Why I Oughta...

In the Fall of 2021, I made a big decision (or...what seemed like a BIG decision at the time) in our garden.  I opted to dig up some of our Oakleaf Hydrangeas and move them *out* from the fence .  They were planted to allow for their mature size, but tucked in closer to the fence.  After reading and observing our garden - and others online - I decided to invest in putting evergreen shrubs *behind* deciduous, flowering shrubs.  Here's the post from October 2021 where I talk about 'layering' and how most designs call for evergreens *in front of* shrubs like hydrangeas .  That's how it looks in our front yard.  But....this idea turns that concept on its ear - by putting the evergreens BEHIND the shrubs that lose their leaves in Winter.  To do that, I needed to move out the Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  And plant some evergreens.  I opted for Hicks Yews - since this is a pretty much full-shade area.  I planted a five-dollar, one-gallon Hicks Yew in O...

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, ...

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 ...

In the Spring of 2022 (17 months ago), I undertook what I called (at that time) the Lilac Replacement Project where I dug up and transplanted a number of Lilacs.  And replaced them with some upright evergreens.  Those upright evergreens were three Green Giant Thujas that I bought at the orange big box store .  I planted three in this spot and three on the other side.  Two of those died, leaving me with four of the six originally planted remaining.   When I look back at the photos of those Green Giant Thujas right after they were planted (April 2022) , it appears that the top-tip (apical meristem) of them is right around the top of the fence.   Today - they're at least a foot over the top of the fence height.  See below for the current view - with the Green Giant Thujas in the back against the fence.   That's (obviously) not the only thing happening in this photo, so I'll document some of the other changes in this post - for the gar...

I don't seem to have documented the planting of these two, small Hicks upright Yews, but I wanted to document their current, Summer 2023 status in the [garden diary].  They are planted between the firepit and the side fence.  With the three Peachberry Ice Heucheras planted in front of them. These were planted as 1-gallon evergreen shrubs.  And while they haven't put on a ton of size, they're certainly grown.  See below for a photo showing the two, upright Yews spread apart. With some time, they'll fill in and fill-up to create an evergreen vertical screen.  I don't expect them to grow together, but I will add something-else evergreen in between them down the road. How about the color change on those Heucheras, huh?   

2023 appears to be an 'on year' in terms of evergreen growth on our small Weeping White Spruce in the backyard.  The photo below shows the flush of greenish-blue needles that have grown out this Spring on and are covering the tree.  It also shows the slightest bit of apical meristem growth (hooray!), potentially signal'ing that we can get this tree back on the right path vertically-speaking.   I planted this small tree all the way back in 2019 - which means this is the fourth growing season - and the tree has NOT GROWN in height at all.  I'd say that this tree is just about the exact same size (height-wise) that it was when I planted it.  The tip of the tree is below the top of the lower fence (and it was when I planted it).   I've documented this tree over the years and we had a pretty significant setback in 2021 - when the drought got to it an I saw quite a bit of needle drop a dead limbs .  The tree had shrunk about half-in-size after los...

There comes a time in the Spring when the allure of the big box nursery becomes too strong.  Normally...I can rely on my 'plan' and walk away without buying things that don't have a home.  But, when I came face-to-face with this pallet of (what I'll call) unique evergreen trees (or...at the *very least*...these are unique for big box stores), I was smitten.  There were like five different conifers - each with some unique characteristic.  Upright, golden, columnar, weeping.  Just...*chef's kiss*. They were all priced the same, but the one that I was most drawn-to was this one below: A closer look at the tag reveals what it is (photo below):  Pinus sylvestris - Scotch Pine Columnar. "Columnar".  You have my attention. A little look around the Web reveals the true name for this tree:  Pinus sylvestris 'Fastigiata'.  Utah State has one in their arboretum .  They describe it like this:  "This Scotch Pine is a tall and narrow pine. ...

On a recent afternoon, I went to have a look at some of the garden to see how it was navigating this first part of Winter.  We've had plenty of hard frosts, cold nights and even a little snow.  Most everything has gone dormant, so I was mostly (on this trip) focused on having a look at the evergreens.  I went to the back of the garden to see how the three Green Giant Thujas that I planted this Spring were doing and noticed that one of them is doing...not so well.  See below for the photo of this tree (or shrub??) turning light brown:  This one is the middle of the tree in the back - on the northside.  It was planted in late April.   I'm not calling this thing dead (just yet), but it appears that will be the case come Spring.  

I feel like I'm finishing the planting season of 2022 the same way that I started it:  focused on shrubs.  The number-one item on my 2022 to-do list was to prioritize shrubs by adding a series of them to our backyard .  I'm pretty happy with the results this year - as I added a series of shrubs including new Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Viburnums.  And moved a few others around.    But, I'm closing the shrub-planting season with a new (to me) shrub:  Brown's Yew.  I have a bunch of Yews in our backyard - but they're ALL one variety:  Hick's upright Yews.  I'm drawn to those because of their shape as well as the fact that they can tolerate shade - which we have plenty of around here. I came across this lone evergreen shrub - a Brown's Yew - that was on such a good sale that I couldn't pass it up.  You can see it in the photo above - sitting in a 5 gallon nursery stock container. This was the first time that I came across a Brown's Yew....

My number one priority for this gardening season has been to focus on adding shrubs to the garden.  That means both evergreen shrubs as well as deciduous ones that lose their leaves come Fall.   To date, I've planted 15 shrubs in the garden with the last ones being the set of three Little Lime Hydrangeas in the backyard .   When I was at the orange Big Box nursery recently, I found a table of very small (1# nursery pots) Hicks upright Yews.  I've used these all over the place in our garden, so I figured I could pick up another set of these to plant.  I mean...they were $5 each, so what's not to like, right? The question was where to put them.  There are a bunch of places, but one that I've been thinking about is how we add a little bit of structure to the (current) entrance to our fire pit area.  We have this little mulch border that we've placed a couple of small pieces of flagstone that you can use to traverse from the lawn to the fire pit...

Earlier this month, as part of a series of garden bed 'slices', I did some shrub exploration posts including the 'Lilac Replacement' section and the ' Northside Mixed Bed ' that kind of worked together.  They both required some upright evergreens, but the Lilacs needed to be transplanted from one section to the other.  Earlier this week, I got started by planting the upright evergreens - three Green Giant Thujas - in each section.  From there, I dug up and transplanted the four Lilac shrubs (2 Nocture, 2 Common) in the Northside bed. Before I did the planting, I removed some of the lower, but still large limbs on the Hackberry tree to make sure these were getting the most sun they could get in this spot.  Below is a look at the couple of cuts I made with my extension saw: Here's what the newly planted area looks like with three evergreens, four flowering shrubs, an existing scrub shrub and a small London Planetree (below): And, here's an annotated versi...

The season has begun.  With planting.  And, we're off to a strong start with six new trees going in:  Green Giant Thujas - Thuja standishii plicata.  Are these really trees?  According to the tag, they're categorized as trees, not shrubs (see the bottom photo for the tag), so I'm counting these as trees.  I put in three on the northside, three on the southside - all in the back. Here are the three on the southside: And, here (below) are the three on the northside.  I also transplanted the four lilacs over here, so you can see those in the photo below.  More on that in a separate post. Thuja standishii plicata - Arborvitae Green Giant. These are the first trees of the season with the last ones planted last Fall being the three London Planetrees that I intend to try to pleach . I haven't done a full accounting of what survived/didn't survive just yet, so I'm counting these as the: 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd and 74th trees that we've planted across...

Welp, I did it:  I pulled the trigger and bought some Green Giant Arborvitae - Thuja standishii x plicata and brought them home.  I mentioned these a few times in the past month or so - including how I found these at one of the local Big Box nurseries near me - and how there were a few sizes (large and smaller).   In my summary list, I ended up thinking that I need nine upright evergreens - a combination of Thujas and Yews - with the first three of those nine going into the "Lilac Replacement" project .   I wanted to buy six right away - before they sell out - so I opted for the smaller (less expensive ones).  But, they're NOT *that* small -about four feet tall.  I put the nursery containers out in that " Lilac replacement " area and you can see them in the photo below: That's the approximate space that I'm intending to plant them.  First thing, though....dig up and transplant the four lilacs that are in that spot along the fence.  ...