Why I Oughta...

All the way back in Summer of 2019, I bought and planted a number of VERY SMALL Canadian Hemlock trees from an online nursery .   Three of them were planted along the north side fence line .  Today, two of those three are still standing .  Seven years ago, these trees weren't even a foot-tall in height.   Today?  This one is probably five-feet tall.  But, sparsely branched.  And, the caliper of the trunk is probably up to almost an inch.  Below is a look at this Canadian Hemlock tucked into the 'understory garden'.   Would I plant this tree back here, close to these other trunks - if I was to do it all over?  No.  Would I plant this small of a tree - if I was to do it all over?  No. But, here we are.  Seven years later and the tree is in this spot. The growth of the tree isn't really the point of this post in my garden diary.  I was out taking some kitchen scraps to the compost bin and took a number of ...

Planted in the Summer of 2020, this Harry Lauder Walking Stick Tree sits in the back part of the garden in a tucked-away spot, but when you see it when it is bare and dormant, it provides A LOT of winter interest.   It is described as 'contorted' and that's certainly the case with this small tree that I spotted on my way back to the compost pile this weekend.  When I snapped this photo (below), I muttered to myself:  "this tree has hardly grown.  How long has it been here?" [Sidenote:  I wrote about Contorted Trees at Disneyland Paris here that's worth checking out .  That was the inspiration for buying and planting this tree in our garden.] The answer to the second part is:  This year will mark its seventh (7th) growing season ('20, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25, '26).  That's far longer than I thought.   As for the second part;  has it grown?  Let's look.  Here, below, is what it looks like currently: Looking back at th...

This post is going-up in December, but the photo is from mid/late November (before Thanksgiving).  We had a good storm come through with a couple of days of wind that blew all the needles off of this tree and most of the rest of the trees in our yard.  But, before the needles fell... the Bald Cypress that is planted IB2DWs put on a nice 'fall show' this year.  Below is a photo showing the shape and color of the tree.   8-Year Old Bald Cypress Tree With Fall Color in Zone 6a Earlier this year, I pruned this tree (dormant pruning) for the first time and took some of the lower limbs off the trunk to lift up the canopy .    I'll probably get out there again late this Winter and take a branch of two off in order to raise the canopy up even more.  Hard to remember planting this tree as a tiny whip back in Fall of 2018 when we had different neighbors.  Seven years later, this is (probably) the most-successful small tree planting that we've had on o...

The 'fall colors' don't stop with the reds and oranges and yellows.  Down IB2DWs (extended) near the sidewalk is the (now) two-year-old ( Planted in October 2023 ) Purple Smokebush/Smoke Tree.  This tree (shrub?) has been no-fuss since it went in the ground and has put on some size in the two growing seasons.  I've watered it in a limited way, but the neighbor's sprinkler system likely saturates the ground where the Smoke Bush's roots draw from around the canopy.   Did we get any of those ' smoke-like airy seed clusters ' to emerge on the tips of this tree this season? No. No...we did not.   But, we *are* getting a small purple, pink and maroon 'fall show' as the foliage changes color.  Below, is a look at the current state of the leaves on this tree that is down by our sidewalk: When I planted this , I wanted to add some texture and color contrast to the 'expanded' conifer garden that I was planting along the property line IB2DWs.  I h...

It seems like we're getting BOTH a slightly delayed Fall color cycle and it is also amp'd-up on some things a bit more this season, too.  One of them that's 'amp'd-up' is the tree swing tree:  A mature Northern Red Oak tree.  This large tree has historically behaved in different ways each season.  Some years, it holds its leaves through the Winter, while other years it drops everything quickly.  But, most seasons we get a very limited 'fall show' with muted browns. This year, things are a little different.  The tree is bright like a flame with orange leaves blazing against the blue sky.  See the photo below: A few things to note in this photo: 1. There are still a bunch of green trees around. 2. There are also some yellow trees (The Black Walnut trees). 3. The other large mature Red Oak tree is way more green than this one. Compare the state of this tree (orange leaves) to the same tree on November 9th, 2021 (4 years ago) when it was full of GREEN l...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the 'fall colors' that the dwarf Spring Grove Ginkgo tree (planted in our front yard island bed) and talked about how it was one-of-two anchors in that bed.  The other one being a Northern Glow Korean Maple tree.  The photo at the top of this post shows the current state of that Northern Glow hybrid Maple tree.  Like the Arctic Jade Korean Maple tree in our backyard, this deeply-cut Maple tree has darker centers on the Fall foliage.  This one is further 'behind' the Arctic Jade in terms of changing colors.   This Northern Glow Korean Maple went in the ground in Summer 2024, so this is the second Fall.  

In the Summer of 2024, I planted a small, dwarf Spring Grove Ginkgo tree in the island bed in our front yard .  This tree was one of two anchors (other being the Northern Glow Korean Maple tree) in that (then) small bed.  This year, I planted a large drift of coleus that (somewhat) obscured the Ginkgo, but now that the frost has killed the coleus, the Spring Grove Ginkgo is showing off.   Ginkgos do a good job of turning bright yellow followed by a VERY RAPID (almost 'all at once') leaf drop.   Here, below, is a look at the Spring Grove Ginkgo with its curled foliage showing yellow/gold tips and green centers.   Something to think about this Fall:  Expand this island bed and think about how to best plant-up the bed next year.  There were some wins here (Coleus and hopefully the Ajuga) and some losers (Medusa Allium) and some misses (Didn't plant Autumn Moor Grasses).  

Red centers with orange tips on the deeply cut leaves on our Arctic Jade Korean Maple tree continue to be the star of the "Fall Show" in our backyard.  I posted a photo of this tree showing its colors a few days ago and the tree continues to color-up.  Here, below, is a look at some of the colors on the leaves right now: Previously, I posted about this tree and included a description that compared the Arctic Jade Korean Maple to the Full Moon Autumn Maple - which is a Japanese Maple.  Acer shirasawnum.  One that I've long admired and a big part of why I bought the Arctic Jade.  Not to mention the fact that it is a Korean Maple that is a more cold tolerant than the Acer shirasawnum .   I planted this tree in the front of a curved bed in our backyard as a (sort-of) replacement for the Flowering Japanese Cherry Tree that died last year.  It went in the ground in June , so this is our first Fall with the tree.   Previously, I planted a sm...

Earlier this Summer, I planted our second Korean Maple tree - an Arctic Jade - in our backyard.  I wrote a little bit about this tree in June and talked about the fall colors.  In that post , I included this (partial) description: " In autumn, the foliage is an impressive canvas for the dazzling fusion of orange and red tones. "  So, with Autumn here, how is the tree shaping up?  Here, below is a photo showing the current state of this dwarf tree: I spy orange, red, yellow and greens.  Dazzling?  I'd say so.  Look at those red centers with orange edges on the foliage.  Also...a note about the Hakonechloa Forest Grasses on the right side of his photo above.  I'd say they look pretty, pretty, pretty good together, don't they?  

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 ...

I planted some small pot-grown Wichita Blue (upright) Junipers in our backyard in early May .  Today, four-months-later, all three of them seem to have handled the heat of the Summer and aren't in distress.  That's good.  I watered them pretty heavily this Summer and they're (partially) protected from the Sun - being planted under the tree swing Northern Red Oak.   They get shade in the morning and late afternoon.  But, are full Sun in the middle of the day.   That seems (*knock on wood*) to be working for them as there is little brown'ing-out happening with the needles.  See below for what these three look like after being planted for four months in our garden: To date, I haven't planted the rest of the bed around them, but this is my inspiration :  using Stachys Hummelo in a mass planting.   Maybe that'll be a #Fall2025 project.  Or, something for next year. 

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....

In the Summer of 2023, I planted a couple of Japanese Maple trees including a high-grafted Inaba Shadire , a Seiryu upright , a small First Ghost , a Firefly Japanese Maple , a small, mis-labeled cutleaf red Japanese Maple , an Emperor 1 JM in the Kitchen Curved bed,  and a Waterfall (or Virdis) low-grafted weeping Japanese Maple .   Of those seven Japanese Maples planted in 2023, just two of them are still with us in the garden.  The Emperor 1 in the "kitchen curved" bed is doing well (despite the Cicada damage last year) and the Waterfall weeping Japanese Maple.  The other five are gone.   When the Waterfall tree went in , it had a couple of primary branches that extended in each direction from the trunk.  It seemed to get established in 2023 and came back in 2024.   Then, it suffered a setback.  In the Summer of 2024, we had a significant storm that dropped some limbs from one of our Black Walnut trees.  That fallen branch (...

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.  

A couple weeks ago, I posted a "Getting to Know" post about the Arctic Jade Korean Maple tree .  I showed a couple of photos from the inventory at the Growing Place and talked about how this cultivar is part of the "Jack Frost" Collection from Iseli Nursery .  The Arctic Jade is a hybrid maple that is 'more hardy' than a traditional Japanese Maple, but has 'large green, deeply cut leaves reminiscent of A. japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’. There's a lot to love about this tree - and that's why I brought one home. They had two sizes and after hemming-and-hawing, I went with the larger container that had a larger, more-full tree.  Below is the Arctic Jade Korean Maple tree on our driveway:    Here's a closer look at the leaves: There are a couple of items on my 2025 to-do list that are relevant - #5 is to "Get back in the Japanese Maple game" and #13 is to "add some trees".  This Korean Maple checks both of those boxes.   I placed...

Of all the trees, shrubs and other plants in our garden, the row of Frans Fontaine European (Columnar) Hornbeam Trees that are planted as a screen along our property line in our suburban backyard get by-far, the most comments and reactions.  The last time that I posted about these upright trees was in late April, just about a month ago , when the trees were still bare and emerging out of winter dormancy.  I posted that photo because someone commented on a different post asking to see what the trees look like this Spring.   There has been a lot of change in the garden the past thirty days as everything wakes up.  And, the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Trees sure are showing signs of that awakening.   Below is a photo from this week showing the current state of these trees.  They're filling-up and the green leaves are screening our patio from our neighbor.  I expect them to continue to thicken-up over the coming weeks to fill-in even more than they ...

Last Fall, I planted a small Oregon Green Austrian Pine tree in our front yard that managed to handle the Winter and is seemingly doing ok this Spring.  When I planted that tree, I also wrote a 'Getting to Know" post about the tree that included this description of part of the tree: ... In the Spring...there is a firework explosion of pearly white candles that come out in clusters. Candles.  That's neat.   I was waiting to see if it would happen on our tree this Spring and watching and watching.  This past week, these white tubes began to grow and 'explode'.  Just like the description said.  See below for the candles on the Austrian Pine Oregon Green tree: Pretty neat to see them - as this is a first for me.   There is something that some folks do called "Candling", where they deliberately REMOVE or SHORTEN the candles in Spring.  Here's more from the Seattle Japanese Garden : April to May is when we begin the spring pruning process, o...

One of the public gardens that continues to stir my imagination - despite not visiting in a couple of years - are the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris .  We've revisited the gardens a few times over the years and I always come away with ideas, inspiration and plans that we can incorporate into our garden.   From annual planting patterns to espaliered trees to garden furniture to cocoa bean mulch to path edging to the long-desired Orangerie Box to a tree species that I planted because we saw it there:  The London Planetree.    In the Summer of 2019, I posted this photo showing the pair of columns of very mature London Planetrees that are planted around a pond/water feature and talked about how I wanted to bring this look to our garden.   The next Spring, we were in the midst of the early days of COVID lockdowns, so I would wander to the big box nursery early in the morning to see what they had on hand - only to discover one of these London Planet...

Last Spring, we planted a new Emperor 1 Japanese Maple tree in the understory garden of the backyard after bringing it home from the Morton Arboretum plant sale.  Of the various Japanese Maples we've planted, we've had the most luck with Emperor 1s.   Last year was also, unfortunately, cicada season for us in Northern Illinois.  Lots of cicadas.   I attempted to protect many of our trees with tulle - including this newly planted Japanese Maple ( see here for the cicada protection ), but it seems that the top part of this new tree suffered from the little slits the cicadas carve into branches to lay their eggs.   Below is a photo of the tree - where you can see the top half of the tree is dead. When you look closely at the leader, you see the telltale signs of cicada damage:  these slits along the branch: I pruned off the top/dead branch of this tree and am hoping that we can see some recovery.   Trees typically die from the top--...