Why I Oughta...

I planted a native Black Tupelo (Blackgum) tree in our parkway earlier this growing season as a replacement for the London Planetree that didn't make it down there.  They both were small caliper trees, but I paid *a little bit more* attention to the Black Tupelo in terms of watering this season.  Despite some die-back, the tree seems to have made it through the growing season with foliage on the limbs.   And that foliage is what is starting to 'show off' with its Fall colors.  Turning a bright red.  Here, below, is a look at the fall show from the leaves turning red: Back in the 'Getting to Know' post on the Black Tupelo , I included this description:   "One of the most spectacular and reliable fall coloring trees, turning brilliant shades of red and orange..."   Seems that characteristic of the tree (reliably turning fall colors) is turning out to be true - even in this small, young (< 1" caliper) tree.   Late this Winter,...

In the middle of April, I planted a *very small caliper* Black Tupelo (or Black Gum) native tree in our parkway as a replacement for another tree that didn't come back this Spring .  At that time, the Tupelo still had NOT leaf'd out and had some curly branches attached all over the trunk.   Almost immediately, the apical meristem (leader) die'd back and I thought the tree was lost.   But, thanks to some (occasional and deep) watering, the tree seems to have navigated the hot part of Summer and is (mostly) leafy-green in late September.  This is five months after being put in the ground: I haven't pruned anything on this tree other than taking off the dead leader.  The lower-trunk branches are still curly and there's some red-ish Fall color that is starting to appear on a few of the leaves.   The Black Tupelo is noted for its "pyramidal form", but so far....our tree isn't showing any thing close to that shape.   I'll watch this (and ...

It may be hard to see in the photo below, but the Pagoda Dogwood tree (a native tree) that we have in our backyard had a big 'leap' year in terms of growth.  The past few seasons, I've been doing what I call 'selective pruning' of this tree where I shorten the length of each of the limbs that radiate out from the apical meristem (or trunk).   Our tree seems to want to grow almost bush-like or shrub-like.  A big puff-ball of foliage.  But, I want it to get taller, hence the pruning back of the limbs.  But, I've learned long ago, that you can't stimulate a young, non-mature tree to grow taller by simply pruning back all of the lower limbs.  The tree needs foliage to grow.  That whole 'solar panel effect' - is how the tree collects energy via its leaves.   So, what have I been doing?  Just pruning the tips.  Take the final foot-or-so off the ends.  Leave the rest. And, the tree seems to respond well to that seasonal pruning....

A few weeks back (this post is going live on July 1st, but these photos are from mid/late June), a stretch of our backyard was covered in white flowers.  On the lawn.  On top of shrubs.  On our little, hidden picnic table.  A carpet of white flower heads.  It looks like this: That means it is Northern Catalpa season.  We have two mature Catalpa trees - native trees.  (We have a small one growing near our patio, but it is still a twig.). They both bloomed this year in a prolific manner.  In mid-to-late June these trees put on a show.  The flowers stay on the trees for a while, then fall.  The week the trees were in bloom, we experienced a couple of days of heavy rain.  I'm thinking that caused the blooms to fall-off faster than normal. I posted about these flowers in a similar way in June of 2023 .  In that post, I also included a shot of the tree.  Here's the current state of this large Catalpa tree in our yard: In looking...

Just like yesterday's post showing our Indiana Street Iris in bloom, this post uses photos that are about a month old.  Below are some shots showing the Pagoda Dogwood tree (a native dogwood) in bloom.  These are from late May of this year and it was in peak-bloom around May 25, 2025.  We planted this as a tiny tree back in 2021 .  It has grown up and out since then and is now about head-high in terms of height.  It was covered in white blooms this Spring: The past two seasons, I've lightly pruned this tree - to help shorten some of the lower limbs and to help push it taller into more of a tree-form shape.  I'm planning on doing that again this year now that the blooms have passed.  

Last week, I pulled out a small London Planetree that we had planted in our parkway .  The tree suffered from drought last year and didn't come back this Spring.  No buds set, no green under the bark.   Replacing it was a no-brainer when I came across that Black Tupelo tree that I posted about yesterday .   Just because this Black Tupelo was a $20 tree - sold by a Big Box store, I'm one to follow the advice of Ralph Snodsmith and gave this 50-cent plant tree a $5 hole .  Because I dug up the dead London Planetree, the digging here was easy. I dug a wide and deep hole and then backfilled it in to make sure the rootball was placed not-too low.  These big box store trees always have their root-flare buried.  So, it is easy to plant them too low.  Right now, the root-flare is under some soil.  But....in terms of position the ball, I kept this one up 'high enough' to where - if/when the trunk develops, the rootflare will be 'above' the ...

The small, volunteer Northern Catalpa tree that is growing up on one corner of our patio had a three-leader situation going on in June.  Catalpas are whirl'd - which means they show growth out of three points, so having three leaders isn't surprising.  About three weeks ago, I made the decision to cut-off two of them and then forgot about it.  It didn't take long, but the small tree reacted VERY STRONGLY to the leader situation being sorted and has shot up about a foot in the past two weeks.  Here, below, is a look at the tree as it sits currently: I'll note that the peak is right above the tips of the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  Looking back at September 2023 - late last Summer - this same tree was coming in a foot-or-so below the grass tips and I measured it at 41" tall. What is it now - after this growth spurt?  65" tall to the top of the foliage.  24" growth since September of 2023 - and most of it (I think) in the past couple of weeks.

For the second growing-season in-a-row, I've pruned the small Pagoda Dogwood tree in our backyard.  Planted in Fall 2021 , this native tree has just quietly grown into something about the size of a medium-sized shrub.   It has horizontal branching, so I've been careful to prune it - while making it more tree-form while not taking too much off the tree.   Last year, I pruned back the bottom layer of branches.  Not removing branches, but just cutting them back .  This year, I'm doing the same thing - but a layer higher.  Below is the pre-pruning look at our Pagoda Dogwood tree.  The second layer is reaching out wide.   And, below is the 'after'.  I cut a segment down on each of the second-tier of branching.  Hoping for even more vertical-growth from the leader this season.  

I planted a small, native dogwood - a Pagoda Dogwood - that I bought at a local plant sale back in October of 2021 .   I put it back by the firepit area, in front of the Yew hedge, and left it alone for couple of years.  It was small and I wasn't sure how it was going to grow, so no pruning was done until last Summer ( June 2023) when I took back all the lower branches to just a few pairs of leaves.  The goal was to get it to focus a bit more on the taller/higher section and begin to take on a more tree-form shape (vs a shrub with low, wide branching).   I was out in the garden today taking an inventory and noticed that the Pagoda Dogwood has produced long, thin buds that are beginning to burst.  See below for the current state at the end of March 2024: This tree puts out a lovely-looking foliage - here's last Summer's view of the lined, almost-ribbed leaves that emerge out of these buds . According to the Morton Aboretum, this will eventually get up ...

I recently posted an update on the grown-from-seed tree seedlings that I've been nurturing for the past few years and included the oak trees that are from acorns that I collected last Fall .  Last year, I collected a variety of tree species - various oaks, chestnuts and even an Illinois Pecan and stashed them in the fridge to cold stratify.    That lead me to what I'd describe as 'mixed' results.  I have had quite a few seeds turn into seedlings, but because it was a mixed-bag, I am (somewhat) guessing on the variety of the tree and where I picked it from (a park?  Our block? Up in Wisconsin?) when I took the acorns.   But, I've enjoyed that seedling-growing process.  So, this year, I'm simplifying things.  I'm only going to keep ONE variety of acorns over winter.  What tree is that, you might be asking?  The answer is:  I'm not sure.   But, I do, indeed, know that it is a columnar oak tree that is planted along Mapl...

We have a few large, mature Northern Catalpa trees in our yard that I've really grown to appreciate over the years.  They're native trees that have H U G E leaves, put out a really nice set of interesting, white flower blooms on the trees in early Summer , and have a little Fall-show in them with a turn to golden yellow before dropping their large leaves.  They leave behind long, lean seed pods that I've tried to grow into seedlings , but I don't think that I've ever successfully sowed a Northern Catalpa tree on my own. But...they also produce quite a few volunteer trees.   In the Fall of 2022, I dug up and transplanted one of those volunteer seedlings and moved it into the little, corner bed of our back patio; tucked in between the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  I watered it to get it established and then left it alone.  Two years later, what does that little volunteer (transplanted) tree look like?  See below for the current state of the tree....

One of the items (#16) on my annual to-do list was to keep working on 'seasonal tasks' and #24 was to 'try to get cuttings to root'.    I've been after a container-based tree nursery for a few years now and have posted about it from time to time.  The most recent post was this Summer .  I started in 2021 with Kentucky Coffee Tree seeds and seedlings.  Then, last year I tried with Limelight Hydrangea s.  And this past Fall/Winter, I went a little bit further.   I collected a variety of seeds (acorns mostly) and put them to bed in a damp sand container that I stashed in the fridge to simulate cold stratifying .   After the Summer, it appears that I have birthed a handful of oak tree seedlings.  And, have seemingly kept the Kentucky Coffee Tree and Catalpa trees alive.  I've also succesfully rooted a Limelight Hydrangea and a Boxwood evergreen shrub.   Below are a few photos showing the current situation.  First..t...

We might have a problem in the garden.  Or, we might have something else totally.  I'm talking about the volunteer Silver Maple tree that popped up last season and one that I have left alone all this year.  Has it grown?  Yeah.  It.has.grown.  A LOT. I last posted about this tree in mid-July (about 50 days ago) and it has not slowed down since then.  I mentioned in that post that I was guessing it had put on 3' of new growth this year.  Now?  I'd say it is more like five feet of new growth.  It is every bit as tall as the Exclamation London Planetrees that sit by the fence .  Below, is a look at the current state of this (questionable-in-value) tree that is in our south beds: I didn't plan for this tree.  And...I've read all about the merits of Silver Maples.   Naturalist Donald Peattie wrote an length about the Silver Maple and called it a paradox . Both the pros - fast-growing, beautiful crowns and ability to gro...