Why I Oughta...

Last year, I added two common Purple Lilacs to the southside fence line to our backyard in a couple of spots that were called out for hydrangea plants in our plan.  I deviated from that plan because Nat always loved our neighbor's Lilacs in Elmhurst and wanted to try to replicate that in some way here in Downers.   The first two (commons) get about 12 feet tall and can take a prune .  My expectation is to get these to grow *up*, but pruned back to make a bit of a hedge.  They were small when we put them in and they're small today. Nat mentioned that she wanted to add even more lilacs to that spot and so after looking at the plan, I found two more hydrangeas that we can swap out for lilacs.  And after a little bit of research, I found this other variety called "Nocturne".    These are later blooming - to extend the Lilac season - and are similar shaped .  The leaves are a bit different, but the most important part is that extended blooming season.  You can see th

Back at the end of May, I posted about how I was trying to sort out my yard hydrant situation .  With our yard being so deep, I needed a way to get a hose about half-way back that would allow me to water everything in the rear part of the yard.  Last year, I solved that (kind-of) by burying a rubber hose underground from the house to a location about 100' or so from the rear boundary.  There, I stuck what is called a "Yard Hydrant" in the ground and called it a day.  That yard hydrant had a place to hold a big mess of hose and had a spigot that would allow me to turn on/off the water from that location.  The problem was that it didn't make using or storing the hose any easier.  And with the Automower in the backyard, I ended up having a sliced hose because I never got all of the hose off the grass.  Hence... why I posted about this project in the first place .   This project made it to my 2019 To-do addendum list , so we can begin to cross that off.  I have a

A few weeks back, I posted about how I fertilized the set of Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees and posted a photo of a few of them that are right outside of our screened porch.  In a post from a few weeks back about our flowering Cherry, someone asked in the comments how these were doing .  Figured it warranted an update. Today, here's a few photos showing these trees in their late Spring/early summer foliage.    You can see that they've all leaf'd out in a major way and they look great for year two.  I wasn't worried too much about these coming back, but I do have to admit that I am relieved that they did.  However....some of these do, indeed, look better - or more full - than others. First, the top photo that shows four of the trees to the left from our patio.  These are all about the same in terms of thickness, lushness, etc.  They're all close to the same height and you can see that a couple of them have a really nice, thick set of leaves near the

The last time I chronicled this small Dawn Redwood was back in April when the limbs were full of swollen buds about ready to burst open .  Today is the tree as it has leaf'd/needle'd out a bit and is coming into its own.  This is the second Dawn Redwood we've planted as the first one died in the first season.   This area is pretty close to one of the spots of standing water that I documented a bit back , so I'm thinking that this Redwood received good water this Spring.    I want this one to thrive this year (hopefully 'creep' up, too), so I'll keep it watered when the heat hits this Summer.  I measured this Dawn Redwood at 63" tall in September of last year .  I don't see a lot of new growth out of the top of the tree yet.  But....this is a good benchmark to check against later this Summer. 

Yesterday, I posted a photo of the Youngstown Juniper that I bought at Home Depot to work into a bonsai tree and mentioned that I also picked up another tree.  Here's that tree:  A Chinese Juniper 'Pfitzeriana Aurea'.  Same deal:  from Home Depot in Darien in a #1 pot that cost less than $10.  Above you can see the tree that includes some gold-ish needles in the new growth.  Below, you can see a close-up of the tag. This will be a tree that I'll work on in a similar fashion to the Youngstown Juniper.  I'm aware that since these things are so small that the trunks are very thin - and it is going to take a LONG time to work this into anything substantial.  But...it is a cheap way for me to work on some pruning techniques, right? This will make three nursery stock trees that I've started.  I also have identified a tree on our property - it is a cut-down of one of the American Elms that the U of I Master Gardener identified - that I am going to try to ha

In the photo you see above, you'll see a large "vase" (at least that what I'm calling them for now) of Ostrich Ferns and if you look at the bottom of the photo, you'll see a smaller, second Ostrich Fern in the foreground.  The one at the top is what I've been calling the "Teardown Fern".  Here's a post showing this same Ostrich Fern a year ago in June of 2018 .    The top photo in *that* post is from when it was just un-furling and the photo at the bottom of that the post is what it looked like in mid-June.  Here's the original post when I pulled them out of our neighbor's yard in October of 2017 .  Hence...the whole " Teardown Fern " moniker.  This year, you can see that it has more fronds and is larger.  But...that's not the most important part.  That's the second fern that has popped up.  This thing has multiplied.    How nice.  These things do, indeed, multiply and I'm glad that it has matured enough to

This is now official the 33rd tree that we've planted into our lot since we've moved in:  the Weeping White Spruce.  I covered the details of this tree in a post here .  Today, I'm marking the planting of this tree with a post in the tree diary.   This is the eighth conifer with one going in last year ( Weeping Cedar ) and six going in this year ( Canadian Hemlocks part 1 here and part 2 here ).  This is the second weeping evergreen and it seems that I have a soft-spot for weeping trees. A few days ago, I posted about how I moved some tulip bulbs out of the way and further from the fence to make room for this tree.  If you read the original Weeping White Spruce post, you know that this thing gets tall and skinny .  It will only get about four feet wide at the base, so I was able to put this pretty close to the fence.  Below, you can see the recently relocated tulips and this new tree. And to provide a little bit of further context in terms of placement, here