Why I Oughta...

Back in the late Summer of 2022, I tried to get a couple of flowering shrub cuttings to root.  One of them - a Limelight Hydrangea cutting managed to get established that first month and put on some growth .   Ever since, I've kept it in a container and somewhat protected - both during Summer (in the shade) and Winter (buried in the ground).  Last Fall - October 2023, I upgraded it from a quart nursery container to a one-gallon nursery pot .   This year, I put the small container shrub in the shade of the understory bed and mostly neglected it.  It put on foliage and then....recently....it put on its first-ever blooms.  Four of them.  Two opened up, two more on their way.   See below for a peek: How nice to find this little treat.  Something I've neglected has FOUND A WAY.  It does, however, appear to be a little 'leggy', so I'm thinking that I'm going to give it a haircut to bring it down in size and try to stimulate a little bit more 'bush-like' in for

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..the larger, 1# containers of two-year-old trees: Th

Ten days ago, I shared a photo of the (now) going-on=two-year-old Kentucky Coffee tree seedlings that I've kept in small 1-quart nursery container since they germinated.  In that post, I talked about how each of the small containers contained multiple small seedlings and it was time to both separate them and upgrade them to larger containers.  With the planting of a few new items in the garden, I found myself having a few 1# nursery pots that I could re-use.   I got started by pulling the seedlings out of their current homes (14 months since germination) and began to split them up by tearing the root masses apart.  Below, you can see one of the seedlings root system after I divided the clump: I started with just ONE set of the trees to ensure that they can handle the division of roots.  I figured there were two routes here:  divide the clumps.  Or, simply transplant the double seedling and cut off/prune down the weaker of the two.   Here, below, is the first of those two divided

The last time I posted photos of the tray of Kentucky Coffee Tree Seedlings was in May of this year when they were just emerging from Winter dormancy and putting on some leaflets .   I overwintered this tray of native tree seedlings by digging them in the ground and wrapping chicken wire around the base to protect them from the dang rabbits.  That seemed to work.   I've kept all of the seedlings in their original small (quart) nursery containers so far and have put the tray underneath a large Oak tree to provide filtered light.  And...get them watered when I water the perennials in the area.  Here, below, is what the tray of seedlings look like in mid-August 2022: By my count, I see eleven small KCT seedlings.  And one Elm tree.  And some other weed. This is their second full growing season and they've all had their stems/trunks put on real wood.  They're all very small, still.  And...they seem to have outgrown their containers and have roots emerging from the bottom.  He

Back in September, I showed off a partial flat of some viable Kentucky Coffee Tree Seedlings that I had collected and germinated from seed this Spring.   In that post, I talked about how to overwinter them and explored various methods.  With our climate (Zone 5b), it seemed that the best way was to dig them into the ground to provide insulation over the harsh Winter.  So...that's what I did.  I found a fairly sunny, but protected spot in one of our beds and dug a trench.  I put the flat in the ground, covered the seedlings up with dirt and then put a layer of mulch over the top.   Then I went in for the night.  What happened next?  The damn rabbits ate a bunch of them.  Now, these Kentucky Coffee Trees have - for a long time - a bare trunk and leaflets off of them, so I can't tell if the rabbits ate down the trunks or just the leaflets.   When I figured out what was going on, I grabbed some chicken wire and made a little perimeter fence.  Below, you can see the seedlings (or w