Why I Oughta...

It is finally time to call a couple of dead trees:  Three Japanese Maples didn't come back this Spring.  They tried - leaf'd out from the graft - but now...they are foliage-free.  Two of them are from Mr. Maple - the upright Seiryu Japanese Maple and First Ghost - back by the firepit.  Both...are now on the LOST TREES list.  The Seiryu is one that I really was keen to see grow as I planted it in the shadow of the dying Flowering Cherry Tree.  That tree died last year, and now the JM is gone, too.  That leaves a big empty opportunity for a shade-tolerant tree.    The last one was the Inaba Shadire high-grafted tree.  Below are a couple of photos showing the skeletons of these Japanese Maples.  First the Seiryu followed by First Ghost.   Sadly...these are the fourth Japanese Maples that didn't make it just this year - with the unknown laceleaf tree from the orange big box store was pulled and replaced by an Emperor 1 earlier this Spring.   I've now planted ten Japanese

Planted early this year - with MUCH fanfare - my Columnar Scotch Pine tree is dead.  I yanked it out and returned it for a store credit.   Earlier this Fall, I noticed that it was *really* struggling, so I decided to do something pretty drastic:  transplanting it.   I also decided - as part of the transplant process - to lop-off all the dead parts.  I thought that maybe it wanted more sun, so I put it by the boardwalk.  Here's what it looked like when I transplanted it in September:  some green needles, but not doing well: Six weeks later, it was gone.  Below is what it looked like before I dug it out:  no more green needles. I've talked about how I haven't, historically done enough with conifers.  But, part of the reason for that negligence is because I've had such bad luck with them.  This is another lost conifer in a long-line of them.  Have I made up for things with my new Conifer Garden?  Maybe.  But, might they all end up like this columnar Scotch Pine?  Maybe, t

Add two trees.  Take one away.  That's what has happened recently with the addition of the pair of Kousa Dogwood trees along the garage wall (pre-espalier) .  And now...the documenting of losing one of the original trees that I planted when we bought our lot:  a Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Tree.   Before we moved in, we planted five trees:  a dawn redwood (Died and replaced), a Chanticleer Pear Flowering Tree (in the back, between the tree swing tree and the Hornbeams.  Still alive).  A pair of Greenspire Linden trees that I've espaliered.  Still alive.  And this Japanese Flowering Cherry tree.  Now dead).    After we moved in, I planted a Corkscrew Willow (dead) and a Crimson King Maple (also dead).   That first year, our landscaper planted two trees:  a Saucer Magnolia and a Flowering Pear Tree.  The first of which died, but was replaced.   All-up, that means that first year (2017), we planted: 9 trees.  5 of which (now) died.  Three were not replaced (Willow, Flowering Cherry,

Like they do at the Hollywood Awards shows, I should (if I had more time) make a montage video marking the "In Memoriam" of everything that we've planted and died.  I suppose this post - showing four trees that didn't make it through Winter this year - will have to do (for now). First tree lost:  our first Japanese Maple: Tamukeyama .  Too bad.  I'll try to replace this with another Japanese Maple.  The next two trees (if we're calling them that...) are a two of the three Green Giant Thujas planted back by the Lilacs.  One of them remains, but two of them went orange. I yanked one of them out and put it back by the compost pile.  I'll do the same with the others this weekend when I find the time. The last one, that I don't have a photo of (because...I'm pretty sure the dang rabbits gnaw'd it all the way down to the ground) is the Shagbark Hickory.   It, too, is struck out below.  With this update, I am changing some of the stats.  2023 marks my

Earlier this Spring, I received a few comments on a post from last year where I talked about after some hemming-and-hawing, I brought home and planted a special tree: a Japanese White Pine - Pinus Parviflora 'Glauca Nana' .  Below are a couple of them - that are similar:   "I saw this tree and I'm intrigued.  How is your's doing?" I replied back in the comments with my thoughts (more on that below), but I thought this might deserve a full post.  First....about the tree.  It has a siren call.  You can't NOT notice it amongst the pallets upon pallets of Arborvitae and Boxwoods.  And, I have to admit...I saw the exact same thing that the two commentors had - at the Big Box Orange nursery this Spring.  Here's the beauty that was calling me to bring it home from back in May: So, I won't waste time.  My tree didn't make it.  My Japanese White Pine - Glauca Nana - went brown in Winter and got worse as time went on.  When Spring came, it was crispy, ha