Why I Oughta...

Last week, I pulled out a small London Planetree that we had planted in our parkway .  The tree suffered from drought last year and didn't come back this Spring.  No buds set, no green under the bark.   Replacing it was a no-brainer when I came across that Black Tupelo tree that I posted about yesterday .   Just because this Black Tupelo was a $20 tree - sold by a Big Box store, I'm one to follow the advice of Ralph Snodsmith and gave this 50-cent plant tree a $5 hole .  Because I dug up the dead London Planetree, the digging here was easy. I dug a wide and deep hole and then backfilled it in to make sure the rootball was placed not-too low.  These big box store trees always have their root-flare buried.  So, it is easy to plant them too low.  Right now, the root-flare is under some soil.  But....in terms of position the ball, I kept this one up 'high enough' to where - if/when the trunk develops, the rootflare will be 'above' the ...

That tree at the top of this post is a Tupelo tree.  A Black Tupelo tree.  Also called a Blackgum tree.  Nyssa sylvatica .  Really nice shade tree, isn't it?  Fall color with the orange foliage.  And pyramidal shape.  I've noodled this tree over the years.   Back in 2022,  I talked about adding a Blackgum  or Black Tupelo tree.   I also talked about other native trees like a Sweetgum, too.   So, imagine my delight when I found myself nosing thru the early trees in the parking lot nursery of the big box stores this past week and noticed a few unusual (in terms of what they normally carry) trees that were marked 50% off as part of their Spring Black Friday Sale.  They had about six Blackgums (Black Tupelo) trees  What is it?  Turns out, it is a tree that is native to some parts of Illinois .  Love that.   With the Exclamation London Planetree dead in the parkway, this seemed like a goo...