Trees

[rmstevens2]

Everything is bare and asleep now but the evergreen stuff. That's one of the things that is nice around here: we have loads of big Loblolly Pine trees, so there's still plenty of green.

[rmstevens2]

Awhile back, I noticed that something - some kind of rodent - had gnawed at a small place on the bark of my young Crabapple tree. Oh, no, no, no! I bought some tree wrap and wrapped the tree up. Subsequently, I noticed that something had gnawed at the wrap, but not enough to get through it. Still a big no-no. So I put some more wrap on the tree and then another technique dawned on me.

I took my shovel and collected the dog poop from around my yard - I needed to clean that up anyway - and put some of it around the Crabapple tree (and the rest around some of the other trees). I don't know if it will work, but I figured the smell and presence of dog poop around a tree would drive most rodents away.

Good idea? Or don't rodents care?

Right now everything outside is frozen solid, including the dog poop, but it should thaw out in a few days and resume its pungent guard duty (or dooty).

[rmstevens2]

Spring is officially here, and some of my trees already have some brand new leaves on them. The rest of the trees - which I call the smarter trees - don't have leaves yet. I call them the smarter trees because they withhold their leaves until the likelihood of another hard freeze is very low. The early-blooming trees are in danger of a setback, if night time temps drop below freezing. In fact the temp dropped below freezing back about a week ago, and some of the new growth on some of the trees was damaged, although overall it wasn't bad. 

Here's the Shantung Maple in my front yard from a day or two ago.



Here's the larger of the two little Sumacs I planted in my front yard during the winter.



Here's the smaller of the two Sumacs from the front yard.

[rmstevens2]

Here's the Crabapple tree in my backyard a week or so ago. Not the best photo.

[Webb]

We moved into a newer home this past January in a small newer subdivision with the newest houses being completed around 2017. Our house, as well as a number of houses on our street are very bare with no trees, just some shrub plantings close to the house. I ordered four trees for the front and side yard earlier this month and the last have arrived. Washington PA changed from Zone 6A to 6B last year, but we just had a string of nights well below freezing last week, so the trees are in pots, sitting in my front foyer by the south west facing windows in a holding pattern until I think its safe to plant them. I am putting a Black Gum or what we call a Tupelo tree in Virginia in the front yard to the left of the driveway as my street tree. I am going to cluster a Royal Star magnolia and Okame or Taiwan Cherry close to each other on the opposite side of the driveway from the Black Gum, and an American Persimmon on the same side as the cherry and magnolia but further back on the side of the house. My wife likes Persimmons, which at the market are usually Asian Persimmons, but growing up we always had American Persimmons, which you eat after you have had a few frosts. The Black Gum is a good wildlife tree and all around show stopper type of tree. It develops fairly small flowers in the spring that attract honey bees, hence tupelo honey, which is really good, and has a bit of a citrusy flavor. Then in the fall it produces berries which are a favorite of tanagers and waxwings and the leaves change to a very attractive red in the fall.

[rmstevens2]

We have a Black Gum/Tupelo in our backyard, but it's tiny. I got it from the Tennessee Nursery in autumn of 2022, but it suffered die back, which became apparent in spring of 2023. I almost just got rid of it altogether, but it put out some good green shoots from lower down on the tree, so I let it stay put and pruned off all but the best one. If it doesn't perform this year, it's gone.

Black Gums are native here in East Texas, too. There are loads of them around. I like their nice bright red leaves in the fall.

[rmstevens2]

The Japanese Maple at the corner of the flower bed out front. It's the "Bloodgood" variety of Japanese Maple, with maroon leaves all spring and summer, turning scarlet in autumn. Great tree.

[rmstevens2]

A couple of days ago we bought another Japanese Maple, this one a different variety. It's a "Crimson Queen", which is a dwarf tree that is only supposed to get to be 7-12 feet tall. It has maroon-colored leaves that look kind of like lace or feathers. They are supposed to turn scarlet in autumn. We planted the tree on the east side of the walkway just beyond our front door. Hopefully, it will do well there.

[rmstevens2]

We have a Black Gum/Tupelo in our backyard, but it's tiny. I got it from the Tennessee Nursery in autumn of 2022, but it suffered die back, which became apparent in spring of 2023. I almost just got rid of it altogether, but it put out some good green shoots from lower down on the tree, so I let it stay put and pruned off all but the best one. If it doesn't perform this year, it's gone.

Black Gums are native here in East Texas, too. There are loads of them around. I like their nice bright red leaves in the fall.

Here's a photo of the little Black Gum/Tupelo I mentioned above. You can see where it suffered die back and I pruned off all the little shoots from the bottom of the trunk except the best one, which is what is left. Seems to be doing fine now and should be alright going forward. Unfortunately it's pretty small, only maybe 18-24 inches tall, so it may be a long wait before it attains much size. 

[rmstevens2]

We just bought a second Chinese Pistache today, and I planted it in the backyard. My wife accuses me of trying to turn our yard into a forest. I don't want to turn it into a forest, but a park would be nice.

Chinese Pistache trees have brilliant autumn leaf color. 

[rmstevens2]

We just bought a second Chinese Pistache today, and I planted it in the backyard. My wife accuses me of trying to turn our yard into a forest. I don't want to turn it into a forest, but a park would be nice.

Chinese Pistache trees have brilliant autumn leaf color. 

This morning I dug that tree up and moved it about two feet up that slope. The leaves weren't looking too good. I suspected the spot was too wet, because water tends to pool up at the base of that slope when it rains. I was right. When I first stuck the shovel into the ground near the base of that tree, water gushed out. The spot was basically a mud hole, and it smelled like a peat bog.

Two feet up the slope the soil was relatively dry. I think the tree will be fine now.

[szin]

Here's the Crabapple tree in my backyard a week or so ago. Not the best photo.

I love spring blooms.