Why I Oughta...

'Tis the season for fireplace burning in our house - and likely in yours.  That means that you'll have to deal with the ash that gets left behind after the wood burns.  We burn hardwoods exclusively (so far this year, we've burned Cherry and Birch) and that means we end up with hardwood ash.  Turns out, it has value in the garden as a soil conditioner and fertilizer.    According to the Oregon State University (Notice...I did include *the* for those other OSU lunatics) Extension office , hardwood ash can aid in making the soil an environment that supports plant and tree growth.  From the OSU Extension article : Because wood ash is derived from plant material, it contains most of the 13 essential nutrients the soil supplies for plant growth, according to Dan Sullivan, OSU Extension soil scientist.  "When wood burns, nitrogen and sulfur are lost as gas," Sullivan said, "but calcium, potassium, magnesium and other trace elements remain. The carbo...

Time to check in our our Winter flowering bulb project: our planted amaryllis for Christmas flowers.  All of them are at different stages and provide a nice contrast between the set of four bulbs in pots. You can see the three Menards bulbs in the photo at the top here with the Star of Holland bulb being the one that has shot up the furthest and is starting to have a flower emerge. For reference:  This is the full set of four from November 23rd  - three weeks ago - that shows all four of the bulbs including a few of the Menards ones that had some early (and pale green) growth from the bulb.  And here's a set of photos from the end of November that shows how far these have come in a couple of weeks .  I also tracked our bulb last year - here's a look at it on Christmas Day - no bloom .  Back to this year, we have a clear leader: The Star of Holland - a red flower with white stripes.  Here's a closer look at the Star of Holland: The bloom...

Like the past few years (and since we moved to Downers Grove), we have two Christmas trees up in our house for the holiday season.  Nat is in charge of the decorating of our house and she does a really amazing job creating an environment that balances nostalgia (with some vintage things that we've both collected over time), personal touches (lots of kid-made things around) and new, joyful decorations.  I'm one of the benefactors of her work and thoughtfulness with Christmas decorations - along with the kids - and grateful for her effort to create a "place" that will be full of memories and meaning for the rest of their/our lives.   But, like a lot of things in life, Nat doesn't over-do-it.  In fact, I think we've/she has managed to peel back a bit in the past few years.  Thinning out some of our Santas that we've bought at various estate/garage sales.  Dropping off decorations at GoodWill for another family to use.  And just trying to...

This is the second year that I've applied Wilt Pruf to some of our most delicate plants to prepare them for Winter.  Last year, I posted photos showing off how I applied Wilt Pruf to just one of our Rhododendrons as an experiment and it turned out t hat one that didn't get any Wilt Pruf seemed better than the one that has an application .  But, that could be for a variety of reasons - and perhaps the Wilt Pruf helped keep the one that was a little behind healthy during the tough Winter. I also applied Wilt Pruf to the small Weeping Cedar tree last Fall, but it didn't survive , so this is clearly not bulletproof. So...what is Wilt Pruf?  And why would you apply it to your plants before Winter? From this product listing : Wilt-Pruf is a natural, pine oil emulsion that is organic, non-hazardous and biodegradable. Simply, spray it on to form a transparent and flexible, protective coating that will keep plant foliage and stems from drying out through extended period...

 Back in the end of November, I posted a few photos of our columnar Hornbeam trees retaining all their dead leaves this year.  For garden diary purposes, I also wanted to post a closeup photo of the leaves as they stay on the tree.  You can see that they've turned from green to brown, but have some green staying in the background and the edges of the leaves gaining some jagged, dried-out edges.  I'll try to revisit these trees and the leaves later this Winter to see if I can spot more changes as they continue their slip into dormancy.

This photo is a week or so late, but putting it down here in the [ garden diary ], so I remember that I 'threw it down' late this Fall.  I put one bag of Milorganite out on the front yard (all three parts) on Thanksgiving Day this year.  That makes what I'd call two (2) Fall feedings this year including the Sunday Beta granular program that I participated in earlier this year (October).  And all in, this is the 5th feeding (4 Milorganite, 1 Sunday) in addition to 1 Humic Acid, 2 iron and 1 calcium applications.  Application #1 of Milorganite around Memorial Day this year.   An application of granular Humic Acid in June this year .  Application #2 of Milorganite was around the 4th of July this year  (spoon-fed) Application #1 of Ironite (to the front) at the end of July this year .  Application #2 of Ironite (to the front) in August of this year .  An application of Mag-i-Cal to the entire yard in September this year . ...

Here's a third in a series of posts in the garden diary that is showing off this year's foliar marcescence in our backyard for this Fall/Winter 2019.  First was a couple of photos of our Frans Fontaine Fastigiate Columnar Hornbeams (European, too.  But, that's far too many descriptors for one tree, right?).  Then just yesterday, I posted a photo of a Chanticleer Flowering Pear (Cleveland Pear) tree that was also retaining all of the leaves after most of the trees have dropped. Today is a photo showing the two large Oak trees in our yard.  One on the southside ( that lost a limb earlier this Fall ) and one on the north in the foreground of the photo.  Oaks are well-known for retaining their leaves all Winter long and dropping them come Spring when the buds push off the dead leaves and they drop to the ground.  Northern Woodlands Magazine has a piece that talks about a couple of potential evolutionary reasons why these Oaks are keeping their leaves....