Why I Oughta...

Last Summer, I added eleven Green Velvet Boxwoods (1# size) at the feet of the horizontal cordon espalier Green spire Linden trees in our backyard - up against the fence.  I bought them small, due to the cost of adding so many of them in one spot and they didn't take up much space.  You can see what they looked like last June in this post .  Spring is when my boxwoods put on growth, so I thought it was interesting to see how much they had grown in a little less than a year.  These were put in at the end of June - with a biosolids and topsoil mix - and I'm thinking put down roots all of 2023.  This Spring - 2024 - the tips of the shrubs have leapt up and out, adding light green tips to the (still) small evergreen shrubs.   Below is what they look like currently - in the middle of the Spring flush of new growth: There are seven in the back row and four in the front.  They may NOT look like much (on their own, in this photo), but here (below) is an ...

Took these two photos (below) earlier this Summer - June - after I cleaned up the sets of espaliers in the back and side yards.  First, the Apple trees in Belgian Fence.  Then, the SugarTyme Crabapples in horizontal cordon (for now).   This was post-pruning and they (now) look much more shaggy with new growth all over the place.  The Belgian Fence needs to still have a couple of replacements.   Note to 2024 self.

Yesterday, I posted some details and photos about preparing the bed underneath the espaliered Linden trees to get ready for a boxwood hedge.  I transplanted some hostas (and then...transplanted *other* hostas) and planted them in the back.  In that post, I mentioned that I also had to move a few Alliums that were in the same bed.  As a reminder, below is a photo showing the 'before' state of the bed - featuring some allium to the right of the photo. There were two Allium Bulgaricum that I moved behind the row of Astilbes.  And three-or-four good-sized Summer Beauty Alliums.  I put one on the other side of the Weeping White Spruce - close to the fence.  That one is below: I also tucked in another one amongst the Oakleaf Hydrangeas in the kitchen window bed: I put the third one in amongst the other colony of the same Summer Beauty Alliums a bit further back in that south side bed.  See below of this one next to my kneeler.  It flop'd over after tra...

One of the big planting projects that I have tee'd up for this Summer is to plant a series of boxwoods underneath the pair of espalier'ed Greenspire Linden trees to add some structure and four-season interest with evergreen shrubs.  One of the things that I've learned from observing the garden over all four seasons is that while I claim to be a 'hosta gardener', I have begun to fall out of love with them (just a little bit).  Why?  Because they totally disappear during the late Fall, Winter and early Spring.  Sure...there's still a lot to love - they grow in the shade, are all-about-that-foliage, their Spring emergence is a fun little gardening moment and...they're forever dividable (meaning...they can be endlessly divided every Fall).  But, when I look at my beds during the month of January or February or March...and you didn't know they were planted out, one might think that the beds were totally empty.  As the hostas disappear. All that to say...I don...

I went out to do a little bit of late Spring/early Summer pruning on the pair of espaliered Greenspire Linden trees in our backyard and noticed something unusual on some of the leaves.  There were these redish/yellow growths that were stuck to the face of some of the leaves.  I first noticed this below: Then, a closer look revealed that certain leaves were covered in these galls: What the heck?   I went to the Web to discover that these are gall mites .  Mites!   After reading more, it turns out that they don't affect the tree's health.  From the Royal Horticulture Society : Like most gall mite there is no harm done to the hosts overall heath and vigour and these animals are part of the biodiversity that healthy trees support. Even knowing that...I still don't like them.  Not one bit.  I went in with a pair of scissors and started to prune out every one of the leaves filled with these galls.  I clipped them off and tossed them in ou...