Why I Oughta...

I've been TRYING to do more with tropicals outside over the years.  One of them that I've had the MOST success with - in multiple years - are what I call "Elephant Ears".  Colocasia.  I've grown them in containers a few times and even had some pretty big (or so I thought!) ones like this one in 2021 .   The folks at The Growing Place sent out an email that included some new/interesting plants for 2023 and it included a look at a Colocasia .  But...not just any.  This one is "gigantea".  It is also know as the 'Thailand Giant'.   Below is a photo showing this giant elephant ear off via The Growing Place ( Source ): That sure is...something.   Pretty big.  Walters Garden has this to say : To say that this plant will dwarf any plant you already own would be putting it mildly! ‘Thailand Giant’ is much larger than C. gigantea. Its glaucous green leaves can measure a whopping 5' long x 4' wide each. Full grown plants typically...

We brought home four treeform DoubleFile Viburum a couple of weeks ago and once the Green Giant Thuja planting project (and Lilac transplanting), I got busy digging these Virurnum in the ground. Two went in along the north side fence, one went in back the fire pit and one is going in (not yet) in the front yard bed in front of our porch.  Last Fall, I planted two Arrowwood Viburnum along the fenceline after finding them on an end-of-season close-out .  The plan calls for a number of them, but four in a line where I've planted two (meaning...two more) and a few more along the back - some of which I've sub'd out (for now) for Lilacs.    Starting out with the two additional ones along the north side fence ( see this post showing the location ), I needed to put in a pair between the two existing and the spot where the Canadian Hemlocks (which....are TINY, still) will grow.  Like in the Lilac transplant landing zone, there was a scrub shrub standing which needed t...

The season has begun.  With planting.  And, we're off to a strong start with six new trees going in:  Green Giant Thujas - Thuja standishii plicata.  Are these really trees?  According to the tag, they're categorized as trees, not shrubs (see the bottom photo for the tag), so I'm counting these as trees.  I put in three on the northside, three on the southside - all in the back. Here are the three on the southside: And, here (below) are the three on the northside.  I also transplanted the four lilacs over here, so you can see those in the photo below.  More on that in a separate post. Thuja standishii plicata - Arborvitae Green Giant. These are the first trees of the season with the last ones planted last Fall being the three London Planetrees that I intend to try to pleach . I haven't done a full accounting of what survived/didn't survive just yet, so I'm counting these as the: 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd and 74th trees that we've planted across...

Yesterday, I posted a new photo of a Belgian Fence espalier that sits on the side of the Main Street USA train station at Disneyland Park in California and mentioned that I can learn something about spacing by looking at how they put their (non-tree) Belgian fence together to get a 4-wide x 2-tall diamond pattern.  I also posted earlier this month a 'progress shot' of my mixed apple (fruit and crab) Belgian Fence that is in the second growing season .   I was recently reading this piece on espalier design and usage where I came across this little note that made me think (again) about a second Belgian Fence.  From the post :   "Consider using a Belgian Fence to create outdoor rooms. Their design will impress year-round and provide a wall-like privacy when in bloom. During the holidays, they are prime candidates for Christmas lights." What's that you say? Outdoor room.  Hmmm....Interesting. Privacy wall.  Tell me more.   Christmas lights....w...

A few days ago, I received a new comment from a reader of my garden diary on this post all the way back in late May 2018 titled: " Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Planted - Hedgerow Spring 2018 ".  That post shows the eight columnar European Hornbeam trees that had been delivered and were being planted in our back and side yard to create (at that time, what I hoped to be) a privacy screen.  The comment - from JennyW - is here below: I've talked this before, but I write this daily online diary because I get joy out of doing it. I don't run advertisements.  I don't run sponsored content.  I also write for a pretty narrow audience - mostly myself.  I also look at the analytics data and know that there are really three audiences - in declining size order:   1.  The largest part of the audience: (mostly) one-time search readers (they search for something, click on the link and end up at my blog).   2.  Second biggest audience:  Referral....

Yesterday, I featured two pine trees in my latests [tree dreaming] series post: a cool pine with 'candles' on the tips and a super narrow Umbrella pine that has Japanese influence .  Today, is another post about a tree that I'm dreaming about:  a columnar birch tree called the Parkland Pillar Birch . I've shared a few posts about birch trees on the blog over the years. Just in mid-January, I posted a tree-dreaming post about two 'white' trees:  the Dakota Pinnacle Birch and the Swedish Aspen .  Both of them feature white-ish bark and have a narrow, columnar growth habit. If you go look at that post, you'll see that those two trees (Dakota Pinnacle and Swedish Aspen) are kinda similar.  This, Parkland Pillar Birch is very (to my eye) similar to those other two.  From this product listing, we find out that the Parkland Pillar Birch can go all the way down to Zone 3 - which is nice.    About the Parkland Pillar Birch from FirstEditionPlants.c...

A few weeks back, I posted about how I fertilized the set of Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees and posted a photo of a few of them that are right outside of our screened porch.  In a post from a few weeks back about our flowering Cherry, someone asked in the comments how these were doing .  Figured it warranted an update. Today, here's a few photos showing these trees in their late Spring/early summer foliage.    You can see that they've all leaf'd out in a major way and they look great for year two.  I wasn't worried too much about these coming back, but I do have to admit that I am relieved that they did.  However....some of these do, indeed, look better - or more full - than others. First, the top photo that shows four of the trees to the left from our patio.  These are all about the same in terms of thickness, lushness, etc.  They're all close to the same height and you can see that a couple of them have a really nice, thick set...

Back at the beginning of April, I posted a photo of the sideyard where we've been planning on putting up a privacy hedge/screen consisting of European Columnar Hornbeam trees.  At the time, I called it a 'last look' at this area, but here we 50 days later and guess what?  Still no trees.  Still no privacy in the screened porch. But that pink paint you see above?  That's a good sign!  The trees are on their way.  Working with Chris Paul of Green Grass Landscaping (did I mention that Chris was the Consul - aka President - of my Fraternity House in College!) just marked out the locations of each of the eight trees that are being installed. The photo above is the one looking east towards the front of our house.  In the top right, you can see our screened porch. The pink x's painted on the grass are where the tree trunks are planned to go:  6 feet apart and 30 inches from the fence.  That will allow them to spread a bit and - over time ...

I'm giving Clematis another go of it - this time in Downers in our new yard.  Welp, actually, I'm giving it a go in a pot.  With a trellis embedded into the back of the pot.  In the photo above, you can see the vine as it was when I got it from Home Depot.  Below, you can see the tag that shows of the variety: Clematis H.F. Young.   The photo above only shows the small trellis that came with the container, but you'll have to trust me here that the larger trellis is, indeed, in place.    I grew Clematis in our old house in Elmhurst.  Here is a photo from 2014 when one of our then three Clematis was taking off.   I had planted the vines directly in the ground then, but this time, I'm trying a pot.  Why?  Because, I'm hoping that the trellis plus this climbing vine will provide some level of screening for our patio and give us a sense of privacy.  I found this piece that provided some tips on the best way to g...