Why I Oughta...

Of all the trees, shrubs and other plants in our garden, the row of Frans Fontaine European (Columnar) Hornbeam Trees that are planted as a screen along our property line in our suburban backyard get by-far, the most comments and reactions.  The last time that I posted about these upright trees was in late April, just about a month ago , when the trees were still bare and emerging out of winter dormancy.  I posted that photo because someone commented on a different post asking to see what the trees look like this Spring.   There has been a lot of change in the garden the past thirty days as everything wakes up.  And, the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Trees sure are showing signs of that awakening.   Below is a photo from this week showing the current state of these trees.  They're filling-up and the green leaves are screening our patio from our neighbor.  I expect them to continue to thicken-up over the coming weeks to fill-in even more than they ...

Last Spring, we planted a new Emperor 1 Japanese Maple tree in the understory garden of the backyard after bringing it home from the Morton Arboretum plant sale.  Of the various Japanese Maples we've planted, we've had the most luck with Emperor 1s.   Last year was also, unfortunately, cicada season for us in Northern Illinois.  Lots of cicadas.   I attempted to protect many of our trees with tulle - including this newly planted Japanese Maple ( see here for the cicada protection ), but it seems that the top part of this new tree suffered from the little slits the cicadas carve into branches to lay their eggs.   Below is a photo of the tree - where you can see the top half of the tree is dead. When you look closely at the leader, you see the telltale signs of cicada damage:  these slits along the branch: I pruned off the top/dead branch of this tree and am hoping that we can see some recovery.   Trees typically die from the top--...