Why I Oughta...

The last time that I checked in on the pair of Sugar Tyme crabapple trees - that are planted on the southside of our house - was in mid-March when they started to leaf-out on the tips of the branches .   I planted the pair of these trees in September of 2021 , so this was the third FULL growing season. They seemed to do fine in 2022 and 2023. They bloomed each Spring and had fruit in their first Fall , too. I last pruned these in February of this year - February 2024.  When they were dormant .  At that time, the tree on the right was showing some 'upwards' growth and was a bit more 'ahead' of the tree on the left.  But, I pruned them back to be horizontal cordons - four layers with a 'flat' top layer. This growing season, the trees kept-on-going.  But, the tree on the right shot WAY ahead of the one on the left.  Have a look at the trees - as they currently look - at the end of September - in the photo below: The tree on the right has A TON of top g...

The single-best decision we've made with our landscape in the six seasons since we moved into our house was planting a row of Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees along the property line on the north side.   Over the years, I've tried to document their grown from 2" caliper trees to a full hedge today (one that likely needs to be pruned next season).   Here's a post from July 2022 that somewhat chronicles the full history of these trees .   I typically try to post some photos of these trees in late Summer - here's the trees from a year ago (September 2023 ) and then again as they drop their leaves.  Here's last Fall/early Winter when they were dropping their leaves - and some holding their leaves .   Have a look at what the trees look like below - right now.  They're tall, full and surprisingly in need of (I think) a prune. Like all the trees in our yard, if you look closely, you'll see a bunch of brown, dead 'tips' on the branches....

The basil that I've been growing for the past few seasons is named Italian Large Leaf Basil.  I've picked it up at the Morton Arboretum annual Arbor Day Plant Sale and have - for the past few years - tucked it into a raised bed along with some bush tomatoes.   Between summer vacations and improper pruning, my success with basil has always been middling.  I'd get plenty of leaves, but it always would bolt.  This year, I tried to be deliberate with pruning and taking it down to spots where it could 'bush out' a little bit.  And, when I see seed heads (those little clusters of basil) growing, I've either pinched them off or cut-off the plant BELOW that part.  That's lead to a good-sized basil plant this year.  And one that is producing a lot of, well...'large leaves'.   Here, below, is a look at the Italian basil plant at the beginning of August: It is healthy and happy and still producing a lot of leaves to use in the kitchen this Summer a...

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.  

This past season, I opted for a different method of winter crown protection for our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) than I've used in previous years.  In each of the past few Falls, I have set up a ring of chicken wire and filled it with chopped-up fallen tree leaves to serve as insulation on the crown of the rose bush.  This year, I opted for mounding of biosolids .  A 'hilling up' in the traditional way, but using municipal biosolids vs something like compost.  As Winter started to fade away, I went out and inspected the roses and discovered a good part of the canes were still green - so that means that the combination of a mild Winter, their protected location and the mounding of biosolids did their job.   That also meant that it was time to get out there and do an annual pruning of the roses - part of my 'seasonal tasks' that I keep-up on in each of my annual to-do lists. (This year will be no different.) I've done this each of the past-few late Win...

A couple weeks shy of five-years-ago, we planted a tiny Bald Cypress tree in our front yard .  At the time, i was dealing with a 'clay bowl' or ' bathtub effect' in the area (on a different tree), so we went beyond in terms of digging a 'five-dollar-hole'.  Five years later, I can saw - without a doubt - that this Bald Cypress is the most successful tiny tree that we've had since we started here in Downers.  Not only has the tree survived, it has put on A LOT of size.  Height and width and even caliper . I last measured it a year ago when it was just about a 3.5" caliper tree.   Today?  I haven't done the caliper (yet), but by the eye-test?  It has grown even bigger. See below for the current - late Summer state of our Bald Cypress that sits in-between-two-driveways. Having learned my lesson on pruning small trees, I've left this one alone totally.  Not a prune.  At least on our side.  Turns out...when our neighbors built their new...

Adding evergreens was #1 on my 2023 list and I've put in a series of Boxwoods in the front and back.  And those were added to the existing stands of Boxwoods around the garden.  Most of them are small, but a few of them have grown in size and have a number of seasons growing.  I also had a run with Hicks Yews the past few seasons, where I added quite a few of them around the backyard - starting all the way back in 2019 .   I've TOTALLY left them unpruned to date.  Why?  Pruning evergreen shrubs and boxwoods in particular is an art.  Something that I have little experience with as a gardener.  I've *mostly* left my Boxwoods grow wild and shaggy - allowing them to put on some size.   But...  pruning shrubs as a 'seasonal project' on my 2023 to-do list .  So, it was time to take a look at some of the evergreen shrubs. #22 on my 2022 to-do list was to 'upgrade my garden tools '.  I did that a little bit by adding a Dutch...

With the days getting longer and me itching to get outside and work in the yard and garden - but recognizing that it is *still* too early to cleanup, I've been finding tasks that I *can* do.  Now.  Like...pruning shrubs.  I posted about the hydrangeas up front that received a haircut .  Today, I'm showing the before/after of the three Disneyland Roses on the southside of our house.  First...(of course) is the 'before'.  A series of three photos are below that run from west-to-east.  The first is the smallest Disneyland Rose that is closest to our gate.  The last one is the one closest to the front yard (the one by the gas meter).  They all look the same.  Naked and alone.   In past years, I've done a light pruning of these floribunda roses.  This year?  I followed what I did with the Hydrangeas.  And went ham.  A few things to note in the photos below:  First...the leaf litter.  That's from their Winter...

With the flip last week on Daylight Savings Time, it means that I now get a little bit of post-work garden time.  It isn't dark when I close my laptop, so that's kinda nice.  With the calendar being mid-March, I'm now trying to find garden tasks that I can take on while balancing the guidance of *not doing too much cleanup* too early.  One of the tasks that I decided to do this past week was a look at some cleanup in the front yard - including pruning some of my hydrangeas.   In past years, I have done what I'll call a 'light' pruning - lop'ing off the thin branching, but mostly leaving about 2/3rds of the shrub intact.  After watching some YouTube videos and working up the courage to go at them pretty hard, I decided to give theses a harder prune this late Winter. First up, the pair of (larger) Limelight Hydrangeas on the side of our front porch.  Here's what they look like right before pruning - all of the flower heads still attached (photo below) wi...

As part of our initial startup landscaping installation, w e put in five Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas across the front of our house .  Four in front of the porch - behind the inital boxwood row - and one over on the side of the garage - the corner where the garage meets the driveway and sideyard.  I've posted about them over the years , but I don't think they've ever managed to reach their peak color-wise like they have this year.  Or...rather...like the ONE by the garage has this year.  The other four have all struggled.  Because of the Norway Maple tree.  Of the four, one of them has died.    The Hydrangea by the garage? It is putting on quite a show: But, the blooms are falling over.  One of my 2023 to-do items needs to be learning how to prune hydrangeas so they stand upright and stop flopping over .   I also need to replace the one that died up front.  With the tree being removed, the time is right bring these to th...

I planted a trio of Cat's Pajamas Nepeta (along with some Blue Fescue) out front in the bed IB2DWs this Spring and it was the FIRST Nepeta that I've planted.  One of the features of Nepeta is that it can take a haircut after the first bloom - to both push a second flush of flowers but also to keep the plant neat and tidy.   In the online gardening world, you'll hear people talk about the ' Chelsea Chop ' - where you prune things back in late May to get that second flush.  More here on the Chelsea Chop .   I went ahead and pruned back these three Nepeta.  You can see that in the photo below showing the three pruned and cleaned up along with the pile of plant material that I pruned out laying in the middle of the photo - to show how much I took off these perennials.   From a purely technical perspective, you might be wondering:  Is this a " Chelsea Chop "?  The answer?  Maybe?  But, probably...Not really.  I think the ...

One of the projects in the backyard that I've been eying since we arrived home from vacation is to clean up and shape the boxwoods that we have close to our patio in back.  They're pretty shaggy right now and have grown together a bit after being in the ground for four growing seasons.  You can see their current state as shaggy boxwoods below: A little history - these were planted in 2018.  And I pruned them for the first time in Spring of 2019 .  I haven't touched them since.   Why?  Because I found some inspiration both on the Web and in person.  First... these Jacques Wirtz cloud hedges that have grown together and are shaped in one big mass.  And then this mass of boxwoods that are in Memphis at the FedEx Worldwide Headquarters .   The Fall of 2019, they started to put on some size .   And a year later - Fall 2020 - they had grown even closer together .   It seems that the time has come to shape these, but (...

This post serves as the final 'tree planting' post for the year, but also lays out a little bit of the self-education process I've been through in terms of ornamental tree pruning over the past few weeks. I'm learning (everyday!) that there are many types of pruning - and I've tried one of them:  espalier. But, in addition to espalier, there's also pollarding, pleaching and topping. The espalier I've done includes some horizontal cordon work on a pair of Greenspire Linden trees . After four growing seasons, they're starting to come into their final form and I love them.  And more recently, set up a new pair of crab apple trees with a TBD form .  I've been exploring the other pruning methods to figure out if I should try to learn and get to know them. What I've settled on is trying my hand at pleaching. The first time i talked about pleaching was back in 2018 here when I was discussing trees .  At the time, I was using pleaching and espalier int...

When I planted the small Weeping White Spruce in our backyard in 2019 , I noticed at the time that the tree had a sort of dual-leader-thing going on.  I think that's pretty common for young trees that are shipped to retailers:  tree nurseries are likely keeping small trees with ONE STRONG leader in the ground at their nursery because those trees have the strongest likelihood of growing big, tall and straight.  So, we see a lot of trees that have double leaders.  Despite noticing it, I didn't do anything about it.  My habits in terms of tree pruning have changed A LOT in the past four years.   How so?  Well, I was taught by my Dad to limb-up trees.  You want them to grow big and tall, so any energy that they dedicate to the bottom is wasted.  And, I did that.  Making a bunch of immature trees almost lollipop-looking.  And I lost some.    And decided to take a step back and NOT prune trees very much.  This Weeping ...

We have a pair of Limelight Hydrangeas that are set just to the south of the front edge of our front porch.  They're kind of tucked on the side of the house - right at the 'wrap-around' section of the 'wrap around porch'.  They've done remarkably well - better than other hydrangeas we have right in front of the porch.   They throw off A LOT of green during the Summer.  Here's what they looked like in July of 2020 .  And what they looked like in the previous October showing off all the blooms drying out . I've always been confused about pruning hydrangeas.  Do they bloom on new wood?  Old wood?  Do you prune them to the ground?  Do you prune them back to buds?  Two buds?   Last year, I confirmed (to myself) that Limelight Hydrangeas bloom on 'new wood' .  Which means, I can prune them back pretty hard and they'll still flower.  Here's what they looked like last Spring after a prune and recovered with new green gro...

About a month ago, I decided to take a dwarf umbrella plant that was mostly forgotten about upstairs in our spare bedroom and transplant it to a different container .  The goal was to straighten it out - and get it standing straight up in the air.  But, also to try to compel some new growth through some top pruning.  It wasn't long before that initial care that one or two tiny buds began to pop from the trunk .  But, they didn't take off.  Checking back in this week - about a month from that initial top prune - and you can see (below) that the tree is showing some new top growth right at the point of cutting.  There are a couple of smaller branches growing and the light green, larger branch: As for the trunk buds, they're continuing to exist, but not breaking much in terms of throwing off new branches.  You can see one of them on the left side of the trunk below: That one (and another one) appeared right after I did that initial top prune.  So...y...