Why I Oughta...

Last month, I posted a couple of photos and details of our new Skylands Spruce tree ( ) in our front yard island bed .  This is a tree that I've looked at for years and finally found one (a small one) that I put in our garden.   I've noted tree buds forming (and setting) on various trees in the Fall/Winter over the years, but the past few years, I've begun to observe conifers a little more closely.   Here's one that is in the middle - the Dawn Redwood - which is a deciduous conifer tree - a conifer that drops its needles.    This post looks at the buds of the Dawn Redwood .   This past August, I posted a photo of the 'buds' being set on the Weeping Norway Spruces that I planted last Fall IB2DWs and how I observed them last season turn into new sets of needles.   I'm learning more and more about the health of conifers and the types of signals they send throughout the growing season - and during dormancy.  This post from the Co...

Planted in Spring of 2021 , our Weeping Nootka Falsecypress tree is now closing out its fourth full growing season in our backyard.  This was one of the larger 'nursery pot' trees that we've put in, so judging the growth and maturation isn't as easy as it is on some other smaller trees. Has this grown?  Certainly.  Is it 'plain to the eye'?  That's a little harder to confirm.   The answer is 'yes'.  And when I go back and look at the planting post here and then flip back to this photo, I can see it.  This has not only grown taller.  The limbs have lengthened and the whole thing has put on...well...girth.   Below is a photo showing the current size and shape of this conifer tree.  I still love this tree as much as I did when we planted it.  But, this post isn't just about documenting the size and growth of the tree.  It is also to document what is happening on the 'tips' of the falsecypress tree branches:  buds b...

All the way back in February of 2020, I posted about a conifer tree as part of a 'tree dreaming' series named the Oregon Green Austrian Pine tree .  At that time, I was busy spending my time during the cold, dark Winter researching some trees that I *could* put in my yard - and learn a little bit about them at the same time.  I was focused on 'columnar' trees - or narrow ones that grow upright and included the Oregon Green Austrian Pine in that set.  At that time, I said that the Oregon Green wasn't strictly-speaking columnar, but it was 'narrow'.   I included this description from Monrovia: That reads:  " Deep, glossy, rich green, stiff needles, densely spaced and curved against the branches give the appearance of large pipe cleaners.  The unique, more open form with asymmetrical branching creates a striking landscape specimen.  In the Spring...there is a firework explosion of pearly white candles that come out in clusters.  Evergreen. " It ...

Planted in the Fall of 2021 as a 1# container, we have a small Mugo Pine shrub in our backyard - planted in the 'nook' area that underwent a "Garden Edit" this Spring.  It suffered some rabbit damage in the first few Winters, so I started to protect it with a chicken wire cage .  I've posted photos of this conifer over the years including this Spring .   This area gets part sun - in the late afternoon - so I'm NOT SURE how big/fast anything that needs sun will grow here, but I'm happy to see this Mugo Pine shrub growing up/out just a little bit.   See below for a look at our first Mugo Pine shrub:

Last Fall, I planted a couple of small end-of-season conifer sale Weeping Norway Spruces IB2DWs.  The first one was planted in the legacy bed - closer to the house - and the other one was further down closer to the sidewalk.  Fall Planting seemed to be right for these as they have given me *KNOCK ON WOOD* very little trouble this season.    They came out of the gate with some tiny pink cones this Spring .  And, by late May, they had put on some new growth that required me to 'wire-up' a leader .   One of the things that I noted on these trees was that late Fall - after I had planted them - they started to put on little 'knobs' of growth.  What looked like tightly-clustered, stubby limb-starting-points.   When I watched them put on new growth this Spring, it mostly came from these little knobs.  So, I've begun to learn a little bit about the 'buds' of conifers like this Weeping Norway Maple.  They set buds (kind-of) like their ...

Late last Fall, I put in three Baby Blue (dwarf) Spruce trees.  Two IB2DWs and one in the back by the Linden espalier.   This one has been getting a little bit of water from when I water this bed, but not a lot of attention.  How is it doing?  Seems to be ok.  Below is the current look - where it has put on new growth this season and held on to some of the blue needles: That part - the needles - and....lack of real needle-drop - is the most promising.  Fall Planting seems to be the ticket for conifers.  It appears to have given this dwarf conifer enough runway to get established and - as of now - survive the hot part of the Summer.  We're not out of the woods yet - still another month of hot, dry heat.  But, with a little bit of attention, I'm thinking this one has a good shot. 

Coming up on two years ago (April 2022), I planted six Green Giant Thujas in two spots .  Three evergreen trees in a row on the southside of the backyard and three on the northside.    Here's a post showing the three on the north side that included transplanting some Lilac shrubs along the fenceline.   By December 2022 - 7ish months later - two of them were in trouble.  Here's a look at how one of them had 'browned out' during the Winter dormancy period .  By the following Spring (May 2023), another one was gone.  Two down, one remaining on the north side .   The three on the southside have survived just fine.  Here's a look at those three last September - 17 months after being planted - and they looked good .  Right now, in Winter they look *different* than they do during their growing season: darker, less shine and a little unhappy.  But, I'm pretty sure those three are going to be fine come Spring. The remaining one on...

Yesterday, I posted a photo and details of the first (of two) Blue Star Junipers that I planted next to the back stoop.   Today, is the second of those - this time planted on the north side by the electrical meter, next to one of the Disneyland Roses. You can see it below - this is a spot that gets full sun and little water...so I'm thinking it may be happy here. Posting in November, but planted in mid-October 2023.

More dwarf conifers.  That's the story for today (and maybe tomorrow) as I've planted a pair of Blue Star Junipers - Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star' to two different parts of our garden.  The first is pictured above and is in the north-side back stoop bed along with a Spring Grove Ginko, that big flush of Angelina Sedum and a Geranium. My thought here is that by adding some blue - I'd get a nice view of the garden color trinity of green (ginkgo), blue (Blue Star Juniper) and chartreuse (Angelina Sedum) working together.  And...that this Blue Star Juniper might fight back against the sedum and they'd play nice together. What is a Blue Star Juniper?  From NC State : 'Blue Star' Singleseed Juniper is a cultivar that is a dwarf conifer, an evergreen, and slow-growing shrub that may reach from 1 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 4 feet wide. The shrub forms a compact, dense mound. The leaves are blue-gray, awl-shaped needles with a white band that overlap and are densel...

Conifers Should Come First .  That's a gardening truth.  And, as I admitted last week...a mistake that I've made in our garden .  But, it also points to an opportunity.  Specifically in the IB2DWs extended bed.  I talked about focusing on adding some dwarf conifers in service of my #2 item - adding clustered evergreens - IB2DWs extended .     As part of my #Fall Planting for 2023, I kind of went ham on dwarf conifers to make up for my past mistakes.  I've sworn off the trees at Home Depot, but when I was confronted with this sign (below), I decided to nose around.   I found that pallet of blue spruce trees (at the top of this post) that had these tags:  Baby Blue Spruce #7 Container Grown.  See below for the tag showing the $45 price: Half-off means for $22.50, I get a dwarf, blue conifer.  And, it is container-grown, so I'm pretty sure that means it isn't one of their air-layered conifers that come in burlap bags....

Planted in the Fall of 2021, our Mugo Pine is (now...almost two years later) still a small, evergreen shrub.    I last looked at it a little over a year ago (August 2022), when it was looking good - green and compact and full of needles .   Early this past Winter (November 2022), the dang rabbits went at this thing and gnawed off a bunch of the tips .  And...the little jerks just left them there.   Of course, that meant that a chicken wire ring needed to be put up to protect it from the pests.  Like the Toad Lilies, I've left this chicken wire ring up all Summer.   Here, below, is what the Mugo Pine looks like below.  First, a look from the top-down.  Then, from the side-on: It has put on some height this year and has opened-up a bit.  What was dense and compact last year is now a little more airy.  The tips are full of longer needles that are reaching up-and-out.  I don't have a ton of conifers, so looking at th...

Last last Fall (October), I bought and planted a small 1# Mugo Pine in our backyard garden - in the north side beds between the Harry Lauder Walking Stick tree and our Weeping Nootka Cypress tree.  I posted the details of the Mugo Pine and how it was doing over Winter here in early January .    Fast forward seven months and what does it look like during its first true growing season?  See below for the new growth and size that it has put on this Summer: I haven't paid particular attention to it, but since it is located in this bed, it has been sprinkler watered along with everything else.  There are some brown needles along the interior, but I'm seeing a lot of bottle-brush-like growth on all the tips.  Good growing - so far.   And...the rabbits don't have any interest in it.  Again...so far.

Back in April, I posted a 'to-do' reminder to remove the small Bird's Nest Spruce evergreen shrub from inside the nursery container (that was, in-turn, planted directly in the ground) to planting the conifer OUT of the nursery container and into the ground.  Why?  Because, I originally bought it with an eye towards using it as pre-bonsai material, I've now changed my mind and wanted to get it started in a more permanent spot.  I did this same thing with another pre-bonsai shrub - a Juniper Pfitzeriana Aurea - in a different spot a couple weeks ago .   Here, below, is the Bird's Nest Spruce after being planted and having suffered some rabbit damage this Winter: And, here, below is the container it was in with the label.   I'm hoping now that this has roots down in the native soil, we'll see it establish itself a little bit this season and will put on some new growth.  I'll be sure to protect it from the rabbits next Winter so it won't get saw'd ...