Why I Oughta...

In July of 2022, I added a pair of Hicks Yews (if it isn't clear by now, I was *really* hot on Hicks Yews in 2021 and 2022) on either side of the 'entrance' to our firepit area.  Like the rest of the Yews on our property, these were bought and planted as #1 nursery pot shrubs (and were bought at 50% off of $9.98 - so $10 for both of them).  They've had 2.5 growing seasons - all of 2023 and 2024 and half of 2022 - the year they went in.   My thought at the time was that these will create a little 'framed' entrance to the firepit from the yard, but they would need TIME to put on the necessary size. They were probably 12" tall when planted.  Barely visible in the landscape. Below, you can see the current size of this pair of Hicks Yews: These weren't watered that much this season, so they're clearly established.  You can see the little dark spot in the soil/mulch just to the right of the Yew in the foreground.  That's the mark of the soil-injected...

In 2021, I planted two 1# small Hicks (upright) yews in the backyard - sort of near the understory garden on the north side.  I planted them somewhat close together with eyes on (eventually) shaping them up into a 'Block I' Illinois topiary .  Earlier that year, I posted about this University of Auburn topiary frame and dreamed of a 'Block I' .  The two Hicks yews were probably 12" tall in Fall of 2021 .  They've now had three (2022, 2023 and 2024) growing seasons and have put on some size.   Here are the two Hicks Yews - below - after those three growing seasons.  They've grown up (a little bit) are are still mostly columnar. It isn't easy to determine their height, so here below, is a shovel stuck in the ground to provide a height comparison.   I CLEARLY still have time to create the 'Block I' frame out of Chicken Wire, so I'm not concerned about that.  I am, however, concerned about the 'fullness' of these.  Are they going to ge...

With the hard gardening days on me in mid-January (and not being a seed catalog guy), I've turned to dreaming about trees, shrubs and grasses.  And that means that today, I'll post another 'tree dreaming' post to create a document/reference post for future use in my landscape/garden/backyard planning.  A few days back, I shared two deciduous columnar trees that I wanted to create reference posts about here on the blog: the Columnar Swedish Aspen and the Dakota Pinnacle Birch . Today, I'm posting about the Slender Hinoki Cypress .  I'm filing this under [ columnar trees ], but I suppose this is technically a 'narrow, upright form' and not necessarily columnar.  And...technically, this is a shrub, not a tree.  But...this is my garden diary, so I'm calling the shots. The Slender Hinoki Cypress is 'pyramidal form' that has new growth with  'ferny appearance'.  Love that. Via Monrovia : Description via this Monrovia listing .   ...

About a week ago, I posted a photo showing the new little collection of Hicks Upright Yews that I picked up at Home Depot for a song with the intention of planting a hedge in the back.  Welp...I started that project this week. If you've been following along, I'm using this Bunny Williams sweeping yew hedge as inspiration and after I get these established, I'm going to try to prune them into curving, swooping shapes. I started to place them out and realized that the spacing wasn't going to work.  What you see here above and below is 3' (36") spacing between the centers of the pots.  Looks too far apart to me. So, off I went to pick up 3 more shrubs and shrunk the gap down to 30".   And after I dug the holes ( remembering Ralph Snodsmith's advice about digging the holes !!!), I stuck them in the ground and threw some mulch that I had on hand on top of them.  Here's the immediate aftermath of planting them.  I have to clean u...

That's a wheelbarrow full of 12 2# Upright Hicks Yews that are destined for our backyard.  #5 on my 2019 Garden To-Do List was to get some Yews into our yard with a hedge and now that I've waited for these to go on sale, I'm this much closer to getting this item crossed off my list.  What's the inspiration for these?  This curvy, swooping hedge from Bunny Williams' Instagram .    I bought Yews that were originally marked for $34.99 that Home Depot discounted all the way down to $9. I bought Upright Hicks Yews - which Monrovia describes thusly : An excellent evergreen shrub for tall hedges and privacy screens. The long, upright-growing branches with dense, glossy, dark green foliage naturally form a narrow, columnar habit that works well as a foundation plant, or placed in pairs at entries or doorways.  I've talked about my love of all things columnar - and that love extends to shrubs. The spacing on the back of the card claims 8' to 12', bu...