Posts

Our Christmas Tree - Family Room Tree - 2019 Edition

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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 simplify

Wilt Pruf To Protect Conifers And Rhododrends Before Winter (Zone 5b)

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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 periods

Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Leaves In Winter - December 2019

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 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.

Fall Milorganite Feeding - Kentucky Blue Grass Northern Illinois

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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 .  Application #3 of Milorganite was around

White Oak Tree Marcescence In Northern Illinois - 2019

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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.  From that Norther

Chanticleer Flowering Pear Winter Marcescence - December 2019

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Last week, I shared a couple of photos of our stand of Frans Fontaine Fastigiate Hornbeams and talked about how they were retaining their leaves to provide some Winter screening.  They're not the only trees in the yard that has foliar marcescence occurring.  Above you see one of our three Chanticleer Flowering Pear trees that has almost all of its leaves still on the branches.  This tree grew a ton this year - based on the tree inventory post  - but I'm not sure if this foliar retention took place last year, but I do remember that one of our old flowering pear trees in Elmhurst held on to most of the leaves through Winter because I wrapped lights around it and had to contend with the leaves obscuring the lights shining through.  I planted this tree early in our time here in Downers Grove, but, unfortunately, I don't have a post showing it going in the ground.  It has grown quite a bit and I placed it strategically based on a neighbor a few doors down having a light on

Firewood Consumption Check - December 2019

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This is the first firewood check since we had a couple of face cords delivered in early October this year .  As we've done in the past, the guys stacked our Birch and Cherry firewood in a couple of spots including these racks in our screened porch that you see above.  Let's start there:  on the smaller rack in the back, all of the wood on top has been used and a little more than half of the rack has been burned down.  The rack in front is still untouched.  There's that one errant log leaning up against the fireplace, right?  That's one of the pieces that I cut from the downed Oak tree limb earlier this Fall.  Once the rack clears out, I'll drop it on there to season for a year or so.  In the screened porch, there's one other stack that existed against the wall that has already been burned off, too.  As for the other rack, it looks like it is more than halfway burned, too.    And all of the wood stacked in front of the rack has been consumed, too.  If you