Why I Oughta...

Five and a half years.  That's how long the three posts have been installed in our backyard as a training device for the pair of Greenspire Linden trees that have been pruned in an horizontal cordon espalier.  This past weekend, I disconnected all of the wire and pulled the three posts down.  I put the posts in the ground in September of 2017 - look how NEW everything looks here .   Over the years, I've worked these trees to be a four-level espalier and it had matured (enough) to no-longer require the heavy-hand of a post and wire system.  See below for the pre-removal state:  And....below...are the trees with the posts and wires removed.  Feels VERY DIFFERENT over there (to me, at least) now. The top row of the cordon is thick and strong and vibrant.  Each layer down gets thinner, but the bottom layer has finally reached the fully-mature length.  I'll work to keep that bottom row horizontal with a bamboo pole.   #9 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'keep working the espalie

How old are our pair of Greenspire Linden trees that are in our yard? I'm NOT sure.  But, I know that we have them in our yard for  (coming up on) six full years - and this will be our seventh growing season.  Planted in the Summer of 2017, the have grown into their own across those six growing seasons.    The last time I showed these trees was in October when they were putting on a fall show with orange and yellow foliage .   This past September, I documented via caliper sizing the overall growth of these trees:  they are both greater than 3" calipers now.  They went from a little bit over 1.5" to more than 3" - doubling in size since 2020.   My plan for this year is to plant underneath these and remove the frames.  But, before I do that, I went out this weekend and began to prune some of the tops of these trees.  That top layer of the espalier is thick and full of new growth.  What kind of growth?  What would appear to be something like a waterspout that sends s

A couple of days ago, I posted a photo of the Magnolia tree fuzzy flower bud that I spotted on the tree this Winter and talked about how observing tree buds has really shifted my mental gardening model from a Spring start and Winter finish --> Early Winter start and Fall Dormancy finish.  That means, after the trees shed the leaves, they start to set next-year's buds.  And, *that's* when the season starts (for me, now).  On the same day that I took the photo of the Saucer Magnolia tree, I wandered by the pair of early-espalier Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees that are planted on the south wall of our house.   I planted the pair of these trees in September of 2021 , so this was the first FULL growing season.  They bloomed white flowers this Spring - for their first set of flowers .  And set their first fruit (for us) this Fall .   I've begun to train and prune these trees this season into an (eventual) Palmette Verrier espalier shape  with three or four tiers.  As part of that

The pair of Greenspire Linden Trees that are planted in a horizontal cordon espalier have held on to all of their leaves to date.  They're just starting to turn yellow - see photo below - with a mix of green and yellow foliage across all four levels of the espalier.  You'll note that some other plants - like the hostas - have gone dormant and turned yellow, while others (the Summer Beauty Allium on the bottom right) have remained green.    The last time I showed this espalier was earlier this Summer (June), when the trees put on ALL of the leaves in a couple of weeks .  If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see some growth on the top level that needs to be pruned back in late Winter as the top-level continues to try to establish a leader or leaders in normal-tree fashion. As measured this Summer, these are now BOTH over 3" caliper trees and have been in the ground here since August of 2017 .  That's five years of growth here across the growing seasons. Wh

Earlier this week, I showed off the new haircut that I gave to the pair of crabapple trees in our sideyard and talked about my plan for shaping them into a Palmette Verrier form along the side of our house . I thought it would be wise to document my other (or...as the kids say:  OG) espalier:  the pair of Greenspire Linden trees that are shaped into a four-tiered horizontal cordon. The last time that I showed these trees was in early April when they had NO leaves on them .  I mentioned last week that they had broken bud (very pretty buds, btw) and were leaf'ing out.   What do they look like this week?  Really lovely set of espalier - with four tiers.  Well...almost four.  See below: On the left, the bottom tier is done on the left, but needs some help going right.   On the tree on the right, the bottom tier needs some help extending both ways.   I'm thinking those will get done this growing season.   #6 on my 2022 to-do list was to continue to work the Lindens (these have bee

It has been a while since I posted a full-frontal photo of our pair of Greenspire Little Leaf Linden trees that have been trained into a four-tier horizonatal cordon espalier in our backyard.  These are planted in Zone 5b and trained with wire alongside a six-foot-tall cedar fence.  You can see the top tier is a foot or more above the top of the fence and the root-flare of the trees is BELOW the bottom of the fence.   Thus, These are eight or nine feet tall.    The last time I showed this shot that you see below, was back in September of 2020 - close to 10 months ago .  When I compare the photos, I see a few things: 1.  Tree on the left: The lowest tier has grown out a bit - mostly the right side. 2.  The trunks have thickened up.  I'll have to grab some caliper measurements soon to confirm. 3.  The two little 'scaredy cat' pieces I left on last year are still there on the tree on the left.  Should prune them off soon. 4.  Tree on the right:  the bottom tier has grown out.