Why I Oughta...

Just last week, I mentioned that an arborist that we had come by pointed out a few of the smaller, thin trees on our property were a cultivar called the Kentucky Coffee Tree.  Here's the first one that is on our back fenceline .  This post shows the second one - of at least three that I've found so far.   It is located on the south mulch border, between the pool/trampoline and the gate to our neighbor's to the south.  At the top of this post, you can see the canopy of the tree and below, you can see the bark and the trunk of the tree.  I'll be adding it to the caliper list later this year , but it can't be but a little more than an inch. The trunk is L O N G.  And skinny.  Just look at it below: It must be 15 feet tall with no limbs coming off the tree at all until the very top.  Now that I know what these two are, I'll start paying more attention to them in the yard.  As I mentioned earlier, there's (at least) one more of t...

Yesterday, I mentioned that we had an arborist come over to our house to assess and help us build a plan for a couple of our trees.  While he was there, I asked him about a couple of trees that we have growing in our yard that I was uncertain of the cultivar.  I have had a few trees that I was trying to figure out before, but I've mostly sorted the Walnut/Tree of Heaven/Sumac situation .  But, I had two *other* trees that I didn't seem to fall into any of those categories, but were growing in weird ways. I've left them up for the past few years, but not because I liked the trees, but because I just couldn't figure out what they were. I asked the arborist if he could identify them and it took a second for him to tell me:  they are Kentucky Coffeetrees (or Kentucky Coffee Trees, if you'd like).  Turns out, I have (at least) three of them in our yard.  They're all small, but in spots that they can live and grow without much thought. In the photo at ...

The story of our contorted tree starts with a trip to Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris back in the Summer of 2019 .  Nat and I spent a day there during our visit and we were both struck by the trees and foliage that the Imagineers planted and nurtured around their Haunted Mansion.  The queue is outdoor like at WDW, but it winds through a garden full of weeping and contorted trees and shrubs.  It gives off quite a look - one of decay, dying and ill-looking horticulture.  Based on that trip, I included the idea of buying a 'contorted tree' on my 2020 to-do list .  #13 on the list was to buy a weeping or contorted tree .  I suppose that I could have crossed that off my list when I bought the tiniest of tiny contorted trees online this Spring with my small Cortorted Hortsmann Recursive Larch .  But, I couldn't stop at one contorted tree.  So, when we were doing a "drive through" nursery run to the Growing Place during the early stages of Covid...

Back at the end of April, I went on an early morning socially-distant Home Depot run and bought a tree with some birthday money that reminded me of Paris .  Yeah..Paris.  Despite it being named the London Plane Tree.  It was a tall tree on a 50% off deal that I jumped at.   This post shows the label for the tree that includes the name Platanus x acerfifolia .  I stared at this tree for a week as it sat on our patio before we finally planted it around mid-May.  It went in the ground a day or two BEFORE the super-late HARD frost that arrived and shocked everything ( including our ferns ).   This London Plane tree had some tender leaves that were emerging from the buds on the tree when that frost arrived.  And...I think it got hit.  Or...some combination of the hard frost AND the transplant shock hit the tree hard.  All of the little leaves went brown and turned pretty limp.  They didn't dry out and were still pliab...

A couple of weeks ago, we had a tree arrive on our front porch from an online nursery that had what appeared to be a challenging trip via FedEx and when I opened the box, it looked like this: Snapped in half.  Womp Womp. It was a Lavender Twist Weeping Redbud - which Monrovia describes as : Rosy lavender-pink flowers completely cover bare, slightly contorted, weeping branches in early spring. This truly unique selection can develop a beautiful umbrella of cascading branches covered in heart-shaped leaves if trained when young. A captivating small specimen tree for a focal point in a shrub border or entryway. Deciduous. Back in Elmhurst, our neighbors to the north had a big, beautiful Redbud that put on quite a late Spring show with the purple flowers.  And I remember planting one of own - a small one - in our old backyard, but I don't think I posted about it.   One of the kids wanted to get a RedBud as one of their Earth Day trees, but due to the who...

We planted our first Oak tree in our yard this month.  You can see it above - it is a Northern Red Oak tree and it is REALLY small.  I'll get the caliper dimension later this Summer, but I think this might be the thinnest tree that we've planted. Why an Oak tree?  Because of this Washington Irving post from last year . I know we won't be living in our home by the time that this tree - if we nurture it - grows up to be significant.  In ten years, it will be a small tree.  In 20 years, it might be an eight inch or 10 inch caliper tree.  We'll be gone from here. But, we have two huge Oak trees on our lot - that planted a long time ago.  And we are the ones - the future ages - that are enjoying the trees. We plant this small tree without the expectation that we'll enjoy the shade that it will create.  But, this little tree will 'benefit mankind long after we shall have ceased to tread our yard'. We planted it on the south side of our l...

Three weeks ago, I posted my fruit tree haul from Home Depot and talked about building my long-desired Belgian Fence espalier in our backyard.  About two weeks ago, I got around to planting the trees and....(gasp) lopping off the tops.  Here's the location that I decided to plant the Belgian Fence below.  On the right of the photo, you can see the first of the trees planted that I'm planning on leaving tall and proud.  In the foreground is the Azalea that you can see in this photo here . Here's that same tree a little closer: I planted the rest of the trees in a row - 16" apart.  And four inches (4") from the fence.  You can see them lined up below.  The trees from right to left are: 1. Golden Delicious 2. Honeycrisp 3. Honeycrisp 4. Honeycrisp 5. Golden Delicious 6. Honeycrisp 7. Honeycrisp 8.  Golden Delicious Here's another few looks at the trees - in their full height below. I planted them one afternoon and then...