Why I Oughta...

This post marks the third tree that I'm filing as LOST for this growing season.  The first one was in July when a newly planted Lombardy Poplar didn't make it but a couple of weeks .  Then, one of the kids (not sure where they live!) ripped off the growth on my contorted Larch .  Today, I'm calling our Dappled Willow as dead.   Planted in the Spring/Summer of 2019 , the tree was a copy of a Dappled Willow that we had in Elmhurst.  That, first Dapple Willow was a wild success and both Nat and I loved it.    It seemed to come back this Spring - surviving the first Winter - and budded out in April .  But, then something happened.  Might have been a late frost?  But, it died back.  The tree tried to keep growing - and sent off some VERY LOW suckers, but that only lasted a month or so.  Today?  The tree looks like this: Dead and gone. 52 trees across four planting seasons. With this loss (3rd of the year, there are (For...

Last Summer, we added a tree-form Dappled Willow (Hakuro Nishiki) to the south fenceline of our backyard after having one of the same trees in Elmhurst years ago.   Both Nat and I fell in love with this tree after buying it (the first time) on a total whim.  It is a lollipop-shaped tree with a single trunk and a festive, mop on top that grows these beautiful multi-colored whips of willow.  In the photo at the top of this post, you can see that it also puts off these little cone-like things that mark it's return to glory.  This tree is probably the furthest along of all the deciduous trees in our yard with the first leaves of green showing on some of the tips. This was the most recent tree that I planted in our yard - the last one of 2019 and I'm happy that it is coming back to life after the first year in the ground.  Based on my previous experience, I'm thinking that I'm now out of the danger zone in terms of getting this tree to come back.

I spotted a few of these trees outside of a corporate campus building in Memphis recently and they struck me as a pretty nice shade tree.  The leaves were falling - and are long, non-traditional-Oak-tree-shaped.  Check one out here: This is from the same site as that cloud-like hedge of Boxwoods that I posted about earlier this month. It thrives in Tenneessee, but what about Illinois?  Zone 5B?  Not sure.  The Missouri Botanical Garden team lists this tree suitable down to Zone 5, but also includes this note: Trees or seeds for the St. Louis area should come from northern sources because there is some question as to the winter hardiness of this tree throughout USDA Zone 5. This tree has a couple of features that I can see people being drawn to:  it is shaped like an Oak, but has the leaves (above) that are Willow-like.  Oh...and it grows fast - something you can't say about most Oaks.  From Missouri Botanical Garden : Quercus phell...

Another day, another tree that we planted in the yard.  This one, while isn't technically in the "dwarf" category, is another purposely-small tree:  A Hakuro Nishiki Dappled Willow Tree.  Welp....this is actually - according to the tag - a "Deciduous Shrub", but in Tree Form.  So, I'm calling it a tree.  I'm pretty sure that this is a grafted tree, but I can't really tell where it was grafted.  I'll post some closer photos if I can find the graft spot/line in the tree.   But, since this is a tree, this is #35 in terms of planting since we bought the property in 2017.  This is a tree that we had (and I bought it on a whim) back at our old house in Elmhurst.  We planted it on the northside of our backwalk, adjacent to the garage.  It was a stunner.   I loved how it looked.  Nat loved it, too.  It shoots out these beautiful - and almost celebratory - willow limbs that are full of color. Pinks, greens, whites...

The tree you see above is a Dappled Willow (treeform) in the Home Depot parking lot/garden center/nursery.  It is, I think, a grafted tree (hence the 'treeform') and one that we had in our old house in Elmhurst.  I put it in one of the beds that was close to the garage side door, so we walked by it every time we got in and out of the car.  Here's the label from the tree at Home Depot: Both Nat and I really liked the tree.  It grew big and threw off these beautiful, pinkish reeds.  I gave it quite a bit of consideration before, ultimately, passing on the tree for this season.  It was $49.99, so between the price and not really having an idea of where, exactly to put this thing, I talked myself out of putting it into our cart.  One place it *could* go is in the hydrangea bed along the south fence line .  With the hydrangeas filling up the ground space, this could sit on top of them - in the back - and get what it wants:  part sun....

More tree posts!  Yeah...just what you were hoping for, right?  Another post about the tree situation at our new place in Downers, but this one is a bit special.  It's because the kids and I went out and picked out this tree just for Natalie.  She wanted a Willow, so we went hunting at Menards and came up with this interesting one:  a Corkscrew Willow.  Salix matsudano 'Tortuosa'. As a refresher, there's been a bunch of new trees that we're adding/added to the backyard. We picked up a Dawn Redwood .  And planted it.   I posted about the north side of our backyard and how we're going to fill it in.   I am trying my hand at the art of espalier.   With two Linden trees .   And, after being inspired by the Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, I picked up a flowering Cherry tree . And now add this Willow to the mix.  We picked it up at Menards and it was priced to sell. Listen...I know the reputation of willows.  Dirty, f...