Why I Oughta...

A week or so ago, I posted some photos of a large Willow Oak tree from a  visit to a corporate headquarters and referenced some other landscaping there (the cloud-like hedge ).  The campus is surrounded by a TPC golf course named Southwind and has quite a few mature trees.  They also have done a nice job of creating some educational material and signage about some of the trees they have on hand including this Bald Cypress or "Baldcypress" as the sign indicates. We have a tiny Bald Cypress - or Baldy Cypress - out front on the north side of our driveway.  According to my inventory this Summer, it grew just 1" in height . But...back to the sign:  the second sentence reads: "The raised conical knees, part of the root system, are believed to help the roots attain oxygen." Raised knees?!  What the heck?  I had never heard of Cypress Knees.  But...looking around the tree - and sure enough - there were a bunch of these surface roots: ...

I spotted a few of these trees outside of a corporate campus building in Memphis recently and they struck me as a pretty nice shade tree.  The leaves were falling - and are long, non-traditional-Oak-tree-shaped.  Check one out here: This is from the same site as that cloud-like hedge of Boxwoods that I posted about earlier this month. It thrives in Tenneessee, but what about Illinois?  Zone 5B?  Not sure.  The Missouri Botanical Garden team lists this tree suitable down to Zone 5, but also includes this note: Trees or seeds for the St. Louis area should come from northern sources because there is some question as to the winter hardiness of this tree throughout USDA Zone 5. This tree has a couple of features that I can see people being drawn to:  it is shaped like an Oak, but has the leaves (above) that are Willow-like.  Oh...and it grows fast - something you can't say about most Oaks.  From Missouri Botanical Garden : Quercus phell...

As I was walking around Memphis on my recent trip , I came across a few of these 'Duck' plaques in the street around the Peabody Hotel.  Turns out, they have a "Duck Walk of Fame" and a few weeks before I arrived, they inducted Cybill Shepherd into the Hall.   From the Daily Memphian on September 6, 2019 : Actress, singer, model and Memphian Cybill Shepherd was honored in her hometown on Sept. 5, when she was inducted into The Peabody hotel's Duck Walk Hall of Fame.  Shepherd, 69, said during the event that she always wanted to join Elvis Presley, Danny Thomas and other influential Memphis figures who are immortalized on the sidewalk outside the landmark Downtown hotel. Hadn't thought much about Cybill Shepherd in years - but I remember my parents watching Moonlighting with her and Bruce Willis back in the day.  T here's been some chatter about a reboot of the show , so maybe she'll get even more exposure in the future? The plaques a...

Yesterday, I posted about the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and mentioned that this was my first time visiting the city.  I didn't get to see much of that the city has to offer - no Beale Street, etc - but I did have bbq from Central BBQ (which was recommended) and made a visit to another big landmark in town.  That's what you see in the photo above:  the entrance gates to the Fedex World Headquarters. You can find quite a bit online about the Headquarters project related to the building and grounds and the various building and LEED certifications that the project undertook, but I haven't been able to find any documentation about the landscape and landscape design.  And that means that I can't - with certainty - understand what is going on with the entrance hedge that you see above. I snapped this photo out the van window while we were waiting to be admitted to the grounds and I was struck by the boxwood hedge that is in place out front of the cam...

I made a stop in Memphis, Tennessee recently (my first trip there) and I didn't stay at the Peabody Hotel.  Nope.  I stayed next door.  At a...ummm...not so great place.  It was fine.  But it wasn't the Peabody.  And, I do love me some historic hotels, so I had to stop in during one of the breaks to take a look around the lobby. From their site : Known as the “South’s Grand Hotel,” The Peabody is legendary for its charm, elegance, gracious hospitality and rich history. This Memphis icon, opened in 1869, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is world-famous for its five resident ducks, who march daily through the lobby at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Of course, I had to see the ducks.  But, I didn't see them arrive or depart.  They were just kind of hanging out in the fountain in the lobby. And...that two-story lobby?  It is spectacular.  Worth going to have a drink there if you are in town. I've covered some oth...