Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I s howed one of two small Canadian Hemlock trees in our backyard and talked about how one of them was being eaten-up by some (dang) rabbits this Winter .   Here, below, is a look at the other one of these conifer trees that was planted at the same time.  This one is MUCH-MORE full.  But, about the same height (five-ish feet tall).    Similarly tucked into the 'understory garden', this Canadian Hemlock is one of just two remaining of the six that we originally planted.  I mentioned yesterday that I need to include the Canadian Hemlock on my list of trees/shrubs/flowers that work in our garden and think about adding more.   I think the Stumpery is a prime location as well as the unplanted bed that sits in front of the fire pit garden.   Speaking of the stumpery ...I should revisit it this week to show the 'winter interest'.  

All the way back in Summer of 2019, I bought and planted a number of VERY SMALL Canadian Hemlock trees from an online nursery .   Three of them were planted along the north side fence line .  Today, two of those three are still standing .  Seven years ago, these trees weren't even a foot-tall in height.   Today?  This one is probably five-feet tall.  But, sparsely branched.  And, the caliper of the trunk is probably up to almost an inch.  Below is a look at this Canadian Hemlock tucked into the 'understory garden'.   Would I plant this tree back here, close to these other trunks - if I was to do it all over?  No.  Would I plant this small of a tree - if I was to do it all over?  No. But, here we are.  Seven years later and the tree is in this spot. The growth of the tree isn't really the point of this post in my garden diary.  I was out taking some kitchen scraps to the compost bin and took a number of ...

Planted back in the Fall of 2021 , we have a (still) small Mugo Pine in the backyard northside bed about 3/4's of the way back.  It is planted pretty close to the Harry Lauder Walking Stick Tree that I posted about yesterday .  It was a #1 gallon conifer when it went in and cost just $5.00.   I posted about it one-year after planting as it was establishing itself (but not putting on any growth at that time).   Then, in Fall of 2022, I noted that the (dang!) rabbits were feasting on this small shrub .   By Fall of 2024 it had grown a little bit , but it still was small.   Today? Like the Harry Lauder Contorted Walking Stick Tree ...this one has been 'slow-growing'.  Here, below, is the Mugo Pine peeking up out of the snow: I included the idea of ' conifers should come first ' in my v1 draft of Jake's Great Garden Rules   and this Mugo Pine is an example of a conifer that I planted earlier than most.  Was it likely too ...

Planted two years ago in a #FallPlanting sprint of October 2023 , the small upright Montrose Charm Spruce tree has put out some cones on the upper tips of the tree.   The photo below shows the cones, but doesn't show the rest of the tree, but when I look back at the planting photo, I can say that the tree has put on some new growth in the two years since it was put in.   Looking back at the tree in October 2023, the tree had a thin middle with a growing crown.  Today, the tree has shot up and out, but retained it's upright/narrow habit.  

I planted some small pot-grown Wichita Blue (upright) Junipers in our backyard in early May .  Today, four-months-later, all three of them seem to have handled the heat of the Summer and aren't in distress.  That's good.  I watered them pretty heavily this Summer and they're (partially) protected from the Sun - being planted under the tree swing Northern Red Oak.   They get shade in the morning and late afternoon.  But, are full Sun in the middle of the day.   That seems (*knock on wood*) to be working for them as there is little brown'ing-out happening with the needles.  See below for what these three look like after being planted for four months in our garden: To date, I haven't planted the rest of the bed around them, but this is my inspiration :  using Stachys Hummelo in a mass planting.   Maybe that'll be a #Fall2025 project.  Or, something for next year. 

For the past year-or-so, I've been thinking about this inspiration photo that shows a combination of blue-green, upright conifer trees flanked by Stachys Hummelo perennials in a mass planting .   I talked about using it in the front yard, but had not come across Wichita Blue Junipers in the wild, so the idea sort-of just hung on the shelf.   That was...until I went to the big box nursery recently and saw these blue-needle upright conifers in the parking lot amongst the big masses of arborvitae.  These looked interesting.  Upon closer inspection...it turns out...these are what I've been thinking about for the past year:  Wichita Blue Juniper trees.   The Missouri Botanical Garden describes Wichita Blue Junipers thusly: ‘Wichita Blue’ is a compact, conical, male form that grows slowly (6-12” per year) to 10-15’ tall, but may eventually reach 15-30’ tall. As the cultivar name suggests, it is noted for its blue or blue-gray foliage that retains ...

This is the second Spring with the pair of Weeping Norway Spruce trees (planted IB2DWs) in our garden - with this growing season showing the same unique color as last year:  red or purple cones growing at the tips.    Here's a post from last April showing the brightly-colored small cones on the tips of the Norway Spruces .   This year, the trees are showing those same red or purple cones - but in greater numbers.  Below are a couple of photos showing these colorful cones on Weeping Norway Spruce - Picea spruce 'Pendula': But those aren't the *only* Spruce trees we have in the front yard; as I planted a small Skylands Spruce in the Island Bed last Fall .  This being the first Spring (for the tree) is also the first year for the red or purple cones on Skylands.  Lovely to see.  Photo of Skylands Spruce with purple cones below: What follows these cones is the small burst of lime green - or in the case of Sklyands...likely chartreuse green - grow...

Back in the Summer of 2021, I bought and planted a Japanese White Pine that included the name "Nana" on the tag - but otherwise the cultivar was not-listed.  This small conifer tree was hanging out at the big box parking lot nursery for months and when it dropped in price, I grabbed it.  By Summer 2022, the tree was gone.  Browned out and dead .   What caused the death? I'm not sure. Drought, likely.  But, also...could it have been 'over watered'?  Not sure, but who knows.   What about hardiness? Are they hardy down to our Zone 6a/5b borderline? I'm not sure, either. Did I plant it incorrectly? Perhaps. These Home Depot trees are typically ball and burlap and are air-pruned/rooted - I think. They usually have a large, main trunk that terminates into a cut-end that has been rooted with some small root growth. In the past, I've cut these balls open - and when I did that - I've almost always LOST those trees. More recently, I've left t...

Jim Putnam over at HortTube has a video up all about Green Giant Thujas .   I've embedded it below.  I've long watched Jim's videos and always learn something, despite him gardening in Raleigh, North Carolina where the conditions are much different than my backyard Zone 5b/6a garden.   His video taught me a few things about these Thujas - that I've posted about before - that I didn't know before.  Jim says that these Green Giant Thujas don't "off-color" as much as other conifers during the Winter and that's been my experience as well.   He also talks about their fast-growing nature and how they get B I G.  I'm growing them in a little bit of part shade and lightly irrigated, so they haven't been 'rockets'.  He said that they 'pick up speed over time' - once they are well-established.  Here's hoping that mine are in that 'well-established' place and we'll see them shoot up tall. He also talks about how they...

I planted some Green Giant Thujas back in the Spring of 2022 and....now...coming up on three years later...they are starting to have 'presence' in the garden.   Perhaps it is because everything else is in dormancy.  Or...more likely...because these have put on size - height and width.   See below for the three along the southside of the property.    I'm now thinking of putting a few more of these in the backyard - come Spring 2025.  Screening trees along the back sides of the garden - including adding even more along this same fenceline.

The small Skylands Spruce tree that went into the 'island bed' in our front yard has a number of cones clinging to the tips of some of the upper branches that have sort-of 'unfurled' and grown the past few weeks.  The cones - once tightly wound - are now a little bit more 'open'.  See below for a photo of one of the cones.  Note the chicken wire ring to keep the (dang!) rabbits from gnawing away the tips of this tiny tree: 

Skylands Spruce - Picea Orientalis 'Skylands' is a tree that I've been thinking about for years.  I've only come across a couple of them in the nursery trade in all my years looking - at the Hidden Gardens nursery.  Hidden Gardens is now solely focused on bonsai, so their nursery is closed, but I grabbed these couple of photos of a couple of trees - a #6 and a #10 container.   But, before we get to the photos, what is Skylands?  Missouri Botanic Garden has a page up that lists the details of the tree : 'Skylands' is slow-growing, upright, conical-pyramidal form that typically grows 8-10' tall over the first 10 years. Over time, it may eventually reach 35' tall with a spread of 10-12' wide. Exterior needles are bright yellow in full sun or yellow-green in part shade. Regardless of sun exposure, the yellow needle color typically tends to fade as the summer progresses. Interior needles are green. Foliage may burn in full sun locations in hot summer clim...

One of the conifers that we have in our backyard is *supposed* to be a really lovely columnar evergreen tree:  a Weeping White Spruce.  I planted it in 2019 along the fence on the southside with hopes that it would grow up-up-up and be a sort-of 'exclamation point' in our garden bed.  Here's what it looked like in Fall of 2019 : it was 46" tall from the soil to the top of the leader.   Then, this thing suffered a little bit from drought.  And, I lost the leader .  That was Summer of 2020.   Now...four years later, the tree is...well....ABOUT THE SAME.  See below: I took out the tape measure because my eyes weren't telling me if this thing actually grew.  This tree was 46" to the tip in Fall of 2019.  Five years since planting - and four years since the leader was lost - this tree is NOW 49" tall.  That means....we're up 3".  Just 3".  But, because of pruning of the 'lost leader', I don't think that tells the full...

Last Fall, I put in three Baby Blue (dwarf) Spruce trees.  Two in front - IB2DWs .  And one in back, next to the Greenspire Lindens that have been trained into espalier.   The one in back is in a spot that gets less sunlight and...due to my neighbor's irrigation system....less water.  ( Note on that:  I'm pretty sure that the irrigation system that my neighbor has that irrigates his lawn puts down deep-enough water that it helps with my IB2DWs strip keep *somewhat* watered. ) The 3rd Baby Blue Spruce (backyard) is pictured below.  These are dwarf trees, so they have a slow growth habit.  Comparing the photo from last year to this year, I'm not sure this put on any new growth at all.    However, while there isn't a TON of new growth, there's two things to note: First...the 'blue' of these Baby Blue Spruce trees is REALLY shining out right now.  They're BLUE.   Second...this one is suffering from a little needle drop. ...

Back in May of 2019, I planted a number of very small, one-gallon Canadian Hemlock trees .  A few of them were destroyed by rabbits.  And a few died from drought.  But, two of them have managed to make it to today.  In terms of growing seasons, that: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and now...in the middle of their sixth growing season:  2024.   After the rabbits ate these things up, I began to protect them with chicken wire.  The past few seasons, I've just left the chicken wire rings in place.  And the trees have just kept-on-growing.   I heard from someone on the blog about the hemlocks and they wondered how they were doing.   Here's a couple of photos that show them - although...they're *hard to see*.   The first photo shows both of the trees - one on the left and the other on the right - split by that narrow tree trunk in the middle.  The second photo shows a close-up of the chicken wire ring. I'd say that ...

Conifers should come first.  That's advice that I've (now) adopted.  But, I'm seven-years down the gardening path and it is too late.  But...looking around, I *did* get it right - somewhat.  I planted some tiny Canadian Hemlocks, some creeping Junipers and a tiny Mugo Pine in the 'understory bed' over the years.   Below are a few photos that show how they're doing.  First, is a Youngstown Juniper amongst some hostas and a look at the bottom of one of the Hemlocks.  The juniper was planted in Fall 2019. These Hemlocks started out as 12" tall trees.  Now they're six-feet tall and growing.  Pretty great to see: Below is another creeping Juniper - that's smaller than the first.   And here, below, is the Mugo Pine.  Planted as a tiny one-gallon evergreen shrub in the Fall of 2021 .  It was ravaged by the dang rabbits, but has since rebounded - thanks to some wintertime chicken wire.  This is its third growing season ...

Both of the small, weeping Norway Spruce trees that we planted last Fall have put on spring growth.  New, bright-green needles and weeping limbs have appeared.  That includes the leaders - especially on the tree closer to the house.  It has seen a bunch of top growth - see below.  I trained these small trees up on poles last Fall and from what I've read, you have to keep training the leader up, or else...it will become a 'spreader' vs a more upright tree.   This leader needed a taller pole, so I grabbed one and wired it up to get the leader more vertical and upright.  See below for the 'after' of this Weeping Norway Spruce: I'll watch the top of this spruce and think about pruning back some of the lateral branches to reduce competition for the top.