Why I Oughta...

How do our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam Trees look this season?  Like this photo below- showing the green foliage covering the upright, columnar habit of these trees planted along the northside of our property as a screen between our house and our neighbor's property.  You can see part of the gable of our neighbor's house at the top of the photo below: One of the most comment questions that I get on the blog is from someone making a comment asking about these trees.  Things like:  How do they look now?  Any update?  How far are they spaced?  Someone (locally...who grew up in Naperville, but current lives in Barrington and is planning on putting up some Frans Fontaine Hornbeams in their yard) just posted a comment on this post - asking how they're doing .   Last Summer I posted a detailed history of the trees - showing their growth and how they closed in the last remaining gaps between the trees.  I have not pruned these at all - other than the random branch or two tha

Took these two photos (below) earlier this Summer - June - after I cleaned up the sets of espaliers in the back and side yards.  First, the Apple trees in Belgian Fence.  Then, the SugarTyme Crabapples in horizontal cordon (for now).   This was post-pruning and they (now) look much more shaggy with new growth all over the place.  The Belgian Fence needs to still have a couple of replacements.   Note to 2024 self.

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 driveway, th

We might have a problem in the garden.  Or, we might have something else totally.  I'm talking about the volunteer Silver Maple tree that popped up last season and one that I have left alone all this year.  Has it grown?  Yeah.  It.has.grown.  A LOT. I last posted about this tree in mid-July (about 50 days ago) and it has not slowed down since then.  I mentioned in that post that I was guessing it had put on 3' of new growth this year.  Now?  I'd say it is more like five feet of new growth.  It is every bit as tall as the Exclamation London Planetrees that sit by the fence .  Below, is a look at the current state of this (questionable-in-value) tree that is in our south beds: I didn't plan for this tree.  And...I've read all about the merits of Silver Maples.   Naturalist Donald Peattie wrote an length about the Silver Maple and called it a paradox . Both the pros - fast-growing, beautiful crowns and ability to grow in hard-to-grow spots and their cons - it gets

Earlier this Summer, I bought a small, grafted Emperor 1 Japanese Maple from the orange big box store (for $35) and planted it in the border of the kitchen curved bed in our backyard.  I had a previous Emperor 1 and figured that the price was right on this one, so I added it.  That lead to a (pardon the pun) Waterfall of Japanese Maples being planted this season.  The most recent was the high-grafted Inaba Shadire; the sixth JM of the season .   The small Emperor 1 appears to be doing just fine in the spot where it gets a mix of shade and some early-day sun.  It is out of the sun during the heat of the afternoon, but gets a little bit of early and late morning sun.   Here, below is what it looks like currently - it has a split set of leaders that I'm leaving as they are (for now): The reason for this post is not to document the current form (as...it is *mostly* the exact same shape/form/height) that it was when I put it in), but rather tho share a peek at some new growth.  Below,

Just a few days ago, I posted some photos showing a large amount (at least...it FEELS like a large amount) of Northern Red Oak acorns that are coming down in late July/early August this season.   In that post, I mentioned that it was time to document in the [garden diary] an inventory of what the canopy of the tree-swing tree (Northern Red Oak) looks like in early August. This tree was (I think) troubled and as a result, we started it on a course of treatment.  That included the application of a three-year growth regulator.  And, annual applications of a deep-root fertilizer and of some Two-Lined Chestnut borer treatment .   We've now done three-years of treatments on the tree. The growth regulator appeared to help and the tree seemed to have a different outlook after just one year .   I've been trying to document the canopy of the tree over the years - the last time was in Fall of 2022 when it was turning orange and brown .   The tree has (it appears to the eye) put on new,

It has been a while since we have had any meaningful acorns to drop from our pair of mature, large Oak trees in our yard.  2019 was a Mast Year - with an enormous volume of acorns dropping.  We could hardly keep up.  But, 2020, 2021 and 2022 were all acorn-free.  I feared that the Mast Year was a result of stress and the tree was in decline.  And the subsequent years sort-of felt the same way. But this year?  The acorns are back.  And dropping in big numbers.   The Red Oak acorns are coming down in such heavy volume that it appears that the squirrels aren't keeping up.  I'm harvesting dozens of nuts out of the lawn every.single.day.  Maybe the squirrels aren't in 'get ready for Winter' mode yet?  So, they're not paying attention?  I've been picking up as many nuts as I can and piling them up on top of the fence on the side of our yard in hopes that the squirrels will find them. These Oak trees have been on a three-year program that included Growth Regulator

The multi-trunk Saucer Magnolia Tree that we have planted in our Northern Illinois, Zone 5B suburban front yard put on a spectacular pink show this Spring with the most productive flower bloom we've had since the tree went in back in Summer of 2017.  As I've done in previous years, I've treated this with a systemic insecticide to help protect it against scale that seems to creep in/on in most growing seasons.   The tree has a nice dark color to the foliage and seems to have handled the early Summer drought just fine in our area.   See below for a current view of the tree and the full, dark foliage in mid-Summer 2023: On a recent morning when I was setting up the sprinkler to handle the lawn in front, I noticed some spots of pink high up in the canopy of the Magnolia tree.  See below for a look at those pink tufts near the tips of the tallest limbs:  A closer look (below) shows one of the blooms: What do we have going on here?  Seems like a small, second bloom.   This has

Planted in late October 2021, we have a set of three Exclamation London Planetrees that are planted pretty close to our fence in the backyard.  I tucked them in behind the row of Oakleaf Hydrangeas along the south bed.   When I planted them, I talked about drawing some inspiration from Disneyland and wanted to try to train these into being 'cube-shaped' or pleached in some way .   They were BARELY more than whips when they went in - something on the order of say .5" caliper. They were barely peeking over the hydrangeas and not much taller than the fence that sat behind them. I have not touched them with a pruner since they arrived.  I've watered them - along with the shrubs - when I can.  And...in the photo below, you can see their current state.   All three have survived and are now more than three-feet-above the top of the fence.   My plan - at the time - was to get sturdy trunks established about eight-feet-tall.  And then begin to make the pleach cage/frame on top

I've documented a flush of growth on our Dawn Redwood tree over the year that typically occurs a little later in Summer - August (usually) - where the tips of the tree see some new, light-green (and tender) needles that appear.   This year, that flush (or...perhaps a different flush) came in early July.  Below is a photo showing one of the limbs of the tree that is showing some new growth.  A few things to note:  this entire tip is seasonal new growth.  It isn't woody (yet) - and is still green - so that means it arrived this growing season.  Second....the new growth I'm talking about...is at the very tips.  You can see that lighter green set of needles in a few spots. This Dawn Redwood is a tree that I have NOT touched one bit - in terms of pruning.  Not an inch of limb has been removed.  Why?  Because, I really learned quite a bit with my FIRST Dawn Redwood.  I don't know where I picked up the idea that limbing up young trees is the right move.  Now...limb'ing up

Last year, I let this Maple tree volunteer seedling just go .  It grew up and up and I ended up protecting it via a chicken wire ring during the Winter.    It came back this year and has put on a ton of new growth on the leader.  SO....I figured it was time to try to figure out what variety of Maple/Acer I was dealing with in the garden.  I went out and looked the foliage and then started to look around - and it was a quick Web stroll to figure out that I'm dealing with a Silver Maple.    Below are two photos of the top and bottom of the leaf - and there are two tells here.    At least...I'm about 75% confident that this is, indeed, a Silver Maple. The Chicago Botanic Garden has this listing up for Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) that details those two tells that are visible in the photos above: The silver maple is a North American native and best known for providing us with maple syrup. The leaves have the classic maple leaf shape and become brilliant yellow and red-orange in

Last Spring, I put in a TINY Saratoga Ginkgo tree in amongst the Little Henry Sweetspire out front .  The height of the Ginkgo was *below* the height of the shrub, so I thought the tree would be allowed to sort-of grow-up in the shadow of the shrub.  The Saratoga is a unique Ginkgo that has longer leaves that most normal/traditional Ginkgo trees.  I didn't pay this tree too much attention over the last year, but it was watered with the sprinkler out front that was hitting the front porch beds, so I think it was watered enough to survive.  But, how does it look like one year later?  It has put on about six inches of new height.  See below for a photo showing the current state of the Saratoga Ginkgo tree.  It is now emerged above the full height of the Little Henry Sweetspire - by about eight-to-ten inches.    The American Conifer Society suggests that this tree will get to between 12-to-24-feet tall in ten years.  Lets suggest this is the third growing season and I bought a two-ye

Back in Fall of 2021, I bought a small Pagoda Dogwood tree from a local non-profit (Conservation Foundation) and planted it in the back by the firepit and the row of Hicks Yews.   And I just left it alone.  It has come back each Spring ( here's the first one ) and it grew out as much as it grew up.   At some point last year, I talked about maybe transplanting this tree - because of the horizontal - fat-boy - branching.  Ultimately...I've decided to leave it in place; transplanting a couple-year-old tree is dicey.   But, as a result of NOT transplanting it, I've decided to do something that I've leaned pretty hard AGAINST:  pruning a young tree.  Over the years, I've learned that you just leave trees alone.  Forget limb'ing them up, forget pruning.  Except (maybe) for when there's no clear apical meristem or leader, I just don't touch trees for a number of years after I plant them.   This Pagoda Dogwood has a bunch of young, healthy, horizontal branchin

Starting back in 2021, I started to grow some tree seedlings from collected tree seeds in little containers on our patio.  I started with Kentucky Coffee Tree seedlings .  Then, added some Catalpa trees .  And then last year, I tried to add some flowering shrub cuttings - with Limelight Hydrangea .  By last Summer, I had a number of trees that had grown into some tiny trees .   I have overwintered these tree pots in the ground and each Spring, most of the seedlings have come back.  Below are a few photos showing the current state of these trees - first with some Kentucky Coffee tree seedings that are in one-gallon containers: And, last Fall, I collected a number of tree seed nuts (Oaks, Pecan, Chestnut) and stuck them in a container of wet sand to winter stratify in the fridge .  I planted a bunch of those seeds this Spring and have had mixed results - some germination.  Below you can see some trays showing the results of that seed collection as well as some cutting experiments.  I hav

A couple of days ago, I posted about how I planted an unknown Japanese Maple that I bought from the orange big box store .  I know, I know.  But...it was just something I did.  That is the fourth Japanese Maple in our backyard, but it also was the 'gateway' to even more.  My research into what that tree could be turned into a lost few days digging around the Web.  In terms of numbers....This Spring (2023), I've now planted three Japanese Maple trees - a small Emperor 1 , that unknown red laceleaf upright and this small, low-grafted Waterfall Japanese Maple .   Doing the research about those three Japanese Maples on the Web lead me to a new (to me) place:  Mr. Maple.  Their site is MrMaple.com  where they sell a huge variety of Japanese Maples in 1-gallon nursery containers.   The guys at Mr. Maple make it easy to sort by growing zone (I'm 5b), sun-exposure, species (Acer palmatum, Acer japonicum and Acer shirasawanum, etc) and habit (upright vs. weeping vs. columnar vs