Why I Oughta...

Once I knew the large Norway Maple needed to come down, I immediately switched into tree planting-planning mode.  I looked around-and-around and thought about what we wanted in a tree: 1.  Disease and pest resistant  2.   Fast-growing 3.  Unique 4.  Something 'stately' and (when mature) large I worked with a few people to sort options.  The temptation of the Fall-Colors of the various Maple trees was strong.  But, ultimately, the experts that I consulted said that Maples make up far too-much of our local, urban canopy and that I should plant something different.   Further research sent me towards this narrow list called "Chicagoland Grows".   What is Chicagoland Grows?  From their site: Established in 1986, Chicagoland Grows® Plant Introduction Program is a unique partnership among the Chicago Botanic Garden , The Morton Arboretum , and the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois (OGA) , dedicated to devel...

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 outlie...

One of the things that I've been meaning to do this growing season is to get out and capture a full caliper measure of all of our planted trees.  I didn't get to it last year, so the existing data I have on the trees size-wise is from 2020.  On this year's to-do list, I included a mention of 'capturing the caliper measures' , so it has been on my mind all season.  Have I measured all the trees?  Nope.  But, I did measure one (so far).  And it is the Bald Cypress that has grown massively over the past few growing seasons.  That growth is why I started with this tree. What does the tree look like today?  It is tall and stout and I'd consider it the best/most-productive tree that we've planted.  See below for the current state.  I have not pruned one branch off of this, but the time is coming.  See that driveway on the right side of the photo?  That wasn't there when this tree was planted, so this will now need to get limb'd up so...

My reasons for keeping my own [garden diary] are the usual ones:  get smarter (make better choices) and to document changes over time (appreciate wins/losses).  I've taken that same approach to some of our indoor house plants .  I'm interested in understanding what they look like during different seasons - seeing if they're growing, if they're in trouble, etc.  That's covered my Staghorn Fern , my Standing Mickey Topiary and even one of our umbrella plants . Just this past week, I documented my re-soil'ing of my Maidenhair Fern .  But, I haven't tracked - via my [ container diary ] the largest houseplant we have:  Nat's Fiddlehead Fig Tree.  I don't exactly know how long we've had it, but I know it was introduced in our new house - at some point.  It sits in a room that has southern exposure and has just grown and grown.  This isn't a plant that I tend to - at all.  This one is all Nat.  She waters it.  Feeds it.  Cleans ...

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...

Back in early January I picked up a new caliper measuring tool from Amazon and started to set some baselines on the trees that we've planted around our yard.  After deciding on following the "6' from the ground rule", I marked each tree with a Sharpie.  Then began to measure them.  First up were the eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees that went in near the fenceline in Spring of 2017.  I then went around and took an inventory of  the nursery stock in the remaining part of our backyard .   I have done a 'height' inventory of the past few seasons, but with the tree heights growing, it has become a little bit less scientific/precise on some of the trees. I thought that I had posted about the small front yard trees we have, but in looking back in the archives, it appears that I forgot to include a post about them.  So, here's the baseline for two of the three small trees we have out front in the [ garden diary ].  The multi-trun...

Two days ago, I posted the first findings of using the caliper measurement tool on our young trees with this post showing the caliper measurements of our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees in the backyard.  Today, I'm documenting in the [garden diary] the rest of our young backyard trees which all came from nursery stock.  I did the same thing on these that I did on the Hornbeams:  measured six inches from the ground and marked each of the trunks. First up is the pair of Greenspire Lindens that we've put up as an esaplier .  First is the one on the right (facing them).  Then the one on the left (facing them).  This one is slightly larger. Then the Weeping White Spruce that I planted mid-Summer 2019 and is dealing with it's first Winter below: One of the backyard Chanticleer Flowering Pear trees - this one along the south fence line below.  This tree was planted on Earth Day 2018 and was a really tiny tree (and was cheap, too!)...