Why I Oughta...

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

There are big portions of our back lawn that currently look like this photo below - littered in white, tropical-looking blooms that are falling from a pair of mature Northern Catalpa trees that we inherited in our Zone 5B, Northern Illinois backyard: Below is a look at the mid-yard Northern Catalpa tree that is fully-leaf'd out and full of white blooms: Both Nat and I have grown to really like the Catalpa trees - and their large leaves, white blooms and layered limbs.   I've posted about the Catalpas before - here's one from Fall 2021 .  And from 2019 when I posted about it for the first time .  And, I've been growing some seedlings in containers , too.  More on these in a future post.  

In large April, I planted a small, columnar Scotch Pine tree along the south fence about 1/3rd of the way back.   It was a tree that appears to be field-grown and was sold in a burlap ball that I left in-place.  I used a pair of scissors and cut the burlap that was wrapped/tied around the trunk so the 'top' was sort-of open.  But, I left the burlap in place and planted it that way.  I know there's opinions on which way to go with burlap, but with these small trees, I've found that they come with a big clay clump around their roots and it is best to just leave it as-is to reduce transplant stress. The tree - just one month or so old (in our yard) is already doing some interesting growth/show.  It is putting out quite a few 'candles' on the tips .  Below are a few photos showing these orange and brown and green candles.   In the photo above, you can see the cones of the Scotch Pine forming at the base of the candle. According to this post from the Seattle Japanes

During the Winter doldrums, I mused on here about how I wanted to add 'a couple of Japanese Maple trees' to the garden and mentioned a few places where I thought they might work.  At that time, I was happy with my Emperor 1 Japanese Maple back by the fire pit and realized that the weeping Tamukeyama Maple tree had died .   I've been happy with the Emperor 1 Japanese Maple - it has put on new growth and is a nice, upright tree with dark maroon foliage.   When I was at the Orange Big Box nursery, I noticed a series of small (2 gallon nursery pots) of Japanese Maples that were short, but full of leaves.  Turns out, they were Emperor 1's.  Below is a look at how they were showing in their containers: The price was right (for me) at $35 and when you factor in the 11% rebate, the price comes down to $31.50 or so.  Below is the container: These Emperor 1's are upright Japanese Maples, but they top-out at 12-to-15 feet.  They can go just about *anywhere*.  In the post fro

Yesterday, I posted about the removal and transplant process for a pair of mature(ish) PJM Rhododendrons from the two small beds on either side of our back stoop to the far reaches of our yard.  Back in late April, I posted about this new (to me) Witches' Broom dwarf Ginkgo tree called Spring Grove Ginkgo .  Spring Grove is a small, upright that has those fan-shaped Ginkgo leaves that turn bright yellow before they fall in Autumn.   They something that I haven't seen before, so I thought they'd be a great fit for the back stoop beds - as Rhododendron replacements.  The new Ginkgo's are NOT evergreens, but the uniqueness of them feels like a good trade-off.   I bought a pair of Spring Grove Ginkgos that were in 10# nursery containers and planted one in each of the stoop beds.  Below is the north bed - a few things to note:  The Spring Grove Ginkgo is much smaller than the Rhododendron that was there.  Second, the Angelina Sedum has continued to grow.  (Which...I finall

Like they do at the Hollywood Awards shows, I should (if I had more time) make a montage video marking the "In Memoriam" of everything that we've planted and died.  I suppose this post - showing four trees that didn't make it through Winter this year - will have to do (for now). First tree lost:  our first Japanese Maple: Tamukeyama .  Too bad.  I'll try to replace this with another Japanese Maple.  The next two trees (if we're calling them that...) are a two of the three Green Giant Thujas planted back by the Lilacs.  One of them remains, but two of them went orange. I yanked one of them out and put it back by the compost pile.  I'll do the same with the others this weekend when I find the time. The last one, that I don't have a photo of (because...I'm pretty sure the dang rabbits gnaw'd it all the way down to the ground) is the Shagbark Hickory.   It, too, is struck out below.  With this update, I am changing some of the stats.  2023 marks my