Why I Oughta...

The single-best decision we've made with our landscape in the six seasons since we moved into our house was planting a row of Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees along the property line on the north side.   Over the years, I've tried to document their grown from 2" caliper trees to a full hedge today (one that likely needs to be pruned next season).   Here's a post from July 2022 that somewhat chronicles the full history of these trees .   I typically try to post some photos of these trees in late Summer - here's the trees from a year ago (September 2023 ) and then again as they drop their leaves.  Here's last Fall/early Winter when they were dropping their leaves - and some holding their leaves .   Have a look at what the trees look like below - right now.  They're tall, full and surprisingly in need of (I think) a prune. Like all the trees in our yard, if you look closely, you'll see a bunch of brown, dead 'tips' on the branches.  That'

I've used biosolids (municipal biosolids from Downers Grove) in various ways over the years on our property - topdressing of my lawn in spots, as an amendment and accelerant in our compost bins , as a vertical mulch to try to improve the soil/clay conditions in my front porch bed (along with leaf litter) , as a soil/perennial bed amendment with stump grindings to attempt to balance the nitrogen loss , as a little boost when planting new shrubs like the SnowQueen Oakleaf Hydrangeas and most recently as both soil cover and hole-filler in the newly extended IB2DWS bed area with my new dwarf conifer garden and new (to me) flowers.   This year, I'm going to be using them in a few (new to me) additional ways:  first, as a dormant application on top of my beds.  This Fall, I blew most of the leaves out of my beds and chopped them up with the mower.   I then blew some of those chopped leaves back into the beds and left plenty of small pieces in the lawn.   Think of this as...sort-of.

I most-recently posted about the hedge of columnar Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees in our yard earlier this Fall in September of 2023.   I covered how they had grown over the years and documented the full-Summer foliage.  These trees are so interesting - their growth habit is the thing that gets most people's attention.  But...their continued marcescence - or holding their leaves late into Winter - is really a big part of the 'why' any homeowner would want these trees in their yard.  They are decidious, so they naturally drop their leaves, which leads to people buying A LOT of Green Giant Thujas and common Arborvitaes to provide screening - they are evergreens.   But our Hornbeams provide that 'evergreen' look well past when most trees drop their leaves.  Below, is a photo showing the current state - early December - of our Hornbeams.  These are five years old. You can see plenty of yellow leaves at their feet, but pay attention to all the green foliage STILL

How do our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam Trees look this season?  Like this photo below- showing the green foliage covering the upright, columnar habit of these trees planted along the northside of our property as a screen between our house and our neighbor's property.  You can see part of the gable of our neighbor's house at the top of the photo below: One of the most comment questions that I get on the blog is from someone making a comment asking about these trees.  Things like:  How do they look now?  Any update?  How far are they spaced?  Someone (locally...who grew up in Naperville, but current lives in Barrington and is planning on putting up some Frans Fontaine Hornbeams in their yard) just posted a comment on this post - asking how they're doing .   Last Summer I posted a detailed history of the trees - showing their growth and how they closed in the last remaining gaps between the trees.  I have not pruned these at all - other than the random branch or two tha

Our hedge of Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees is waking up for Spring and has begun to leaf-out all over the trees.  The last time that I looked at these trees was earlier this (late) Winter, when all of the trees were still clinging to some of their previous-season's leaves (something called foliar marcescence).   The screening that comes from planting these Frans Fontaine Hornbeams along the property line is starting to come into focus this growing season as the small leaves are opening from their buds.  Below, is a photo showing the current (mid/late April) state in our yard in Northern Illinois (Zone 5b).  And, here below, is a look at the leaf from the Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam (Fastigata).  They are curled and ribbed with a hob-like flower/fruit on the trees It won't be long until they fill-in for the year - check this post to see what these trees look like mid-Summer (July 2022) where they're screening our neighbor's yard. These trees were planted

Seven-or-so weeks ago, I wrote a post and shared a photo of the stand of Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees that we have planted as a hedge and talked about how the trees had been holding their leaves late into December .  That ability or characteristic of a deciduous holding onto dry, desiccated leaves  called foliar marcescence and for some trees - like these Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams is actually a feature.  It allows for trees like this to provide a bit of privacy screening even in Winter when most every other tree has shed their leaves during dormancy.   We've had different experiences with the leaves holding on for different lengths of time during different years.  But, what about now?  In mid-February 2023?   What do the trees look like.  See below.  They're *still* holding on to their dry leaves.   This is the latest they've gone in this state and I'm really finding it interesting to see them show-off a little bit in this way.  Is it a thick and lush

The most recent check-in on our Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees was in November when all of out trees were still showing green foliage and outlasting - in terms of holding leaves - most everything else in our yard .  Where are they today - three weeks in December?  Well....they're ALL still holding leaves.  But, some more than other.  And...all the leaves are dry and desiccated.   See below for the current view of the trees.  The tops are thin, but the middles are *still* providing some level of screening between our house and then neighbors.  Pretty nice for a deciduous tree, right? This ability to hold their dried leaves through marcescence - is one of the key features of the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees and helps make them even more desirable for screening beyond just the Summer months.  

Almost everything but our large, mature Northern Red Oak trees have dropped their leaves this season and have begun their long Winter's nap.  I say *almost* because there's one big outlier:  Our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees.  Not only are they still holding their leaves....they're still green.  See below for a photo of the current state - during the first week of November - of what these trees look like.  You'll see some yellow here and there, but there's a remarkable amount of green foliage:  The most recent check-in on these trees (with photos) was during their peak in early Summer - July of 2022 - when they were alive and lush .   I documented these trees on December 1st of 2021 when they were still clinging to *some* of their leaves, but they were all dry, desiccated and brown .  Will these stay green until December?  Not a chance, right?  But, the trees (this year) are MATERIALLY DIFFERENT than what they showed in 2020.  Here's a photo from Novemb

Yesterday, I posted about the Brown's Yew that I planted and talked about how I was closing the planting season the same way I started:  with shrubs.  Today is ANOTHER (and I think last) plant going in this season:  A Lemon Thread False Cypress.  Both of those shrubs that I planted this Fall are evergreens, so I feel like this checks a couple of boxes:  shrubs and evergreens for four-season interest.   As a reminder, #1 on my 2022 to-do list was to prioritize shrubs .  And #2 was to add four-season gardening plants .  One of the answers to both of those challenges are evergreen shrubs. Here - below - is the Lemon Thread Cypress - Chamaecyparis pisifera 'lemon thread' -  that we brought home from Lowe's: And, here (below) is the tag - with the 50% off sale, this was just $15. The tag shows the proper name:  Chamoecyparis pisifera 'Lemon Thread'.  This was a new (to me) shrub, so when I saw it on the nursery table, I went to the Web to figure out if we could mak

I posted the growth details of our front yard Bald Cypress tree last week.  Those photos and details are here .  But, I also wanted to get the rest of the measurements on all of our trees before they dropped their leaves.  #7 on my 2022 to-do list included 'capturing the caliper measurements' of our trees.  This post details the growth that I've seen on some trees and documenting other newly planted trees (since the last time that I measured).   There are a few trees that we've lost and a few that we've gained since January 2020 - the last time that I measured.  At the bottom of this post is a series of photos showing the measurements.   But, the best way to look through this is by looking at this table below.  Showing their Jan 2020 size, their September 2022 size, the growth in inches and percentages.   First, the Hornbeams.  Most grew in the 30-40% range with the first one growing almost 70% (which feels like an outlier).  They're mostly >3.5" trees

Just yesterday, I posted a photo showing off the Carex Albicans that The Bird planted as ground cover in her little backyard garden and talked about how that marked the 12th sedge that we've planted in the backyard.   I had posted about planting a little cluster of four Carex Bromoides earlier this Summer and included a video from Roy Diblik where he talks about his favorite Carex and how he combines them.  In that video, he talked about Bromoides, muehlenbergii & muskingumensis (Little Midge).  And how to combine them together with a dominant species and 'islands' of other species in various percentages.   That video pushed me to think about how I can use some of these in our landscape and how to create a unique pattern that is unique to our garden and isn't a 'monoculture'.   When we were up at Northwind in Wisconsin, I came home with some of the Carexes that Roy talked about:  Eight Carex Bromoides.  And Two Carex muskingumensis Little Midge.  When p