Why I Oughta...

In 2021, I planted two 1# small Hicks (upright) yews in the backyard - sort of near the understory garden on the north side.  I planted them somewhat close together with eyes on (eventually) shaping them up into a 'Block I' Illinois topiary .  Earlier that year, I posted about this University of Auburn topiary frame and dreamed of a 'Block I' .  The two Hicks yews were probably 12" tall in Fall of 2021 .  They've now had three (2022, 2023 and 2024) growing seasons and have put on some size.   Here are the two Hicks Yews - below - after those three growing seasons.  They've grown up (a little bit) are are still mostly columnar. It isn't easy to determine their height, so here below, is a shovel stuck in the ground to provide a height comparison.   I CLEARLY still have time to create the 'Block I' frame out of Chicken Wire, so I'm not concerned about that.  I am, however, concerned about the 'fullness' of these.  Are they going to get

In the Fall of 2021, I made a big decision (or...what seemed like a BIG decision at the time) in our garden.  I opted to dig up some of our Oakleaf Hydrangeas and move them *out* from the fence .  They were planted to allow for their mature size, but tucked in closer to the fence.  After reading and observing our garden - and others online - I decided to invest in putting evergreen shrubs *behind* deciduous, flowering shrubs.  Here's the post from October 2021 where I talk about 'layering' and how most designs call for evergreens *in front of* shrubs like hydrangeas .  That's how it looks in our front yard.  But....this idea turns that concept on its ear - by putting the evergreens BEHIND the shrubs that lose their leaves in Winter.  To do that, I needed to move out the Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  And plant some evergreens.  I opted for Hicks Yews - since this is a pretty much full-shade area.  I planted a five-dollar, one-gallon Hicks Yew in October 2021 .   Today, after thre

Late last Fall, I went on a Home Depot end-of-season-plant-sale binge and bought a number of very small Autumn Ferns and planted them in a few spots in the backyard.   I planted twelve of them in three different spots including a number of them in the far back, right in front of the Hicks Yew hedge. How many are left back there?  Certainly not all of them.  Based on this layout, I'm thinking that I planted ten-to-twelve in a staggered layout.  Today, there are six that have survived Winter, Spring and thus far into Summer.  One is decent sized, the rest are BABIES.  In the photo below, you can see the six survivors in the orange circles. One of the things that I learned this Spring is that I have to be more careful with late season watering.  I fear that I disrupted the roots and exposed them to the winter elements.   I'm thinking that if I nurse these six to the end of the year, they'll turn into something more signficant next growing season. I do want to keep replacing m

 Three growing seasons ago - the Summer of 2019 - I planted a row of VERY SMALL Hicks upright Yews in the far back of the yard .  I wanted to create a little structure back there and was inspired by a curvy, swoopy, undulating hedge that I saw here .  By last Fall (November 2021), they had put on a little bit of size and girth and I was able to document the current state here .  13 months ago, one of them - the fifth from the left - was at that time the tallest Yew in the row.  Today?  It still *is*.   I wanted to mark the height heading into Winter - so I dug my spade in the ground to show the height in relation to the handle.  See below for the current height of this tallest Hicks Yew: Above is a closeup that shows the very tip almost to the black rubber handle at the end of the evergreen shrub.   Getting tall, isn't it?