Why I Oughta...

This post marks the third tree that I'm filing as LOST for this growing season.  The first one was in July when a newly planted Lombardy Poplar didn't make it but a couple of weeks .  Then, one of the kids (not sure where they live!) ripped off the growth on my contorted Larch .  Today, I'm calling our Dappled Willow as dead.   Planted in the Spring/Summer of 2019 , the tree was a copy of a Dappled Willow that we had in Elmhurst.  That, first Dapple Willow was a wild success and both Nat and I loved it.    It seemed to come back this Spring - surviving the first Winter - and budded out in April .  But, then something happened.  Might have been a late frost?  But, it died back.  The tree tried to keep growing - and sent off some VERY LOW suckers, but that only lasted a month or so.  Today?  The tree looks like this: Dead and gone. 52 trees across four planting seasons. With this loss (3rd of the year, there are (For...

Back in April, I posted some photos of a handful of trees that appeared - at the time - to be late in terms of coming out of dormancy for the year .  They were a Chanticleer Pear tree that was planted on Earth Day 2018.  A small Red Valley Sun Maple planted the same day.  And a Crimson King Maple that I planted in 2017.  Something weird is happening with two of them.  And it is now happening with another tree. First, the bad news.  The Crimson King Maple appears to be lost.  I'll post about it separately.  But, let's look at the other three.  Here, below, is the Red Valley Sun Maple.  The top of the tree never broke bud.  And the limbs became dry and brittle.  But, this Summer, this growth shot out from the base of the trunk.    If the tree was healthy, I'd call these things "suckers". They sure look like "suckers", don't they? From this post,  suckers are normally a sign of stress : Suckers...

Last Summer, we added a tree-form Dappled Willow (Hakuro Nishiki) to the south fenceline of our backyard after having one of the same trees in Elmhurst years ago.   Both Nat and I fell in love with this tree after buying it (the first time) on a total whim.  It is a lollipop-shaped tree with a single trunk and a festive, mop on top that grows these beautiful multi-colored whips of willow.  In the photo at the top of this post, you can see that it also puts off these little cone-like things that mark it's return to glory.  This tree is probably the furthest along of all the deciduous trees in our yard with the first leaves of green showing on some of the tips. This was the most recent tree that I planted in our yard - the last one of 2019 and I'm happy that it is coming back to life after the first year in the ground.  Based on my previous experience, I'm thinking that I'm now out of the danger zone in terms of getting this tree to come back.

Another day, another tree that we planted in the yard.  This one, while isn't technically in the "dwarf" category, is another purposely-small tree:  A Hakuro Nishiki Dappled Willow Tree.  Welp....this is actually - according to the tag - a "Deciduous Shrub", but in Tree Form.  So, I'm calling it a tree.  I'm pretty sure that this is a grafted tree, but I can't really tell where it was grafted.  I'll post some closer photos if I can find the graft spot/line in the tree.   But, since this is a tree, this is #35 in terms of planting since we bought the property in 2017.  This is a tree that we had (and I bought it on a whim) back at our old house in Elmhurst.  We planted it on the northside of our backwalk, adjacent to the garage.  It was a stunner.   I loved how it looked.  Nat loved it, too.  It shoots out these beautiful - and almost celebratory - willow limbs that are full of color. Pinks, greens, whites...

The tree you see above is a Dappled Willow (treeform) in the Home Depot parking lot/garden center/nursery.  It is, I think, a grafted tree (hence the 'treeform') and one that we had in our old house in Elmhurst.  I put it in one of the beds that was close to the garage side door, so we walked by it every time we got in and out of the car.  Here's the label from the tree at Home Depot: Both Nat and I really liked the tree.  It grew big and threw off these beautiful, pinkish reeds.  I gave it quite a bit of consideration before, ultimately, passing on the tree for this season.  It was $49.99, so between the price and not really having an idea of where, exactly to put this thing, I talked myself out of putting it into our cart.  One place it *could* go is in the hydrangea bed along the south fence line .  With the hydrangeas filling up the ground space, this could sit on top of them - in the back - and get what it wants:  part sun....