Why I Oughta...

At the top of this post is a look at the row of Frans Fontaine Fastigiate Hornbeam trees that we planted back in 2018 along the northern border of our property.  These trees were planted as a screen between our backyard, our screened porch and our neighbor's house.  When we put them in, our neighbors to the norther were in a small ranch that was set pretty far back from the property line.  A few years back, a new house was built and the screening was needed more than ever.   [NOTE:  If you are here reading about the really amazing Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam Trees and want to know the full history we've had with planting a row of eight of them, you can head to this post from August of 2021 that includes links to their full history dating back to being planted in 2018.  Alternatively, you can poke around at this [ Frans Fontaine ] post tag.  Or start here with my post showing them being planted as 2" caliper trees in 2018.] The last time that I documented these Frans

Today is the first day of December and I wanted to mark this entry in the [ garden diary ] and the [ tree diary ] to show that current state of our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees.  It seems that each Fall/Winter, the trees have behaved differently in terms of going dormant and experiencing (or showing) foliar marcescence. Here, below are a couple of photos showing the current state of all eight of these Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees.  First, the five that are the furthest to the West.  On the edge of this Hornbeam Hedge is a Chanticleer Flowering Pear tree.  That, too, is still clinging to its leaves with foliar marcescence.   And, here below, is a look at the other three (plus a partial view on the left of the fifth one from the photo above) showing the same thing:  they're holding their leaves on December 1st this year.  Also, capping the far end of the Hornbeam Hedge is ANOTHER Chanticleer Flowering Pear that is also holding on to its leaves:  Below is a photo of a clos

A few days ago, I received a new comment from a reader of my garden diary on this post all the way back in late May 2018 titled: " Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Planted - Hedgerow Spring 2018 ".  That post shows the eight columnar European Hornbeam trees that had been delivered and were being planted in our back and side yard to create (at that time, what I hoped to be) a privacy screen.  The comment - from JennyW - is here below: I've talked this before, but I write this daily online diary because I get joy out of doing it. I don't run advertisements.  I don't run sponsored content.  I also write for a pretty narrow audience - mostly myself.  I also look at the analytics data and know that there are really three audiences - in declining size order:   1.  The largest part of the audience: (mostly) one-time search readers (they search for something, click on the link and end up at my blog).   2.  Second biggest audience:  Referral.  This means that people are reading so

This post is simply an entry in the diary to ensure that I track progress against my 2021 to-do list out in the back/front yards .   Number 5 on the 2021 to-do list: " Lay down a new Soaker Hose under the Hornbeams ".  I went out there to try to remember WHY I needed to do this.  Once I turned the hose on, I quickly realized that the hose had deteriorated and had sprung some HUGE holes near the beginning.  That meant that the trees at the beginning were getting watered, but less-so as the run went.  Here's one of the leaks: And, to check the box, here's the new pair of soaker hoses that are now laying down on top of the hornbeam beds: After I run water through them a few times they'll lay down flatter.  then, I'll get mulch applied on top of them and you'll never know they were even there. Crossing #5 off my list.  

The last time I posted a photo of our stand of eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees that we have arranged in a hedge was last Fall when they all dropped their leaves .   We've had a VERY dry Spring around here in Zone 5b - almost no rain.  And, I can't help but think that's slowed down some things like the leaf'ing out of our deciduous conifers (Dawn Redwood and Bald Cypress are VERY SLOW to wake up this Spring) and I assumed that was the case with these Frans Fontaine Hornbeams.   You can see what they look like in the photo above - nice and leafy green. And, I figured they *were* behind.  But, when you look back at this post from exactly a year ago (May 1, 2020) , you can see that the trees are actually AHEAD of last year.   One other thing to note in the [ garden diary ] is that I extended the bed below these trees out by about a foot. In terms of how dense they are (currently), here's a look at one of the interiors - about head height - as it leaf's

Just yesterday, I posted a photo of our barren Oak trees in our backyard .  These two mature Oaks have historically kept many of their leaves well into Winter thanks to the phenomenon called foliar marcescence.  In that post , I mentioned that we were seeing something similar on other trees that normally behaved the same was as the Oaks.   Today, you can see the photo at the top of this post showing all eight Frans Fontaine Columnar Fastigiate Hornbeam trees that have lost all of their leaves by mid-November.   Just two weeks ago, I posted about how one of these trees shed its leaves , but the rest were keeping them.  This tree (#4 from the left) has done this same thing before in 2018 .   But now, ALL OF THEM have dropped their leaves.   And that is, umm, alarming. Here's what these same trees looked like one year ago - on November 19th, of 2019 .  FULL OF LEAVES.  Dry leaves.  BUT FULL.  Have a look at this post showing these columnar Hornbeam trees in January of this year .  The

Two years ago, I posted - with some alarm - that one of our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees had suddenly dropped all of its leaves while the other seven clung to their fall leaves vis foliar marcescence.  That post was back in November of 2018 can be found here .  If you look at that post, you'll note that it was the fourth tree from the left.  Today - I'm sharing this photo of the stand of columnar hornbeams above and you'll notice that....wait for it....the SAME tree (fourth from the left) has done the same thing again this year.  It has shed most of its leaves.  Below is a different angle of these same hornbeam trees where you can see all eight of them. And, here, below, is an even closer look at the difference between some of the trees and #4 - the tree that has lost leaves.   This is when the [ garden diary ] pays off for me.  I would normally be very concerned about this tree - was it stressed?  Was it dying?  Do I need to be worried about it coming back in t

Here's a look at the row of eight Frans Fontaine Columnar European Hornbeam trees that we planted for screening a few years back.  You can see the new house that was built next door to our house on the left and our screened porch on the right.  These eight trees have grown up and out and are providing us with quite a nice screen this Summer and Fall.     Our neighbors haven't moved in yet, so we haven't really tested how the screening actually works with real people in the house next door, but so far, it has been good.   This is a similar shot from 13 months ago that shows you the growth over the past year.  

Those are four of our eight Carpinus betulus Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees as they looked 750 days ago.  This was right after they were planted in the end of May 2018 .  There is a lot to notice in this photo besides the trees.  The cedar fence was still showing some signs of brown in the color.  The mulch is, umm, perfect.  The grass next to the trees seems pretty stressed due to the planting.  Also, at the left of the photo, you can barely make out a tree with a TreeGator watering bag around the trunk.  As for the trees?  Well...they look pretty far spaced apart. This, below, is what these same four (plus the Chanticleer Pear on the left) look like today. There are plenty of things to pick up on in the latest photo, too.  The trees have filled out and are wider and thicker.  They've grown taller, but hard to say how much.  The hostas at their base are all new - compared to their planting day in 2018.  And for an even more nuanced view, here's the &#

Just a couple of days past a year ago, I posted about how I was feeding our columnar Frans Fontaine Hornbeams with Jobe's fertilizer spikes and included a photo of PART of the trees after they had been fed.  This year, I bought three boxes of the spikes for deciduous trees and one box for evergreens. In that post, I mentioned that I put the spikes in the ground on May 1st in 2019.  And despite this post being dated May 23rd, I have just gotten around to posting this - as I put the spikes in the ground on May 12th.  12 days behind 2019. Here's how the trees look below - from a similar view - as last year.  You can see how the gap between the trees that are right outside the screened porch is closing down below the fenceline. The trees haven't totally filled in for the year, but they're already doing well to provide some screening as they green-up and out this Spring. Hoping the fertilizer spikes will help keep them growing on their current trajectory.  202

The hostas that are emerging from the mulch in the blue circles are ones that I've planted over the past few seasons.  They were taken from other parts of the yard, divided and planted in this bed.  I have nine blue circles, but I think that there are 11 current hostas with a couple of them being just 'tips'. The two hostas in red circles are non-variegated hostas that I dug up from around the kitchen window, divided and transplanted here.  These are some of the 'teardown hostas' that I've posted about over the years including when they flowered last year .   If I get around to it, I'm going to dig up another bunch to split and transplant further back in the bed - along the fence - like the two current transplants.  I think a blend of different color hostas would look nice filling in this area below the trees. I also transplanted some of these hostas around the tree swing Oak tree - and I'll post about that tomorrow but the most critical part of t

A couple of days ago, I shared a photo of the new caliper measurement tool that Nat picked up for me on Amazon so I can get some better measurement of our young trees in the yard.  I have been tracking the heights of my newly added trees to the yard for the past couple of years (here's this Summer's measurements and here's last Summer measurements ), but some of the trees are getting more than ten feet tall and using a conventional tape measure to accurate reflect their growth is difficult.  Between not being able to reach (and be at eye level) with the very top of the tree and the reality to some of the tree's 'growth' isn't always in height, but in branching out and what-have-you. Like I've done with the heights (which...for many of the trees, I'll still do during the late Summer), I'm going to document caliper measurements on a regular basis.  I'm thinking that I'll do a semi-annual measurement this year (now + Summer) to see if th

'Tis the season for fireplace burning in our house - and likely in yours.  That means that you'll have to deal with the ash that gets left behind after the wood burns.  We burn hardwoods exclusively (so far this year, we've burned Cherry and Birch) and that means we end up with hardwood ash.  Turns out, it has value in the garden as a soil conditioner and fertilizer.    According to the Oregon State University (Notice...I did include *the* for those other OSU lunatics) Extension office , hardwood ash can aid in making the soil an environment that supports plant and tree growth.  From the OSU Extension article : Because wood ash is derived from plant material, it contains most of the 13 essential nutrients the soil supplies for plant growth, according to Dan Sullivan, OSU Extension soil scientist.  "When wood burns, nitrogen and sulfur are lost as gas," Sullivan said, "but calcium, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements remain. The carbonates a

 Back in the end of November, I posted a few photos of our columnar Hornbeam trees retaining all their dead leaves this year.  For garden diary purposes, I also wanted to post a closeup photo of the leaves as they stay on the tree.  You can see that they've turned from green to brown, but have some green staying in the background and the edges of the leaves gaining some jagged, dried-out edges.  I'll try to revisit these trees and the leaves later this Winter to see if I can spot more changes as they continue their slip into dormancy.

This year, all eight of our Frans Fontaine European Columnar Hornbeams are exhibiting  marcescence :  the retention of dead plant organs that normally are shed.  And that's by design.  Or at least...that's part of the reason why I was drawn to these particular columnar trees.  They'll provide some additional Winter screening by keeping most of their leaves on the limbs.  These look quite a bit different than a year ago - and you can see 12 months ago here - as one of them (the fourth from the left) dropped its leaves and these have widened out a bit.    The photo above is from a different angle, but this photo below shows that same angle from a year ago.  All of them appear to be thicker and a bit taller, too. But if you also look closely at the photos above, you might notice that there is quite a bit of brown leaves at the bases of the trees.  That's something I'm trying new this year:  using leaf mulch.  I used my mower to pick up some of the leaves aroun

After close to a year of thinking and planning for the installation of a row of Frans Fontaine European Columnar Hornbeam trees along our north property line, we had eight of them installed in late May of 2018.    Now, seventeen months later, I wanted to document in the garden diary where the trees are in their growth and maturation. A little bit more than a year ago, I posted some similar photos to document their growth.  Go check them out here .  They were vibrant and green.  But, very tapered and the gaps between the trees were large at between two and three feet in spacing. I posted again as they were entering dormancy in November and began to turn yellow last Fall .   The trees and limbs were mostly the same, tapered, tight selves.  Then again a few weeks later in late November when one of the trees dropped all of its leaves.  These photos give you a sense for the gaps in between these young trees last Fall. By April of this year, the buds that had been set the previ