Why I Oughta...

I've posted a few times about our experience(s) at Disney's Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World over the years .  It was the first place we stayed on our own as a family, the first place we experienced the Electrical Water Pageant and has the best resort-to-park transportation experience on property (imho) with the boat ride from the dock at Wilderness Lodge to the front of Magic Kingdom.  One of the best spots to just sit and relax on property is in the train room in the DVC studios building on the first floor where they have a bunch of Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific backyard trains displayed .   On our recent trip at the Lodge, we found ourselves in an area that we've never really been before:  a little hidden area on the 2nd floor of the resort that feels tucked away and very private.  There's a big desk to do work and a little couch area, too.  I'll post about that part in a different post.   But, by the desk area....there's a really striking painting

I thought we'd see a lot of these Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary "Fab 50" statues .  But, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I only took a single photo of *just* one of the golden (EARidescent is what they're calling them, I think) character statues that is inside of the Magic Kingdom. Luckily, it is a guy who's big in our house - Pooh Bear.  And, it is a double feature that has the big guy (Winnie the Pooh) giving a nice cuddle to his pal Piglet.   Guess we'll have to go back before the 50th Anniversary Celebration is over. I know this is a minor thing, but it bothers me that there aren't REALLY 50 statues like this one for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World - the Vacation Kingdom.  There are *ONLY* 36 statues .  A bunch of them are two-fers like this Pooh Bear/Piglet one above.  I know that costs are important, but feels like a little bit of the bean counters winning out.

At the beginning of the month, I posted a couple of photos showing off the pair of VERY SMALL Ginkgo trees that we planted this Fall .  The reason we planted TWO of these trees was because the first one that was delivered 1 was damaged and basically cracked in half.   In that post, I talked about how the damaged tree was aging different from the replacement tree that I planted in front .  The one in front (which wasn't damaged) had leaves that were turning yellow (like Ginkos are known to do), while the damaged tree in back was drooping and had more brownish leaves.   My belief then - and still today - is that the damaged tree in back is unlikely to make it and leaf-out next Spring.  But....but...but...what do I see on the tree this week?  It appears that this tiny, thin Ginkgo tree has set some buds as it headed to dormancy.  See below for a peek at one of the buds that is near the top of the small tree. These are kind of interesting shaped - almost cone-like.  The bud is set on

If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see a hose that is attached to a long three-foot(ish) spike.  That's the tool used by the arborists at Davey who came by recently to fertilize all of our trees and shrubs.  This is the second year that I've feed some of our trees with liquid fertilizer from Davey - last year, however, I feed just the Oaks in back and the troubled Norway Maple in front .  This year, I had them feed EVERYTHING.  Davey uses something called Arbor Green PRO liquid fertilizer .  They inject it into the ground around the drip line of trees and shrubs - and do it late in the year (right now) - when the trees have begun to shed all their leaves. Here (below) is a look at the description of the slip they dropped on our front door: "Soil injected fertilizer for all trees/shrubs to improve landscape health and vigor." I went out and looked around at some of the spots where the tech injected the fertilizer and found little holes with soil that a

One of the first 'moments' that kicks off the holiday season each year for me is the annual purchase and planting of Amaryllis bulbs (or what my kids call: "Christmas Flowers").  Normally, I buy a couple of varieties - some from big box stores and some from Wannamaker's.  This past weekend, I was at Home Depot and found what you normally find at big box stores:  Amaryllis kits.  That's a bulb, a little pot and a disc of 'soil' that expands when you add water.  I don't love those - especially since it seemed that when I opened the boxes for the kits, I noticed that the stalks had already emerged from the bulb, but due to being in the dark they were white(ish).  But, right next to the kits was a bin of bare bulbs - both Paper-whites and Amaryllis.  The Amaryllis bulbs were $7.99 - about half of what I normally pay for a high quality bulb.  I grabbed three of them.  And a low, wide clay container to plant all three.  Those three are all the same vari

As part of my Fall planting this season, I put in a pair of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs that were called for in our backyard plan .  I put these two near the fence on the north side of one of our beds and when I planted them, I noticed that when you read about Viburnum, it seems that rabbits like to eat them up.   Noted in the garden diary.  And solved for today. When I was beginning to overwinter our backyard, I made sure to grab a couple of cages from wire (chicken wire and grid wire) and make a little perimiter ring for each of these young Viburnum to keep the rabbits at bay.  I started making these wire rabbit-proof cages for tender plants last year and have had good luck with them .   Below you can see the two shrubs with different material cages around them - with the goal being to keep the pesky rabbits (who I continue to see hanging in our beds) away from these until they get established next season. 

I planted a Hicks upright Yew hedge in the far back of our yard in the middle of the Summer 2019.   At that time, I planted 15 #1 shrubs about 30" spaced on center.  Here's how they looked when I first started showing the gaps between each Yew .  And, I documented what the hedge looked like in October of 2020 here with growth going up and out for each Hicks upright Yew.  Below, you can see what the hedge looks like RIGHT NOW.  This is now after two full (2020 and 2021) growing seasons and half (2019).   Here's a top/bottom look from 2020 to 2021 - one year of growth:  I'll be honest....I *know* that they grew, but the photos stacked as they are below aren't conclusive to me. I recently planted a bunch of other #1 Hicks Yews around the yard in hopes of bringing this look to other parts of the garden for cohesion.   My plan is to help protect as many of these Yews as I can from the rabbits this Winter, but I know I'll see some damage in the garden.