Why I Oughta...

Back in Elmhurst, we planted a Pussy Willow (Salix Caprea) in our backyard next to our outdoor fireplace. I first came across it at Menards in 2011 .  Bought and planted in 2011.  One year later, it was going crazy.  Here's how it looked in Summer 2012 .  I liked the coverage the plant gave us, but we haven't planted one in our new yard despite seeing them at the garden centers the past few years.  But, this post about gardening New Year's Resolutions from the University of Minnesota Extension includes (as one of their recommended resolutions): " Plant pussy willows, a pollinator-friendly, eco-friendly and energy-producing shrub ". From the U of M post : Pussy willows (Salix discolor), a large 15-20 foot shrub native to Minnesota and much of northern U.S. is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring. Pussy willows provide some of the earliest flowers and pollen for honey and other native bees. The foliage also supports native butterfly caterpil

Two days ago was the latest in the run of [ tree dreaming ] posts featuring this columnar Japanese Larch called "Paper Lanterns" that throws off these beautiful - and delicate - paper-y cones .  In that post, I mentioned that I while I haven't covered Larch trees before, in looking at columnar Larches, I came across a tree that checks a couple of really desirable boxes for my tastes in trees. Is there a tree that is: a deciduous conifer.   Puts on a 'Fall show'. Is Japanese-inspired. Grows in a narrow, columnar form. Displays a weeping branching structure. And...is considered contorted.   Turns out, there's a tree that checks all six of those boxes.  It is called the Diana Weeping Larch .  I found it when I was looking around at columnar larches and found this story on FineGardening about trees in tight spaces .  They showed this photo (below) of the Diana Weeping Japanese Larch.  This is a special tree, isn't it: This is not my photo.  Fo

Recently, I saw on Twitter that the folks at Walt Disney Imagineering awarded winners in their annual student competition called Imaginations .  You may have heard of Imagineering, but they're the team who designs and builds the experiences in Disney Parks and Resorts.  But, you are probably like me and have not likely heard of the "Imaginations" competition.  The themed design competition opens up an opportunity for college students across the country to showcase their skills and thinking to the amazing collection of creative talent at Walt Disney Imagineering (and hopefully learn some things along the way). They've done this for 29 years and it was started in 1991 by Disney Legend Marty Sklar.  From the release on the winners : For nearly three decades, Imaginations has served as a prestigious design competition with the purpose of discovering and nurturing the next generation of Disney Imagineers from a diverse array of disciplines and skillsets. Founded i

More dreaming about trees going on here on the blog today.  Yesterday, I posted about the columnar American Sweetgum called Slender Silhouette .  The whole [tree dreaming] series can be found at the very bottom of this post.  If you're not interested in following along with me in documenting some of the trees that I've come across this Winter that are worth sharing, you can just move along here.  But, today I'm posting about something interesting:  a new (to me) deciduous conifer.  I have a few deciduous conifers on our property including a Dawn Redwood and Bald Cypress that are both small trees.  Turns out, the largest portion of deciduous conifers appear to be larch trees.  From this post on The Spruce : Most of the deciduous conifers belong to the genus Larix and are commonly known as larch trees . These trees have short needles in clusters that run along the branches, with flowers sprinkled throughout. The flowers transform into cones. Larch trees are appealing

Despite it being February, it is still dark and cold and the gardener and tree-planter in me is still dreaming about other trees to think about adding to our backyard.  Just yesterday, I featured this Parkland Pillar Birch that is the second columnar Birch tree in the series.  Today, I'm turning back to the list of 'narrow trees' from Savvy Gardening for another tree in my dreaming series.  I've already featured #10 on the list in the  Van Den Akker Narrow Weeping Alaskan Cedar  - on my [ tree dreaming ] list at the end of January. Now comes a post about their #8 on the list:  The Slender Silhouette American Sweetgum . Here's what it looks like via this photo below from this post courtesy of the University of arkansas system extension : This is not my photo. Sharing it as a good look at the American Sweetgum Slender Silhouette tree form.   Found it here via the U of Arkansas System Extension Office .  Original source seems to be  here on Flickr .   Looks

Is it too early to be thinking about Spring lawn care and turf treatments?  I don't think so.  I need to put together my full annual timetable for the lawn.  But, before I do that, I wanted to post that establishes my main Spring lawn enemy. Mid-April is one of the first milestones - at least based on last year's temperature:  that's when I put down pre-emergent on the lawn - mostly focused on crabgrass and other broadleaf/grass leaf weeds .  Last year, that was followed by a large-scale attack on something that we have present ALL OVER our backyard:  wild onions .  In late April, I documented how I was going around and attempting to dig out the full clumps of bulbs .  My turf was pockmarked with holes from the extraction all Summer.  Come September, I used the soil temperatures to my favor and threw down some seed and soil in these holes and it germinated pretty fast .  I seem to have managed the crabgrass piece of turf care and I'll likely follow the same setup

Yesterday, I featured two pine trees in my latests [tree dreaming] series post: a cool pine with 'candles' on the tips and a super narrow Umbrella pine that has Japanese influence .  Today, is another post about a tree that I'm dreaming about:  a columnar birch tree called the Parkland Pillar Birch . I've shared a few posts about birch trees on the blog over the years. Just in mid-January, I posted a tree-dreaming post about two 'white' trees:  the Dakota Pinnacle Birch and the Swedish Aspen .  Both of them feature white-ish bark and have a narrow, columnar growth habit. If you go look at that post, you'll see that those two trees (Dakota Pinnacle and Swedish Aspen) are kinda similar.  This, Parkland Pillar Birch is very (to my eye) similar to those other two.  From this product listing, we find out that the Parkland Pillar Birch can go all the way down to Zone 3 - which is nice.    About the Parkland Pillar Birch from FirstEditionPlants.com : Park