Why I Oughta...

Earlier last week, I posted a close-up of the fall colors on the Arctic Jade Korean Maple and talked about how I'm (already) thinking about another Korean Maple tree from the Jack Frost collection.   I bought the Arctic Jade from The Growing Place and when I was there earlier this year, I saw another Korean Maple from the Jack Frost Collection:  North Wind Korean Maple.  Here, below, is a photo of the sign from The Growing Place.  Here's the description from Iseli Nursery's website : The North Wind® maple is our flagship of the hardy Jack Frost® maple collection. It has been unscathed in Midwest field testing, surviving temperatures of -30°F. The palmate leaves emerge red in spring and change to green by midsummer. Showy pink samaras standout against the green summer foliage. When other fall color has faded in northern landscapes, North Wind® continues the show with dramatic tones of orange and scarlet. Negative thirty degrees is great.  It emerges red and...

Back in the Summer of 2021, I bought and planted a Japanese White Pine that included the name "Nana" on the tag - but otherwise the cultivar was not-listed.  This small conifer tree was hanging out at the big box parking lot nursery for months and when it dropped in price, I grabbed it.  By Summer 2022, the tree was gone.  Browned out and dead .   What caused the death? I'm not sure. Drought, likely.  But, also...could it have been 'over watered'?  Not sure, but who knows.   What about hardiness? Are they hardy down to our Zone 6a/5b borderline? I'm not sure, either. Did I plant it incorrectly? Perhaps. These Home Depot trees are typically ball and burlap and are air-pruned/rooted - I think. They usually have a large, main trunk that terminates into a cut-end that has been rooted with some small root growth. In the past, I've cut these balls open - and when I did that - I've almost always LOST those trees. More recently, I've left t...

Yesterday, I posted a couple photos of the Louie Pine tree - a gold-needled standout in the garden. Next to the Louies on the pallet in the parking lot of the orange big box nursery were a few Charlie-Brown-like pines.  They were tall, thin and...scraggly.   A closer look reveals they're Weeping Pine Trees.  See below for some photos - of the trees and the tag.  Retailing for $99.00, these are about 40" tall from the root flare.  These are true weeping trees - and need to be trained.  From Gertens : A weeping and trailing shrub or small tree, very unlike the species; features soft, blue needles, tends to crawl along the ground and over rocks or walls, or forms a small weeping accent plant if trained on a standard; beautiful if properly grown. Weeping White Pine is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its highly ornamental weeping form. It has attractive bluish-green evergreen foliage. The needles are highly ornamenta...