Why I Oughta...

Another day, another columnar tree that I've come across that is worth documenting here on the blog.  This time, it is from a different source.  I've posted about the list from Amy @ Pretty Purple Door in the past, but I recently came across this list from Savvy Gardening that lists a series of "Narrow Trees for tight spaces" .  On the list are some of the trees I've covered before including the Sky Pencil Holly and the Amanogawa Japanese Flowering Cherry .  But, there are also a couple of new (to me) trees that I think are worth documenting here in my [ tree dreaming ] file. I'll post one today and cover the other one in a separate post. The tree that I'm documenting today is the "Van Den Aker" Narrow Alaska Cedar.   It is a narrow (very narrow!) columnar conifer that Savvy Gardening has at #10 on their list . From SavvyGardening.com comes this description : "Skinny" is how they describe it in their piece and talk about ho

Another day, another 'tree dreaming' post here on the blog.  And guess what? It features another columnar form tree , of course.  But this one is a conifer.  If you've followed along on the blog, you'll know that I'm pretty far behind when it comes to conifers in the landscape.  I included this note in my 2019 "to do list" that called for 'adding more conifers" .  I added eight in 2019 (see results here ), but six of them were TINY.  I mean... TINY .  Those six Canadian Hemlocks ( now five ) aren't going to be meaningful in our garden for many years.  Still have quite a bit more work to do, I think - and especially as I think about replacing the (LOST) Weeping Cedar . This post is about a variety of tree that we haven't planted yet: a pine.  This is called a Columnar Eastern White Pine tree that Monrovia lists as being hardy all the way down to Zone 3. Here's a photo from Gertens : Note: This is not my photo.  Found it via Ger

With the hard gardening days on me in mid-January (and not being a seed catalog guy), I've turned to dreaming about trees, shrubs and grasses.  And that means that today, I'll post another 'tree dreaming' post to create a document/reference post for future use in my landscape/garden/backyard planning.  A few days back, I shared two deciduous columnar trees that I wanted to create reference posts about here on the blog: the Columnar Swedish Aspen and the Dakota Pinnacle Birch . Today, I'm posting about the Slender Hinoki Cypress .  I'm filing this under [ columnar trees ], but I suppose this is technically a 'narrow, upright form' and not necessarily columnar.  And...technically, this is a shrub, not a tree.  But...this is my garden diary, so I'm calling the shots. The Slender Hinoki Cypress is 'pyramidal form' that has new growth with  'ferny appearance'.  Love that. Via Monrovia : Description via this Monrovia listing .  

Since the new year, I've posted about a couple of spots that I'm thinking about for trees in 2020.  That started with the five trees that I want to plant in the front yard ( including five new trees ) and a small section between the espalier Linden trees and a Cleveland Pear along the southern fence line.  In both of those pieces, I talked quite a bit about columnar trees.  At this point, you're probably like:  we get it, Jake.  You like columnar form. Yes indeed.  But, because this is *my* blog, you're going to have to bear with me.  Over the course of the next few days and weeks, I'm going to use this space as a reference guide for some columnar trees that I've come across that are work referencing back as I add more inventory. This post is about a pair of what I'm calling 'white trees'.  Birch and Aspen. First up is this Dakota Pinnacle Birch Tree . The folks at  Fast Growing Trees are currently selling a 5-6' version for $99 right no

With the calendar turning over to the new year soon, my mind has naturally drifted outdoors to our backyard to think about what kind of 'tree planning' we should be doing in Spring.  Right after Christmas, I posted my front yard tree succession planting plan .  And because we've been filling our bird feeder, my mind has been focused on the area you see in the photo above.  I've covered this section of yard before with this Fall of 2017 post showing the landscape plan here . Of note, what I'm showing here differs from what the plan includes, but that's because the plan doesn't call for many new trees, but instead uses the existing trees and augments them with shrubs. To set the context - or edges - of this image, you can see two trees that I've posted about before. First, in purple, on the left is the Weeping White Spruce Columnar tree . And, in red, on the far right is the Weeping Cedar tree that I planted and lost .  I've left the corpse

As part of my 2020 prep for the yard , my mind has started to wandering to tree planting and specifically thinking about tree planting in the front yard and parkway.   Above is a schematic that shows off some of the existing trees and my current (aspirational) thinking of what sort of moves I could make in 2020.  But, before I jump into the specifics of that drawing up above, let's look at the current situation. Let's start with our parkway tree situation.  Below is a shot from Google Streetview that shows off our one large Norway Maple parkway tree, the location of the 'old driveway' and this other tree that is just behind the sidewalk that I'm pretty sure is a Mulberry tree.  This Streetview image is a few years old and is of the house that was on site BEFORE we built, but the driveway location is pretty close to where the current driveway is located.  You can see the stretch of parkway between the driveway and the large Maple tree.  Keep that thought for a mo

My love of columnar trees and what are often called Fastigiata form in trees is well-established.  I've posted about them many times here and have posted photos of my travels to Tokyo where they, too, seem to have been drawn to the columnar form .  I've planted a few different columnar trees in our yard including a *somewhat* columnar shaped Chanticleer Pear tree in a few spots.  But, the list of columnar or narrow trees and shrubs is pretty deep here on the blog: I  made the largest tree investment in our yard in a series of eight Columnar European Hornbeams as a screen .   I planted a hedge of small Hicks Yews - which are upright in nature - in the far back of our lot. We have a columnar Weeping White Spruce conifer near our fenceline in the back. This past Summer, we added a Dwarf Alberta Spruce to the backyard .  I planted - and lost - a Weeping Cedar tree a few years back.  After looking around for some other Columnar trees, I came across - and shared - th

I spotted a few of these trees outside of a corporate campus building in Memphis recently and they struck me as a pretty nice shade tree.  The leaves were falling - and are long, non-traditional-Oak-tree-shaped.  Check one out here: This is from the same site as that cloud-like hedge of Boxwoods that I posted about earlier this month. It thrives in Tenneessee, but what about Illinois?  Zone 5B?  Not sure.  The Missouri Botanical Garden team lists this tree suitable down to Zone 5, but also includes this note: Trees or seeds for the St. Louis area should come from northern sources because there is some question as to the winter hardiness of this tree throughout USDA Zone 5. This tree has a couple of features that I can see people being drawn to:  it is shaped like an Oak, but has the leaves (above) that are Willow-like.  Oh...and it grows fast - something you can't say about most Oaks.  From Missouri Botanical Garden : Quercus phellos , commonly called willow oak, is

I've written pretty extensively on my love of columnar trees here on the blog.  We have this stand of eight Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams (that you see some of above) and have this Weeping White Spruce that I picked up this season in our yard.  And I've posted multiple times about the columnar street trees of Tokyo over the years.  My love of columnar, narrow trees is something I've think I've well established here.  But, that doesn't mean that I  know everything about them! Recently, I read a note from Amy in from Pretty Purple about her take on narrow trees and thought it was worth sharing here.   Those of you who read the blog might remember Pretty Purple Door from my post earlier this year talking about tulip bulb colors and how she outlined some of the ways to make colors work together (add yellow!). In her post about narrow trees, she talks about how/why these trees work in suburban yards (space, duh!).  She includes some varieties that are

We spent most of our time at Disneyland Paris trying to take in some experiences that felt familiar (walking down MainStreet, etc) and some that are unique to the Paris parks.  One of those unique experiences that we took in during our visit was a ride through the Phantom Manor in the Frontierland section of Disneyland Park.  Phantom Manor is the close cousin of one of our favorites:  Haunted Mansion.  AllEars.net has a nice feature on Phantom Manor .  From that AllEars piece (go read the whole thing here ): Phantom Manor is Disneyland Paris’ version of the Haunted Mansion. It is neither better than nor inferior to its cousins around the world. It’s simply different. And these differences make it very intriguing for those of us familiar with the original version.  Phantom Manor has a more complete storyline than the Haunted Mansion. It goes something like this.  Henry Ravenswood made his fortune in the Big Thunder Mountain gold rush. With his money he built an elegant Victori

Back in November, I posted about how I was dreaming about a columnar conifer like this Columnar Norway Spruce that I found online .  The Tree Center is selling 1 gallon versions of this tree for $50 , but with the pot being just one gallon, you can bet that that tree is tiny. Then, just a couple of days ago, I shared my 2019 To-Do Garden List that included as #8 on the list :  do something *more* with conifers.  I mentioned this very Columnar Norway Spruce. Funny thing that I just came across a photo on Instagram from Lurvey Landscape Supply - which happens to be in Volo, Illinois and is on the way to Twin Lakes.  I've long admired their place as we drove by, but I assumed that it was a wholesale place.  Turns out, I was wrong and they not only do retail business, they encourage visits via their social handles.  (Side note:  this is a different place than I posted about in regards to their topiaries , but is ON THE SAME ROAD - as we travel to Twin Lakes.  I've noted in