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 Colorado State Forest Service ans

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 also s

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

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 deciduous brethren, it seems.  

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 in the garden and is now about 12&quo

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a pretty lengthy garden diary post that outlined some of the inspiration and design ideas that I've been cataloging for the front yard .  I also posted this conifer inspo of three blue junipers (upright) in a mixed perennial bed .  What would it look like?  Ideally... something like this house .  But, that's not realistic - just yet.   In that post, I talked about doing a 'phase 1', but doing it with an eye for the entire design.  What's the key, defining characteristic of the 'entire design'?  I think it is centered on three things: 1. A path. 2. A bern. 3. ...and some miegakure. I was out front - taking the garbage cans out - this past week and because there was some frost on the front lawn, I thought I could (sort-of) shuffle my feet through the grass and leave a mark of what feels natural in terms of a front-yard path.  See below for my winding, curved (potential) garden path.  It starts closer to the driveway, winds *b

Beyond the pizza-oven build, my mind has been thinking about the front yard for 2024.  I went ham on the IB2DWs extended bed last Fall with my new conifer garden , but I've been reading and watching things on the Web that have me thinking about the rest of our yard.   If I'm being honest, our front yard isn't bad. Not at all.  It is, however...traditional.  It is what everybody in the suburbs has: a foundation bed with a corner tree and a stretch of front lawn from that bed down to the sidewalk.  Followed by a turf parkway between the sidewalk and street.  Over the years, I've done a few things:  planned for some tree planting .  Tucked a Saratoga Ginkgo , some Stachys Hummelo and Sesleria Greenlees into the small island bed by the driveway.  And extended the front porch bed a bit this past year .   The rest is a blank canvas.   Some of the things that I've come across/influenced me a bit include this piece from Garden Design focused on curb appeal  that talks thr