The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

December 7, 2012

Planning Ahead for Spring Evergreen Planting

Filed under: Shrubs,Trees — bob @ 2:30 pm

This week I’m helping a friend decide where to plant some evergreens in his yard.

Now is the perfect time to make those decisions because the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes in the yard.  Since evergreens keep their leaves or needles, their deep green color will stand out from the rest of the vegetation during the winter. So, it’s important to place them in the right spot. We’re trying to  get a better idea how an evergreen will look in the yard space next winter and the following winters.

The other reason we’re doing the planning now is because we won’t be distracted by all of the spring time foliage of the other trees and shrubs. It’s too easy to get fooled into picking the wrong spot for your evergreen and regret the choice next winter.

We’re going to visually survey his yard and try to imagine how the evergreens will look in a different places around the property. Also, I keep reminding him that we need to keep in mind how big the trees or shrubs will get as they grow through the years.

Once we make the final decision, we’ll drive a stake in each spot to remind us of the planting spots. The actual planting will take place next spring.

This is not a fool-proof method but it gives us more information to help us make the best planting decision.

May 6, 2012

Wild Dogwood Tree in Bloom

Filed under: Trees — bob @ 12:05 pm

We have a wild area on our property that we keep for birds . It’s about an acre in size and is home to a wide variety of wildlife.

This spring, for the first time, we noticed a wonderful dogwood tree hidden in a rarely visited corner tucked in on the south side of  a pine tree. It is in full bloom and rivals anything you might find in a landscape nursery.

Our wild dogwood is about 18 feet tall.

It really is a stunning sight.

The tree is covered with large white blossoms.

We never would have had this surprise if I was sprucing-up this wild area every year with my brush cutter and weed-whacker. I probably would have cut it down long ago without even realizing what it was.

Sometimes, it pays not to organize the wilderness.

Bob

April 23, 2012

Conservation District Tree Sale Seedlings

Filed under: Events,Trees — bob @ 1:05 pm

The trees I ordered from the Monroe Conservation District arrived Friday. I drove over to pick them up first thing in the morning and got there shortly after they opened the doors.

My package  contained 50 trees — 25 white pine  and 25 white cedar– so it was small enough to carry in one hand. The tree seedlings look beautiful.

I placed my seedlings in a bucket of water for a while to re-hydrate them a bit before planting.

White pine grows very fast in our sandy, somewhat acid soil. I have never planted white cedar here but I’m sure that they will do well too.

Fifty seedlings doesn’t take too long to plant. I noticed other folks picking up orders that were much larger than mine. Some had several gunny sacks worth of seedlings. I mentioned to one fellow walking out with a large order that it looked like he had a big project on his hands — he just grunted and walked out to his truck with the last of his order.

Judy and I planted our  seedlings Saturday morning. The cool weather this week will help them get off to a great start.

Bob

December 22, 2011

Overwintering Potted Trees

Filed under: Potted Plants,Trees — bob @ 12:54 pm

The gardens outside are buttoned up for winter.  I took advantage of the cold temperatures a couple of weeks ago to heel in the last of the plants I wanted to save over winter. Usually I like to get this job done by the first week of December.

The only plants left were some of the potted trees that I’m saving for some bonsai and other projects.  In addition to my 15 years old bonsai, I tucked away a fewAlbertaspruce, some maples, a couple of tamarack and a small assortment of other potted trees.

There’s a nice sheltered area in our yard under some pine trees where the plants spend the winter.

I start out preparing an overwintering spot by digging a shallow hole that is about half the diameter of the pot. The pot goes into the hole sideways so that the plant is lying right on the ground.  I take the soil dug from the hole and cover the pot.

Next, I cover the buried pot and the top of the plant with mulch.  Usually I can rake up enough pine needles to do the job.  This year I decided to use wheat straw because of the number of plants I had.

Some old garden fence keeps the straw mulch from blowing away.

My success rate has been quite high using this method.  Placing the pot on its side keeps out excess water that may freeze and damage the pot. Laying the trees on the ground protects the branches from extreme temperatures.  The mulch protects the plants from exposure to the winter sun, which can dry out small branches.  Moreover, it serves as blanket to protect the plants in case we don’t get snow cover.

The soil hasn’t frozen yet and the plants haven’t been exposed to really cold temperatures so there is still time to get those valuable plants tucked in for winter.

This year it looks like I could have waited until the first week of January. I wouldn’t want to bet on it happening again next year.

Bob

August 26, 2011

Fall Webworms

Filed under: Insects,Trees — bob @ 12:45 pm

Fall webworms are back.  They are really becoming more apparent as they grow and their webs get larger.

Fall webworms nests start to become apparent in late summer.

This is not the same caterpillar we saw in the spring; those were the Eastern Tent caterpillar.

Because fall webworms emerge in late summer, they don’t have a chance to do much damage to trees but their webs sure are ugly.

Fall webworms feed on a wide variety of trees. In our area this summer, I’ve been seeing them on walnuts, oaks, mulberries, cherries and other trees.

There are a couple of options available for controlling these pests.  The simplest method is to manually pull the webs down and destroy them.  For those you can’t reach, use a chemical pesticide sprayed up onto the web.  You don’t need much because they are easily killed by most chemical insecticides.

Some people recommend spraying the biological insecticide Bt. Bt works best when the worm are small.

Try to resist the urge to burn the webs in place on the tree.  You’ll end up scorching twig bark causing more damage to the tree than the webworms.

Paper wasps are a natural enemy of the fall webworm. If a paper wasp nest is located in a place on your property where they aren’t disturbing anyone, think about leaving them there to help control the webworms.

Bob

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