like in our #newoldbackyard.   We planted it on Earth Day this Spring .  After buying it at Menards (of all places!) and storing it on the driveway for a few weeks .   We planted it about 2/3rds of the way back along the north property line.  It is going to spread out quite a bit as it grows (slowly) so we might end up 'limbing' it up based on where the fence ges, but I'm pleased to see some new growth on some of its extremities.  It has a slight lean to the trunk, but you can see in the photo that I just brought out some yellow cord and a few stakes that I'm going to apply to it to see if we can help straighten it out.  Nature, of course, will do it's own thing, but we'll try to lend a hand.  The lean is heading to the north, so I think over time, the sun will pitch in and straighten it back out by encouraging southern growth. This is the 2nd of a few updates coming on some of the

Even though our #NewOldFarmhouse is still under construction, that isn't stopping us from having an impact on the backyard.  And that started with transplanting some of the ostrich ferns and now it includes the planting of the Dawn Redwood tree that I posted about last week .  I was lucky to have a little bit of help from my crew getting this tree in the ground.  All three kids helped decide where we should put it and then helped me (kinda) dig the hole and backfill the rootball. We placed it close to the north property line, with enough room for it to grow while being able to put a fence in behind it.  There was an opening in the tree line that I think this will fill in nicely over time. It also is on the low side of the property, so it will enjoy whatever groundwater we get over time.  My experience tells me that this thing will go through a little shock soon, but I'm hoping that with some care and watering, it will weather this first year and begin to fill in and grow

Earlier this Spring, we came home with this tree in the minivan on a normal trip to Menards.  I didn't plan on going there to look at trees, but when we were wandering around the garden center, I noticed this one.  It was over with the rest of the deciduous trees, but it looked different.  I pulled it out of the rack and realized it was a Redwood.  A Dawn Redwood.  I couldn't pass it up. Dawn Redwoods are one of a handful of deciduous conifers - which means that it forms cones and sprouts needles like evergreens, but it also turns colors in the fall and drops its leaves/needles late in the year like deciduous trees.  And, as you can imagine being a redwood, it gets huge!  Like 100 feet tall.  Fun to think about decades from now, all the trees in the neighborhood top out at like 40 or 50 feet.  Then there's this one massive tree, shooting up double that height. Menards trees aren't always the best quality, but the prices are always right.  This Dawn Redwood was i