Why I Oughta...

 For the past two years, I've noticed that some sort of bee 1 has been finding a home on our espalier'd Linden trees.  There has been A LOT of them.  Swarming around the tree, climbing on the leaves, etc.  I If you look closely at the photo, you can see some of them.  Each tree has dozens of them. I figured that they had a nest close or something.  But, I wanted to find out more.  First, I wanted to figure out what they were.  This handy chart from Rescue.com shows difference between wasps and yellow jackets .  Based on that, I'm pretty sure these are Yellow Jackets.  They're short and fat.  So, I went out onto the Web to try to figure out why our Lindens are covered in these things.  And, sure enough, there are a series of posts on Extension.org.  Including this one that was answered by Robert Cox from CSU that tells me that the Yellow Jackets aren't there because they love the Linden . They're there because the tree has aphids is what he suspects. Yellowjacke

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 now...) 43 of those trees still alive. 2017 (9 planted

My mother always had a dwarf Alberta Spruce in our landscape.  Despite being a shade gardener, I have a memory of her having one of these shrubs/trees in the front yard when I was growing up.  I also remember that my Busia had a couple of these, too. And, that's why I put one in a couple of years ago.  I planted this tree (is it really a tree??) back in late Spring 2018  and it seemed to do well right away.  It put on some new growth in year one and year two.  This year, it was humming along.  But, suddenly, it now looks like this below.  It is in decline:  Back at the beginning of the month, I posted a photo and details of a trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I planted at the base of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce .  In that post , I made mention of the stress this tree was under then.  In the photo above in this post, you can see both the Spruce, but you can also see all three of the Lungwort. At this point, I'm not hopeful.  Needle loss in October isn't a good sign. I lost a

 Last month, I bought a series of Coral Bells (Dolche Cherry Truffles) from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale and planted them in a brand new bed that I established this Fall to the north of our driveway.  Some of them are pretty close (within two feet) of our property line.  How are they faring?  Some of them are showing some new growth and seem to have navigated the transplant shock.  You can see that new growth below:  But others?  The two that are closest to the property line were trampled by the guys doing the driveway concrete.  Here's one - below - that I think might recover.  But, here's another that has no leaves left on it.  I put the yellow stakes and sprinkler spike next to these the day after they installed the driveway so the guys could see where they were stepping.   This bed is (currently) mulched in wood chips , but it needs a layer of real mulch laid on top. Since it is in the front yard, you know what that means?  Cocoa bean hull mulch .  To match the res

We have three rose bushes in our yard.  Two in our sideyard - with southern exposure and one planted in a rear bed outside of our kitchen.  They are all the same cultivar:  Disneyland Roses .  I don't know much about roses, but I'm learning.  It turns out, Disneyland Roses are Floribunda Roses.  There are a bunch of varieties of roses including tea, hybrid tea, Grandiflora and - what the Disneylad Roses are - Floribunda Roses. Sunnyside Nursery has a post titled "What The Heck Is The Difference Between Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora & Floribunda Roses? " that lays out the basics. Knowing I only have this one cultivar, I've begun to educate myself on the care of Floribunda roses.    According to HeirloomRoses.com , Floribunda Roses give you "Minimum upkeep with maximum color".  They detail what makes a Floribunda Rose unique here : The Floribunda Rose is a crossbred flower that is loved for its hardiness in harsh climates, minimal upkeep, and its ability to

In March of this year, I posted some photos of a few different things in our yard that had suffered what I believe was rabbit damage .  These trees and shrubs emerged from Winter with parts of the limbs clipped right off by what I think was a hungry rabbit (or rabbits) that were looking for some food when snow had covered everything.  Why do I think it was rabbits?  Well, first of all, because we have plenty of rabbits.  And second, this post from Mom.com : During the winter months, rabbits survive by foraging for food under the snow. Because vegetation is less plentiful during the winter, rabbits may increase their intake of tree bark and conifer needles. This year, I decided to take a proactive stance against these rabbits (no offense, guys.  I'll try to supplement what you eat this Winter) by erecting a barrier that would make it difficult for them to get to the trees.   Back in May of 2019, I first planted three Canadian Hemlocks in the far back of the yard .  And a week or so

 If you drive by the entrance to the Morton Arboretum last month, you saw a striking series of plants that include some bright colors including this ground cover that is almost highlighter yellow.   They planted a big drift of this stuff that made a carpet-like layout.   See below in all of the late Summer glory: I suspected that this was Lemon Coral Sedum - which I've planted in containers the past few years - but wasn't sure.  But, what is amazing (at least to me) is that the Morton Arboretum has something called a " Plant Clinic ".  What's a Plant Clinic?  From their site : The Morton Arboretum’s Plant Clinic helps homeowners, gardeners and landscape professionals throughout the Chicago region and the world have healthy, attractive, well-chosen plants. Trained staff and volunteers are available in person, by phone, or by e-mail to help with tree and plant selection, identifying and coping with pests and diseases, and other concerns. So, I emailed them to inqui