Why I Oughta...

Another post for the [ fall show ] file here on the blog - but this one features a native tree that I've grown really fond of over the past few growing seasons:  our large Catalpa tree.  I last posted about this tree this past Summer , but when I was out on a walk around the garden recently, I noticed that the tree was putting on a nice, yellow show.  See below for the leaf color in early November 2021: Our Walnut trees have mostly dropped all of their leaves, but this Catalpa is still holding on (for now).  I've begun to look around the Web to try to figure out how to sow some Catalpa seeds and it seems that I need to leave the pods on the tree - have them cold stratify outside on the tree - and then pick and plant the seeds in the Spring.  Just like I did with the Kentucky Coffee tree seeds this Spring .

When I posted last week about the replacement (tiny) Ginko tree that I planted 'ib2dw', I mentioned that the Ginko wasn't the last tree for the year.  There are a few more coming this week - starting with my very first Dogwood tree.  When I bought the small Chinkapin Oak tree from the Conservation Foundation in late September , I also bought another small native tree:  A Cornus alternifolia (Pagoda Dogwood).    Below, you can see the tag for the tree. This dogwood is different than the ones I've seen in the big box nurseries where I typically see Cornus kousa and Cornus florida.  You can read up about those various cultivars around the Web - but the main takeaway is that florida is the standard that has been around for a while, but kousa is a new(er) sport that is more disease resistant.   The dogwood tree that we selected is known as the Pagoda Dogwood.  Morton Arboretum has a tree listing up here for the Pagoda Dogwood - Cornus alternifolia . They describe it an '

Earlier this Spring, I came across some Kentucky Coffee Tree seed pods at a park by Downers Grove South and began the journey of getting them to sprout and grow into tiny tree seedlings.  I posted about that process (cracking up the pods, soaking the seeds, planting them, etc) back in June here . Over the past 70 days, I've kept them alive in their little nursery stock containers and have watered them (enough) to get the little trees to grow.  In the photo above, you can see my tray of little Kentucky Coffee Trees.  And one little Maple seedling.   In total, there are five containers of Kentucky Coffee tree seedlings with to little trees in each one - ten total trees.  (And that one Maple).  Below, is a look at one of the containers showing the pair of seedlings.  As a milestone, the trunks of these are NOW woody.  No longer green - or red like the leaflets.  If you look closely, you'll see that the trunk has a TINY bit of 'turned wood' on it - near the top.  Meaning, t

Posting a couple of photos of two trees in our yard that I took earlier this month.  First, we have two Catalpa trees in our yard.  Starting around June 8th and running through the middle of the month, both of our Catalpa trees were in bloom with lovely white blooms.  I inherited both of these, so filing these under [inherited tree] like I did with the Oaks and River Birch clump .   Here, below, is Catalpa tree that is closer to our house in bloom.  It is a really nice tree that I never looked at very closely.  It is tucked in behind the large Northern Red Oak tree and in front of one of our large Walnuts.   You can see the blooms scattered on the ground under the tree in the photo above. The other tree that I wanted to share was the Dawn Redwood tree below.  It was VERY slow to break bud but by late April, it started to come alive.  With the drought we've had all Spring, it seemed to my naked eye like this tree hasn't filled out as much as it has in previous years.  But, now

 Back at the end of April, I was sitting at one of the kid's softball practices at a local Downers Grove park when I found these huge seed pods sitting on the ground.  A quick search showed me they are from Kentucky Coffee Tree seed pods.  How neat.  I posted a few times last year about how I found a few of these in our yard (thanks to an Arborist) and learned how they are/were native trees in Illinois .  So, I grabbed a few of these seed pods and brought them home.  A few days later, I cracked them open and harvested the seeds.  Here, below, is a pod cracked in half: And, here, below, is a look at how many seeds I was able to get out of the pods: A look online told me that I could get these seeds to germinate if I soaked them overnight and yanked out any that floated.  I had a few that floated, but most of them stayed at the bottom.   In the photo below, you can see  Soaked at end of April: I took those seeds that didn't float and planted them in a soil mix on the first of May

I mentioned that we had an arborist come out to look at some of the trees our property for maintenance and while he was there, I asked him to help me identify a few trees.   At the time, I wasn't sure if they were weed trees or something that was/is worth keeping.  I showed him one of them and he immediately told me it was a Kentucky Coffee Tree.  I posted about the first one - along our back fenceline here .  Then, I posted photos of the second of them - on the south property line about halfway between the large Oak and the trampoline.  This post is showing the third of these trees.  This one is along the north property line/fence line and is to the East of the cluster of American Elm trees we have (all of them small) along the fence.   So this is kind of growing up in/out from the canopy of the biggest Oak tree (swing tree) and just next to the River Birch clump. You can see the chainlink fence in the photos here - that's from the construction next door and will go aw

Yesterday, I mentioned that we had an arborist come over to our house to assess and help us build a plan for a couple of our trees.  While he was there, I asked him about a couple of trees that we have growing in our yard that I was uncertain of the cultivar.  I have had a few trees that I was trying to figure out before, but I've mostly sorted the Walnut/Tree of Heaven/Sumac situation .  But, I had two *other* trees that I didn't seem to fall into any of those categories, but were growing in weird ways. I've left them up for the past few years, but not because I liked the trees, but because I just couldn't figure out what they were. I asked the arborist if he could identify them and it took a second for him to tell me:  they are Kentucky Coffeetrees (or Kentucky Coffee Trees, if you'd like).  Turns out, I have (at least) three of them in our yard.  They're all small, but in spots that they can live and grow without much thought. In the photo at the t