Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I shared a look at the long, thin and pink-tipped Spring buds on the lone Pagoda Dogwood tree in our backyard.   A little further back in the yard - behind the Yew Hedge - is one of the Doublefile Viburnum tree-form shrubs that we have in our backyard.   In April 2022, I planted this one (and a few others), so it has had two full growing seasons (2022 and 2023) and is now back for its third growing season.   It has burst its buds and is a little bit ahead of most things in the garden.  Below, is a look at the green tips that have arrived on this treeform Doublefile Viburnum in Zone 6a:

This is the first true Spring for the treeform Doublefile Viburnum shrubs that I planted early last Spring.  I say "first true" Spring because I planted these when they were *mostly* still dormant last year and they leaf'd out post-planting.  I planted four of these and three have made it through the first year.  The best of the bunch is along the northside and that's the one that has been the most prolific early bloomer.  Below are a couple of photos showing the blooms in mid-May.  They're really quite nice as they sit - sort-of - on 'top' of the shrub.   I didn't have treeform on my radar when I bought these, but I'm sure glad that I pulled the trigger and brought these home.  The treeform Viburnum provides two great benefits (for me...at least):  Instant height and maturity coupled with ability to underplant with perennials.  

Last Spring, I found and brought home four good-sized Viburnum shrubs that were 'treeform ' - in that they had single trunks and the shrub was sort-of placed ON TOP.  I planted two of them on the northside , one in the far back and the last one as a Hydrangea replacement out front . Welp...that one out front died.  Didn't make it.  I shouldn't have planted it there, but the Norway Maple and the mat of roots, combined with hydrophobic soil helped out and killed it.   The other three?  They're all back for year two.  I'd say that these had just about a full growing season last year, so this is their second full season in my mind.  The two on the northside are further along that the one out back.  They both have more foliage across the tips. First...below you can see one of the northside Viburnum.  This one is planted further West.   And here below, is the other one - planted closer to the house.  It is full of newly emerged foliage. Below is a photo showing the di

Our plan for the year called for a focus on shrubs .  Shrubs in the backyard, mostly.  But, also shrubs in the front yard.  In my post outlining the list of shrubs that are called for in the plan, I mentioned needing to replace one of the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas that are sitting in front of our front porch out front.  It started to decline last year and despite watering, it withered and died last Summer.  A couple of factors came in play (I'm pretty sure) that caused the hydrangea to die:  the surface root mat from the Norway Maple tree outcompeting the hydrangea COUPLED with the hydrophobic mulch that was taking place and not allowing the watering that I *was* providing to get down to the rootball.   I found four treeform Viburnum - Doublefile - at Menards and brought them home with the goal of adding them to our yard - mostly in the backyard.  Our plan called for eight additional Viburnum (Arrowwood Chicago Lustre) around the border of our yard that would complement the

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 to come out s