Why I Oughta...

I planted three of these Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (Lungwort) last Fall after buying them from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale .  It seemed to do fine to wind down the growing season last year and I was excited to see it re-emerge this Spring with new growth .  I don't seem to have posted any specific photos of these during the growing season, but I did sneak them into these photos from when I planted some Jack of Diamonds Brunnera this Summer .  When I was out planting the Green Gem boxwoods recently, I noticed that these had put on some LATE-Season growth and seemed pretty happy. Below, are a couple of photos showing (first) all three of them.  You can see the new, more-green foliage in the center of the plant as the new growth.  Then, in the second photo, you can see a close-up of the new growth. These have been a great addition to our shade garden and I can think of a half-dozen other places to add similar Pulmonaria plants.  Thinking I should put ...

It seems that September is when we get a big flush of growth on our front yard Bald Cypress tree.  This year is the second year in a row when I've been able to catch (and document) the new, happy feather-like needles that show up in a big, late-Summer blow-up.  Here's last year's post on the same subject .  The last time I posted a photo was from July when this tree had new Summer-time growth . Here - below - is a look at the big, feathery "pom-poms" of growth that are currently sitting on a bunch of the limbs and branches.   I used "pom-poms" because they are sort of little balls of growth on the edges that remind me of pom-poms. And, here below, is a look at the full tree.  It has really grown big and strong this season and comes in close to eight or nine feet tall by my eyeball. I haven't measured the caliper of the trunk, but it is sizable - and way up compared to what I measured 18 months ago when it was less than 1.25" .  I'll get the ...

Look at these beautiful needles growing out on the tips of our Dawn Redwood.  We planted the replacement tree in July of this year after having last year's tree die and not come back.  A little under a year ago, I posted this photo of the old Redwood and asked the question: "I s our Redwood Tree going to survive? "  Turns out, the answer was "no".  And in looking at this photo of new, delicate growth vs. the brown and dry tree from last year, it is plain to me now. We've had a bunch of rain in late August and the first part of September and I babied this thing through the beginning of August, so I'm happy to say that we've given this tree the best chance at surviving the winter.  I'm also encouraged by this new growth and hopeful that it signals that the tree has found a good groove and is putting down roots while putting on this show with new needles on the tips of the tree. I'm going to go get a few bags of mulch and lay down a new ...