Why I Oughta...

Both of the small, weeping Norway Spruce trees that we planted last Fall have put on spring growth.  New, bright-green needles and weeping limbs have appeared.  That includes the leaders - especially on the tree closer to the house.  It has seen a bunch of top growth - see below.  I trained these small trees up on poles last Fall and from what I've read, you have to keep training the leader up, or else...it will become a 'spreader' vs a more upright tree.   This leader needed a taller pole, so I grabbed one and wired it up to get the leader more vertical and upright.  See below for the 'after' of this Weeping Norway Spruce: I'll watch the top of this spruce and think about pruning back some of the lateral branches to reduce competition for the top.  

The last time that I published a "State of the IB2DWs" was in Summer 2022 - just about two years ago . Back then, the bed was just getting established; after being transformed from turf grass to a mulch bed.  Today, it is longer, bigger, more-planted and presents a more full-figured profile to visitors.  I thought it was time to update the garden diary with a new State of IB2DWs.    First, the original part - closer to the garage.    Below are a few photos that show the current state - featuring some Serendipity Alliums, Karl Foerster Grasses, Cat's Pajamas Nepeta, some Elijah Blue Fescue clumps, creeping jenny, sedums, All Gold Hakonechloa grasses, a couple of Agastache Blue Fortune , a Prairie Dropseed, some Peonies, a couple of conifers, some boxwoods, a Cardoon and a couple of trees.  Things are doing well, but the Summer heat hasn't arrived.  

Some of our conifers are putting on a two-toned needle show right now.  The new growth on both our Weeping White Spruce and Weeping Norway Spruce emerge in a neon-green color that contrasts with the older, darker-green needles on the main part of the trees.  The new growth brightens up the garden and makes the trees standout a little bit. Below are a couple of photos - first one of the Weeping Norway Spruce that is planted IB2DWs.  There are two of these that went in last Fall, but the one in the photo is the tree that is planted closer to the house than the sidewalk .    And, the second photo is the Weeping White Spruce that lost its leader a number of years ago and has NOT grown up at all.    Here's a post from early June 2023 that shows this same Weeping White Spruce tree with big, blue-ish swollen tips of new needles after the flush grew out.   I mentioned that this tree lost its leader and it hasn't grown at all height-wise for a few years, but now that I'm looking at

This Spring is full of new garden experiences for me.  That's all thanks to the big "Fall Planting" sprint that I ran through in October of 2023, when I tucked in dozens of new things including the creation of the small, linear dwarf conifer garden IB2DWs.  I found a pair of Weeping Norway Spruces that were labeled 'pendula'.   I put one up closer to the garage and the other one further down closer to the sidewalk .  I staked them both up and hoped for the best.   They both handled the winter just fine (as expected) and are starting to put on a little spring flush of needle growth.  But, one of them is also showing some cones.  That's nice.  But, even nicer?  They're red raspberry-colored cones.  Small ones, but certainly raspberry-colored cones.  See below for a couple of photos. What is interesting (to me, at least) is that there's not any mention online of these Weeping Norway Spruces producing red cones.  Other spruces - like Picea abies 'Acro

I've mentioned that I failed/made a big gardening mistake when it comes to conifers.  The rule of: "Conifers Should Come First" is something that I wasn't aware of, until this Fall.  That's when I went about a dizzy'ing spring of planting my own conifer garden IB2DWs.  What's so great about conifers?  Texture and structure are a couple of big reasons to believe in conifers.  But, four-season gardening is (maybe?) the biggest for this Zone 5b (Now Zone 6a!!!) gardener.   Everything around here goes dormant.  Some perennials like hostas just totally disappear.  Grasses hang around all Winter.  Decidious trees go bare.  But, conifers?  They stand tall and proud during the Winter.   This past week, we had our first real snow fall of the year.  And, the dwarf conifer garden was a new highlight.  Below are a few photos showing some of the conifers covered in snow:

All the same facts, details and situation from yesterday's post showing how I planted a Weeping Norway Spruce IB2DWs persist and stay the same for this - a second Weeping Norway Spruce - that I planted in the new conifer garden closer to the sidewalk - IB2DWs - extended.  See the photo at the top showing the location of this weeping, dwarf conifer and the Baby Blue Spruce tree that I previously planted here. As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.