Why I Oughta...

This dwarf Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea - planted in our backyard - is putting on quite a Fall show.  Deep red, almost purple leaves covering the whole shrub.  Interestingly...it is doing this show by itself - meaning the matching pair is still green.  One of the larger ones - behind this one - is partially red (you can see part of it at the top of the photo below), but otherwise, the balance of the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea quercifolias aren't/haven't gone red just yet.  These are planted in a bed that we can see from our kitchen windows - so for that reason (being able to enjoy this Fall show), I'm really happy with this late-season delight.   Also...of note....I recently covered these hydrangeas when I talked about having to move them to make room for an upright Hicks Yew behind them . 

Earlier this week I flipped over my Christmas music tracking advice website to read:  "Yes" as of Monday, November 1st, 2021.  I've posted about " Can I listen to Christmas Music? " before including last year (when I posted on November 1st ) and have posted about it over the years. If you go to the Christmas Music Permission site and scroll down, you'll see that I have it listed as a project that I established in 2015.   Ever since then, I've posted about the project - and how I flip it from "No.  Don't be a lunatic." (which is up from Jan 1 --> Oct 31) to "Yes.  Go ahead." (which is up from November 1 --> Dec 31 - almost every year. In 2015, I started the "Can I listen to Christmas music?" project back in 2015 . In 2016, I posted on Christmas music from 2016 and included a Buzzfeed video. In 2017, I posted on listening to Christmas music from 2017 on November 2nd In 2018, I posted about the move to a new landi

I've posted photos of our Dawn Redwood here on the blog over the years - usually including a photo showing the needles turning orange in a nice Fall show.  Last year, I posted in late October a fully-orange tree .  This year - we're in the first week of November and just *some* of the needles are turning orange.  You can see in the photo below a few of the pairs of orange needle-lets (is that what they're called??) surrounded by green ones.    This is my favorite tree in our yard and I'm really interested to see it keep growing. It is slow-going (unlike the Bald Cypress in our front yard), but it just keeps putting on a little bit of height each growing season.  I posted photos showing the usual Fall flush of growth in late August this year .  It seems that 2020 (Orange in October) is the outlier.  As, this photo from November 2019 shows a mixed orange/green tree .  That's where I think we'll end up this year - something like a mid-November orange Fall show.  20

This Fall, I planted two very small Ginkgo trees as part of my overall fall planting program.  One in the backyard.  One in the front.  Why two of them?  Because the first one I ordered was broken upon delivery.  I was PRETTY SURE that the tree was going to die.  But, I planted it anyway .  Because that one was broken, the online nursery sent me a second one to plant - and that one showed up in a healthy condition .  Now...about one month later (those were planted the first week of October), what do the trees look like? First, then broken one.  The tips of the top branches are holding limp, brown leaves.  Not good.  Based on my experience, Ginkgos go yellow before brown.  So, my presumption is that these are lost limbs. And, for comparison's sake...here's the one in the front:  Some browning on the tips, but this one is in a much better place.  Seeing a little bit of that yellowing on the tips, too.   I'm not sure if I can be certain, but I think I'm operating under th

Just...when you need the perfect little sound clip in video form for your use to share over text with your partners, spouse, family, fantasy football league, friends, you go looking on YouTube.  Sometimes you find it, sometimes you don't.   Good news, dear Blog readers.  I have you covered.   First...I'm SURE that you've been seeking out the " Twin Sub Z's" line from Meet the Parents , right?  Oh...that's not the one you're looking for?  It should be. But, I understand.  We can't use *that one* all the time.  What's that?  You want the "I find you highly disgusting." line?   Good news.   You can click through to YouTube to grab the original url of this " I find you highly disgusting " clip.  When you need it.. .head over to YouTube .  Then...Copy --> Paste --> Send it.   What's that, you say?  You're confused?  You don't know why I interrupted garden blogging for this?   That's ok.  It *is* confusing. 

In what I know many of you will find to be a dissatisfactory notice, I'm disappointed to report that last night - Halloween 2021 - there was no visitor trick-or-treat tally that was conducted.  This is (now) the second year in a row that I've failed to both conduct the tracking assessment as well as failed to post the results here on the blog.  I'll take a COVID pass for 2020.  But, this year?  Just a product of the new neighborhood, going out with the kids to trick-or-treat and not being able to control the tracking.   Now...like a lot of you, we have video evidence that I could go through to try to recreate the visitor list and make a tally, but I don't have time for that this morning.  Here's an example showing the Mandalorian and his buddy who plays for the Chicago Bears.  ( Note...I grabbed this screenshot without the kids faces showing on purpose... ) Of note, I have started to track the weather on Halloween.  Yesterday - Halloween 2021 was perfect.  50's

We have a trio of Gold Cone Junipers that I planted a few seasons ago in our backyard bed.  I put them in the ground in Spring 2019 and three growing seasons later, they're turning into something very different that I was thinking:  they're turning into a lollipop-like conifer.  These Gold Cone Junipers are notorious for splaying when snow piles on them, so that first season, I wired them up to help prevent that winter damage .  By that first Fall, they were showing some signs of stress .  Then, after their first Winter, they browned out ...but came back in Summer. These also are more sun-loving than most things in our yard, so having them planted in the shade of a Walnut tree isn't ideal.  Not to mention....I planted these without consulting the plan, so they're sort-of orphaned here.  I don't necessarily WANT them here - nor does the plan call for them - but why rip them out now when I don't have anything else to plant there.  So, over the past few growing se