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Showing posts with the label trees planted

Lost: Columnar Scotch Pine Tree - November 2023

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Planted early this year - with MUCH fanfare - my Columnar Scotch Pine tree is dead.  I yanked it out and returned it for a store credit.   Earlier this Fall, I noticed that it was *really* struggling, so I decided to do something pretty drastic:  transplanting it.   I also decided - as part of the transplant process - to lop-off all the dead parts.  I thought that maybe it wanted more sun, so I put it by the boardwalk.  Here's what it looked like when I transplanted it in September:  some green needles, but not doing well: Six weeks later, it was gone.  Below is what it looked like before I dug it out:  no more green needles. I've talked about how I haven't, historically done enough with conifers.  But, part of the reason for that negligence is because I've had such bad luck with them.  This is another lost conifer in a long-line of them.  Have I made up for things with my new Conifer Garden?  Maybe.  But, might they all end up like this columnar Scotch Pine?  Maybe, t

Royal Purple Smoke Tree Planted - IB2DWs - October 2023

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I've long admired the Purple Smoke Trees that I see in gardens and landscapes.  I've thought about planting one for a number of years, but each time I come across one, I opt against it.  Until...this week.  When I found a 'Royal Purple' Smoke Tree at the end-of-season sale at the orange big box store.  It was too good of a price and I've been wanting to add some red to contrast the newly planted dwarf conifers in my new IB2DWs Conifer Garden. So, I bought it and stuck it in the ground closer to the sidewalk and pretty far back in the bed.   You can see it in the photo below:  Is this thing a tree?  Or a shrub?  It is referenced either way, but I'm calling it a tree - mostly due to the name.  The tag says 'shrub', but... This becomes the last tree of 2023 and...amazingly...the 21st planted for the year.   As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

3rd Baby Blue Spruce - Planted in Back - October 2023

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 What's better than two Baby Blue Spruce trees?  If you answered "Three Baby Blue Spruce Trees", you'd be correct.  This time, I've added the small (container-grown) dwarf conifer to the bed near the kitchen window in back.  You can see it in the photo below.  This goes towards my #1 item on my 2023 list - evergreens. But, it also checks some of the box on #18 - dealing with the 'kitchen window curved bed' as this is planted in front of the Weeping White Spruce and to the west of the Espalier'd Greenspire Lindens. As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

2nd Baby Blue Spruce Tree Planted - Conifer Garden - October 2023

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A week back, I shared photos and details of the first of three Baby Blue Spruce trees that have gone in our yard as part of my Fall Planting Sprint.  They were all 7# container-grown trees and are small to start - somewhere shy of 24" tall from tip to rootflare.  I planted the first one in my new Conifer Garden - IB2DWs extended.  And, I matched it with the second one on the other end of that spread.  See below for a look at #2 Baby Blue.  This is planted closer to the Bald Cypress.  And...it is planted 'high' on purpose.   As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

Montrose Charm White Spruce Planted - IB2DWs - October 2023

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Upright evergreen tree. Those are magic words to me. When I came across a new (to me) conifer tree named Montrose Charm, I pulled out my phone and dug around.  Trying to figure out if this would work in my new conifer garden IB2DWs extended. After some hemming-and-hawing, I brought it home and planted it along the back border, sort of next-to the Ginkgo tree that is up there .  Here it is post-planting. The Montrose Charm is a "Christmas Tree Form", but gets tall and skinny - with time.  From Dutchman Tree Farms - they expect the tree to get six feet wide at maturity and have this to say :  This tall narrow columnar tree has needles that are light green and very short. The White Spruce ‘Montrose Charm’, once established, is cold hardy and drought resistant. This columnar tree is perfect for landscaping, borders, small spaces, and erosion control. I've said it before, but I love that narrow, columnar tree form.  Here's a look at a mature version of the Montrose Charm

Weeping Norway Spruce 'Pendula' - Planted IB2DWs - October 2023

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Conifers Should Come First.  Or, if not first, one should attempt to make up for lost time when you can.  This is the second dwarf conifer tree and third dwarf conifer overall that I've planted in the past week.  All of which are IB2DWs.   Like the Baby Blue Spruce trees that I bought at 50% off, I bought a pair of Weeping Norway Spruce trees.  This post is about the one that is going in our established IB2DWs bed. Below are a few photos showing the pre-planting details: This came as a ball-and-burlap tree from the orange big box store.  I've had these before, but I've always removed as much of the burlap as possible.  This time, I'm going the opposite way.  All I did was cut and remove the twine, but left the burlap in place.  I'm *pretty sure* that these might be air layered trees as whenever I remove the burlap form them, the root system is pretty sparse.   I stuck this tree right in front of the All Gold grasses about half-way back in the bed.  I'm planning

Baby Blue Spruce Tree - Planted - IB2DWs Near Sidewalk - October 2023

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Conifers Should Come First .  That's a gardening truth.  And, as I admitted last week...a mistake that I've made in our garden .  But, it also points to an opportunity.  Specifically in the IB2DWs extended bed.  I talked about focusing on adding some dwarf conifers in service of my #2 item - adding clustered evergreens - IB2DWs extended .     As part of my #Fall Planting for 2023, I kind of went ham on dwarf conifers to make up for my past mistakes.  I've sworn off the trees at Home Depot, but when I was confronted with this sign (below), I decided to nose around.   I found that pallet of blue spruce trees (at the top of this post) that had these tags:  Baby Blue Spruce #7 Container Grown.  See below for the tag showing the $45 price: Half-off means for $22.50, I get a dwarf, blue conifer.  And, it is container-grown, so I'm pretty sure that means it isn't one of their air-layered conifers that come in burlap bags.  I needed this tree.  In fact...I decided that I ne

LOST: Japanese Flowering Kwanzan Cherry Tree - September 2023

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Add two trees.  Take one away.  That's what has happened recently with the addition of the pair of Kousa Dogwood trees along the garage wall (pre-espalier) .  And now...the documenting of losing one of the original trees that I planted when we bought our lot:  a Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Tree.   Before we moved in, we planted five trees:  a dawn redwood (Died and replaced), a Chanticleer Pear Flowering Tree (in the back, between the tree swing tree and the Hornbeams.  Still alive).  A pair of Greenspire Linden trees that I've espaliered.  Still alive.  And this Japanese Flowering Cherry tree.  Now dead).    After we moved in, I planted a Corkscrew Willow (dead) and a Crimson King Maple (also dead).   That first year, our landscaper planted two trees:  a Saucer Magnolia and a Flowering Pear Tree.  The first of which died, but was replaced.   All-up, that means that first year (2017), we planted: 9 trees.  5 of which (now) died.  Three were not replaced (Willow, Flowering Cherry,

Kousa Dogwoods - Two Planted For Espalier - September 2023

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Fall planting is here.  At least...for me it is.  I have two real gardening/planting seasons:  Spring - when I can't help myself and get busy in the garden/at the garden center/at the Morton Sale.  And then Fall - when I divide and transplant and buy things that go on end-of-season sales.  This is the first planting of that 'fall planting' period and is something that I've been thinking about for years.  And, finally did something about it. I'm talking about the northside of our garage, where we get full shade and have a narrow, foundation bed that borders the bluestone chip path that leads to our backyard.  All the way back in 2018, I started posting about what to do with this area  in terms of trees and shrubs.  There are really two parts that *could* be addressed.  First..against the house to sort-of soften-up the large, white, blank wall.  And, then (potentially) against the property line to provide a sense of 'privacy' or screening from the driveway nex