A Hornet's Nest

When we first moved into this home, we had a lot of trouble with paper wasps building their nests all over the property. Everywhere they could find an overhang, they would build. It was always around the house, near doorways, porches or the shed door where they would be a nuisance.  Then a few years ago, the number of wasps decreased to the point where they either found another place to live or they weren't such the nuisance they had been.  Occasionally, I will see a small paper wasp nest under an overhang, but rarely.  Here's why...

We noticed a few years ago when I got stung in the face that a colony of bald-faced hornets made a nest in my largest climbing New Dawn rose, only inches from our grill.  It was a very large nest so it had been there for some time before I got stung.  Of course, being so close to the place where we grilled almost daily, it had to go.  To bad.  I had asked a friend what they were and he informed us that they were a quiet beneficial insect that prayed mostly on paper wasps and other destructive insects.  I hated to do what we did to them, but they had to go.  Paper wasps returned to the garden.

The following year, they were found in the top of one of the maple trees.  Our tree trimmer found them and refused to prune that tree.  Understandable.  However, because they were at the top of the 10 foot tree, they were allowed to remain there, not being a problem with stinging.  There were no paper wasps in the garden that year.  By November of that year, the nest had long been abandoned and was blown from the tree in a stiff wind.

The year after that, they decided to make a nest in my vegetable garden, near the ground.  We couldn't harvest the strawberries without being stung numerous times.  They had to go again.  Once again paper wasps returned to the garden.

This year, I found a fine, very, very large bald-faced hornet nest deep inside the Star Magnolia.  This nest is even larger than the one we found in the New Dawn rose - about the size of two human heads put together.  It's been there undetected all summer and just increased in size over this time.  I stood and watched the activity around it for a bit and realized that the hornets were using a hole deep within the tree to enter and leave.  It would be very hard for any person to get that far inside the magnolia.

I had to tell Husband about the nest and he got upset.  "I was working really close to that spot pulling weeds," he said.  I told him to be careful around the area and don't do anything to dislodge the nest or disrupt it in any way and he will be fine.  He was insistent that it had to go.  I hope I talked him into leaving it alone.  Even with hornet spray, there's no way you could destroy this size nest without taking on a lot of battle scars.  I do prefer that they keep their nests at the top of the larger trees, but this one really isn't in the way and should be left alone.  Besides, they do keep the destructive bug population down a good bit.

September is coming and the temperatures are going to be dropping.  They will leave the nest and hibernate underground for the winter.  The nest will be abandoned forever.  They've lived here this long without incident and hopefully will be able to live the rest of the summer quietly.  At least I hope so.  Most of the work for that garden bed is done for the year.  It won't be until early spring when we go there again to prepare it for next year's growth.  The only work around that area is mowing that will be several feet away from the nest once a week or less depending on the rain.  Since the hornets enter the nest from inside the tree, no one, even the mower will get close enough to upset them.

I have seen a nest that was even larger than this one, near the top of a 80 foot dying tree.  These insects are incredible and having them in the garden isn't a bad thing.  Just when they choose a bad spot to start a nest.  Next year, they will find another place to build and hopefully it will be at the top of one of our larger trees.  Up there, they will be left completely alone, to live their lives and do their thing without consequence.  I like what they do for my garden - the way they keep it clean of destructive insects, but I can't have them where I work a lot.

They've been living in this garden for the past 4 years and I hope they continue to stay.  Each year it is interesting to see where they decide to build a nest and I can only hope they choose a spot where I won't find them a nuisance.  They are usually quite quiet and don't get upset if you meet them in the garden away from their nest.  Their protective instincts, however, can cause problems in more high traffic areas.

A night of fun

Last evening we went to a pollinator's challenge.  For those of you who don't know, my garden is registered with Penn State as well as the Audubon Society as a "natural" garden. 

For the Audubon Society it's registered as a bird sanctuary.  With Penn State it's registered as Pollinator Friendly.

Basically what this means is that I limit the herbicides and insecticides in the garden which allows a more poison free environment for both birds and insects.  There was a very small fee of about $10 each to register my garden and my garden as also inspected by Penn State Master Gardener's which was no big deal since by then it was already registered with the Audubon Society.

 Last night was the first every Pollinator's Challenge that was put on by the Penn State Master Gardener's at the test gardens in Landisville.  It was very fun and even though I didn't win any of the door prizes, I had such a great time exchanging observations with others of like mind.  There were bee keepers there explaining how the hives were kept and the honey extracted.  There was a honey tasting event and snack that were wonderful!  There was a lecture on the pollinator's garden and what it should be and as usual, the push for more registered gardens.

Above is a picture of an Agastache plant.  In my opinion this is one of the the best plants for bees and butterflies.  This plant will get about 4 feet tall and will spread nicely, creating a wonderful colony of flowers.
Below is the Heliopsis.  Another very lovely large daisy that is a big draw for bees and butterflies.  This plant can get close to 6 feet tall if in the right place and will also create a nice colony of plants as it ages.

After the lecture, we ventured out with the hostess for a tour of the test gardens.  A really lovely place.  We entered through an arbor of honey suckle (below).

We discussed all the native plants that were growing in the test garden.  Did you know that Pennsylvania has it's own native petunia?  Ruellia is the native petunia.  A small plant that will definitely find a spot in my garden.  I love petunias and have them around the house every year.

One of Husband's plants of interest is the Yucca.  I've always tried to discourage them because of the massive root system.  But when they are in flower they are impressive, so I might have to agree to put some back in the meadow garden.  Our hostess was telling us that they are surprisingly sought after by bees and butterflies.

Other plants that I have in the garden and saw peeping from under some of the other natives were the lovely wild violets.  I got six plants several years ago at the Penn State native plant sale usually held around Mother's Day.  They've now spread to just about every flower plot in my garden.  We know these lovelies and won't pull them out as they cover the ground with their lovely purple leaves and deep indigo blue flowers in the spring.

It was a wonderful time altogether.  It was nice to converse with and spend time with people of like mind - who realize what it is to have gardens that are pesticide free.  To grow food and herbs in gardens without pesticides or herbicides and know that when you eat out of it, you are eating food as nature intended. 

This was very last minute for me, but I'm glad I decided not to miss it.

Flowers to take Note of

The white rose across the back of my vegetable garden is City of York, Climber, 1945
Tantau, Germany.
'Professor Gnau' x' Dorothy Perkins'
This is one of a few climbers that I would encourage any Pennsylvania garden to have.  It is vigorous, (mine is only 4 years old), and yes, all the white roses you see across the back of my veggie garden is simply one rose!  It stretches across at least 20 feet of fencing wire.  Even though it does get blackspot, it is so vigorous it will just push past the fungus and keep on looking incredible without being sprayed.  Even when not in flower this rose is stunning.  It does rebloom several times in a season.  And you gotta love that fragrance!  It has a wonderful spicy aroma that makes your mouth water.
My only disappointment with this rose is rooting cuttings.  When I bought this one from Roses Unlimited, I had plans on purchasing another the following year.  When the time came, Roses Unlimited told me that they had had some problems with their mother stock and didn't have the rose available.  I immediately cupped two lovely stock canes.  One of them died within the first three weeks.  But the other continued into the summer, still cupped and finally in October of 2010, six whole months after I first started the cutting, I finally planted it to protect it over the winter.  It had only one ½" long root on it and I seriously didn't think it would make the winter.  It not only did, but started growing slowly in the spring and continued to grow until now, it is about five feet long.  It now has a total of six main canes.  It gave me close to 2 dozen flowers this year and I hope that by next year, this baby will begin to really be as vigorous as it's mother plant.  It takes about 3 years for a rose to establish in my garden but then it usually shows its full potential. 
Below is a close up of these exquisite beauties.

 This is a flower that is so exquisite that I had to comment on it.  It is the flower of the
St. John's Wort.  The variety show below is called 'Brigadoon'.  About 4 years ago, this lovely variety of St. John's Wort was introduced and I thought it was so stunning I wanted to try it in my garden.  Each year for three years I bought three plants from Wayside Gardens and the fourth year they didn't carry it any more.  I was able to get one plant from Kehlm Nurseries, but I didn't see it in their catalog this year either.  So, I wonder what is wrong with it? 

I put all ten plants in the deep dry shade of our maple tree and it flourished wonderfully.  However, until this year it had never bloomed for me.  Could that have been the problem?  I don't know.  But, I do know that they lovely chartreuse colored leaves lend a great color contrast to an otherwise very deep shaded area.  In brighter light the leaves would be more gold but for my purposes, the chartreuse is enough.  The flowers are bright yellow and quite delicate looking.  Also they are much larger than I had anticipated.

I do nothing to it, ever.  Even when autumn comes, I leave the dead, brown leaves there and the new ones come up through in the spring.  It spreads wonderfully in the bed and is covering all the exposed dirt, allowing us at least one bed that doesn't need to be mulched.

"And so," I ask, "Where did these lovelies come from?"  Above are garden hollyhocks that grow in the "Wildflower" weed bed along a fence of other notable roses and elderberries.  One time, when we first move here, I had some wildflowers and black hollyhocks growing along this fence.  Now after several years of not see hollyhocks at all, a bunch of them made an appearance.  Most of them are yellow, but some this year are white.  These beauties will stand up to 7 feet tall and are great for that back fence since they are so easily seen.  These wild babies will be allowed to reseed at will since that's where they came from in the first place.

Below is a butterfly weed.  Curiously, it made an appearance this year in a flower bed at our well.  It is a large plant so it must have been there for several years without being noticed???  I honestly think I would have noticed the bright orange flowers.  But nonetheless, it made an appearance this year and because of the bright orange flowers, it wasn't pulled out.  We made sure that most of the weeds around it were pulled away so it has room to spread.  No, I didn't plant this one at all and am curious as to where it came from.  I did have one about 10 feet away many years ago, but it's been gone for a very long time.  It got here somehow and I'm happy to see it.  I hope to have it grow into a nice colony in the next years.

Spring in the Back Garden

Spring is here in the back garden.  After 10 years, I noticed the the Tulip Poplar is blooming!  This is the first time I've seen this tree bloom and they are simply wonderful!

As this unopened bud is, most of the flowers for this tree were hidden within the dense foliage.  I'm hoping, now that the tree has finally begun to bloom that each year we'll see more and more of these beauties.

This is one of two of our wood nymphs that we found at Lowe's.  This one resides in the birdbath among the glossy abalias and the gold St. John's Wart.  The other resides in the birdbath in the HOSPICE bed we created from plants we bought at a HOSPICE Auction two years ago.  These two nymphs add the bit of whimsey needed in our garden.

This is a rose of note - Anne Marie de Montravel.  It all started in 1987 when we bought our home in Lancaster suburbia and I wanted a rose garden.  Husband bought me a rose through a club he joined and I decided I needed a few more to finish the bed.  On a trip to Home Depot, they had an antique rose called Anne Marie de Montravel, so I got it thinking that it would be nice to have an antique rose in the garden.  It turns out that the rose was misnamed and actually was Frau Karl Druschki, which is also classified as an antique rose, but is a hybrid perpetual bred in 1901in Lambert Germany.

On the other hand, Anne Marie de Montravel is a polyantha bred by Francois Dubreuil in Rambaux, France and introduced in 1879.  Anne Marie de Montravel is a much smaller rose than Frau Karl Druschki and since I have both in my garden, I will say that in my garden, Anne Marie is the far better rose.  She towers at almost 6 feet tall and nearly 10 feet wide which makes her almost 3Xs the size she's supposed to get.  This rose will cover itself with tiny white blooms several times a year.

When it was discovered that the rose I originally got was not Anne Marie but actually Frau Karl Durschki, I searched for Anne Marie but a friend told me it was not available in the US.  In 2002, the year we moved into this home, Anne Marie de Montravel became available in this country in limited quantities through a grower which many considered questionable.  Still I ordered the rose.  It came so absolutely tiny I had serious doubts if it would make it.  But I planted it anyway, right into the ground.  The first year, a rabbit got it and chewed it to the ground as it began to grow, so I put a cage around it to keep the rabbit at bay.  It lived until the next spring, still very tiny but outgrew the cage quickly and I had to free it.  10 years later, my very tiny, brand new rose is pictured above.

Two floribundas I had planted around it succumbed to the powerful Anne Marie de Montravel.  One of which I will be replacing in the spring should another spot open up in the garden somewhere.  She rivals my breathtaking Marie Pavie who often crowds Happy, a smaller bright red polyantha given to me by a friend.  Happy doesn't seem to mind to much though.

It's funny, I have a lot of trouble with Hybrid Tea roses, but when it comes to the "Old Garden Roses" such as Ann Marie de Montravel (1879), Marie Pavie (1888), Happy (1954) and Leonie Lamesch (1899), all polyanthas, Some of the stronger hybrid perpetuals such as Baronne Provost (1842), and the exquisit Gruss an Aachen (1909), considered the 1st floribunda, just to name a few, grow so nicely in my garden with strength, disease resistance and breathtaking ease.  These roses were bred to grow in a garden.  And with these roses I'm quite happy.

There are other roses in the garden, most of which are the older, proven varieties that I grow in my garden.  And I'll leave some of those for another day.

Longwood Gardens

Yesterday we went to Longwood Gardens to attend Dr. Joan Maloof's lecture "Among the Ancients"  It was a very interesting lecture about the ancient (virgin) forests that are now at 1% of their original numbers.  The group was also surprised to find out that our National Parks and lands are not protected from logging and/or mineral depletion.  We also learned that amount of time it would take to put protection policies in place would make it almost impossible to save what is left of our old wood.  One of the group suggested that her old growth network get together with the game commission to help establish a network of old forests.  This would be a win/win.  The old forests is where the animals are most at home and it would help with the hunting experience for those who enjoy this sport.

www.OldGrowthForest.net

When I first moved to Conestoga, I loved the area for all the old trees and old forests.  I moved to Green Hill and was so glad that I did.  The deer, turkey, plaited woodpeckers and all the other animals were fund to watch and listen to.  In the past 10 years, the plaited woodpeckers are now gone; the deer population and dwindled and I no longer see any of the huge 16 point bucks that roamed here frequently; and much of the old wood on this mountain is gone too.  This was a wonderful forest of hardwoods such as beech, oak of several varieties, poplar, maple.  Many have been cut down to make room for roads, houses and grass.  What trees are being planted are Asian trees that have no benefit here.

Scientists are always warning us about global warming.  How can this not be happening with 99% of our forests now depleted?  They are the core of our earth.  The oxygen that we breath, the coolness that we feel on a hot day, homes for animals and food for us all.  They live on carbon dioxide and their roots stop erosion. They also help us save on fuel, but cooling our homes with their shade in the summer and in the winter, when their branches are bare, they allow the warm sun through to help with heat.  And yet we continue to destroy our forests.  We are drawn to the forest as are all animals.  This is where we find the beauty we so need to drop blood pressure and make sense of life.  Yet we are the only species that will see something beautiful and destroy it, hoping that it will become part of us.  In the end, all we did was destroy something beautiful.

When we built our home 10 years ago, we placed it in a knoll of a farm field.  The 1 1/4 acres that surrounds it we've planted 65 trees in that time, ranging from small understory food trees and large shrubs to poplar, ash, oak and maple for shade and living areas for birds.  We also planted a number of evergreen trees included in that count, again for food and shelter as well as wind breaks from the strong Westerlies that blow across the property.  Our bird population has increased to include sparrows (3 different species), wrens (2 species), finches (3 species), woodpeckers (4 species), thrashers, cardinals, blue jays, bluebirds, tree swallows, catbirds, mockingbirds, orioles (2 species), hummingbirds and hawks (2 species), the great horned owl and an occasional eagle.  Lots of visiting birds migrating or just visiting.

Unfortunately, our trees are still very young.  I won't live to see them mature, but will be able to enjoy them right now.  I've already watched our garden grow from barren and hot to a much more shady and inviting garden.  I hope to see it grow even larger.

Something Big

It's been about a month ago now, we had a visit from the local electric company. They were concerned that we had two white ash trees in "their" border zone of the high tension lines that run behind our property. This are is an easement and although they do allow plants in this area, large trees are another story.

Our concern was the weather. It's been entirely to warm this winter and the ground hasn't frozen which is what is needed for the equipment to be on the property with the least amount of damage. I asked for an extension if I needed it to get these trees moved. PPL agreed since they were in the border zone and young trees.

Today the tree movers we hired came to move the trees. The 10 ton tree spade was huge!

Brian got the tree spade into position and double checked everything before actually digging the whole that one of the trees will occupy.

When he was finished, the hole was 5 feet wide by 5 feet deep.

After digging the first tree ( the smallest one), he stops and measures the size of the plug (dirt and tree) to make sure it is the same size as the hole he dug to fit it into. With this smaller tree, it will never even know that it's been moved! There were absolutely no roots cut with this one as the spade is much larger than necessary for the 3½" diameter ash.

The larger 10" diameter tree was much more the size for this tree spade, but only a few roots were cut with it. This tree should be able to snap back quickly as well. In the above shot, Brian is placing the larger tree plug into the hole he had dug for it earlier.

I did get a charge out of the little Black-Capped Chickadees who all sat in the beech tree watching as we moved these trees. They were very curious and very unafraid. They made me laugh.

It was really a beautiful day for all this work to get done. My day started at 7am when I was outside digging up plants that I didn't want hurt or ruined by this spade. Husband joined me around 9am and we were able to get all the plants out of the way and are now shoed into the garden for a few days until we have a chance to establish the four holes and plugs that are now in the yard and make a nice place for them to be permanently.

The rest of the week is to be wet chilly weather. This will be great for the two trees and all the ruts that were put into the yard with this huge piece of machinery. It will water in and set the trees and prepare the other plugs for the plants we want to put in them.

Trees of interest

We went to Hershey Garden Monday, mainly to see about photographing roses. The roses weren't all that nice this time of year, but we were able to get some nice shots of some interesting trees.

At my Open Garden Event, many folks were asking me about the beautiful pink tree in the middle of my back yard. It is a tricolored beech. The tree above is a mature tree in it's summer garb that grows at Hershey Gardens. It is about 30 feet tall with a lovely 20 to 30 foot spread. This tree is as impressive mature as it is in my garden as a young one. Ask me again why the beech (no matter what variety) is my favorite tree. I must admit to being more impressed with the mature trees than young ones anyway.

My new neighbors were given a variety of beautiful young trees as a house warming gift by friends who own a nursery. What a wonderful gift! There are a total of 8 trees for them. So far they have 5 of them planted. Three red maples, a weeping cherry and a young silk tree like the one above. They will be the first in the neighborhood to have a silk tree. The one shown is a mature silk tree. A lovely small tree that seems to get about 10 feet tall with at least a 15 foot spread. In the spring (early June) the flowers on this tree resemble in fragrance and look of a lilac. It is a really lovely tree! The three trees the neighbors were honored with but not planted yet (until fall as I understand) are Katsura trees. When I saw this mature one at Hershey, my first thought was that the neighbors need a bigger garden! Three of these on their acre of ground! Check out the adult people sitting under this beauty! There would be no room for the house! They were told they get about 30 feet tall. Yep, that's about right. But they were not told this tree has a 60 foot spread! This is one glorious tree but it does need ROOM! Whenever we go to Hershey, we actually seek this tree out to sit under to rest.

There are a good many beautiful trees at Hershey and when I was looking at planting trees, or whenever I'm looking for planting trees, I often go there to see the mature trees in the garden. This gives me an idea of what a mature speciman will look like and how much room to give each one. My estimate, at the moment is that when my trees are mature, my garden will be mostly shade with some sun around the house at mid-day and in the front garden over the drain field.

There are reasons I enjoy going to the public gardens, especially the ones with such good reps as Hershey and Longwood.

Relay for Cancer

Today we went to a "Relay for Cancer" event and the Conestoga Valley HS track and field. It was a wonderful day, even with the brief shower. Today was a cross dressing event for the men. Tons of fun!!

Shortly before my mother passed, another family member, Jim Ziggler passed away from cancer. This spurred on many of the family members who were closest to him to join in the fun and try to earn some money for the cause.

We couldn't resist the temptation to take pictures of the guys in the "Ziggy Zone" as they cross-dressed for this event. The object was for them to go around the entire track and field area collecting as much money as they could for cancer research.

While there we also met other folks we knew who have retired from work. This was a very fun day!

There were quite a number of men dressing for this event and I must admit I was impressed with the individually and creativity they expressed with dressing up. They each seemed to have something different to share. Some were even brave enough to wear heels and strut around the field. Now there's a feat even I wouldn't want to attempt.

I'm not exactly sure how much money the "Ziggy Zone" made for the cancer research, but I do know they made it to the "Gold Zone". Great job, folks!

I do know I left there pretty much cash poor.

Yesterday

After three weeks of rain, cold, raw weather, we finally had a nice day, just in time for my meeting with my rose club and the open garden. It was a pleasant day and the turn-out of folks was nice. There was more than enough food to go around for everyone. I was pleased, but as usual, even with both Bob and I working the room(s), it didn't seem like enough. We were both kept very busy. But I think everyone got out of the event what they really wanted to.

Later, after everyone left, just as evening was coming, a beautiful rainbow made an appearance. Actually there were two, but by the time we got the camera, only one was left. What a wonderful promise after all the nasty, unstable weathr we'd just experienced.

We also got some shots of the pond about 1,000 feet from the property and the lovely mist that was rising from it in the evening temperatures.

During the gathering, while walking around with one of the guests, Bob was able to snap this shot of the opening flowers of one of the viburman, All That Jazz. Very similar, except for the leaf structure to the Blue Muffin viburman (which I have two), All That Jazz also gets blue berries after the flowers that the birds will strip before they have a chance to drop off the plant.

The Blue Muffin viburman are only a year old, not very big but are producing an abundance of fower heads already. Something that All That Jazz waited to do for about 3 years.

One of the Finishing Touches

One of the finishing touches to the hardscape of the property is a path that I've been wanting from the patio to the driveway, so guests don't have to walk in wet grass and mud to get to it from the outside.
I hired a handyman team to help with the initial digging of the pathway. They dug a hole 4 inches deep, 30 inches wide and 80 feet long and did it in only a few hours. I was impressed and very delighted with the work! Husband, who argued with me at first was so impressed and glad that we had done that. It saved him a lot of time and backache. They also dug up the rest of the grass between the path and the rose garden, giving me an area for favorite annuals and a serious punch of color.

Husband actually did the rest. He laid down the weed block into the hole. Covered it with 2" of rough stone chips and began laying the pavers with three inches between them, cutting the ones on the curves. This took about a week with good weather. Finally, with this done, he filled with the decorative stone pebbles I had gotten as a finish. During some breaks, we went to local flower nurseries and bought four flats of colorful annuals, mostly snapdragons (one of my favorites), marigolds (Husband's favorite), summer saliva in different colors, Gerber daisies, stock and a few other kinds of annuals.

The flowers have been in a week now and this morning I headed out to give them their first dose of fertilizer and saw several hummers busily working through them. I think this will be nice.

This is one thing I've been wanting done for a number of years - since we put the patio in anyway.

New Dawn is Dead!

The highlight of my garden, the New Dawn rose, my grandmother's and my mother's favorite rose is dead! Don't ask me how or why, it simply died. This rose with a 17" diameter trunk on it, gorgeous blooms several times a year has done well until this spring. I am heartbroken. I truly expected this one to last over 50 years, not just nine. Now to get the thing off the arbor. This will be no easy feat. Most of the main canes are far to thick for even a heavy pruner and will need a chain saw. Most of them in my case are larger than both my wrists together. I'm figuring this will be the summer project. I think I do want to replace it with an own root New Dawn. The one on the other side was from Vintage Garden and is now three years old. They are harder to start, you need more patience, but maybe it will last longer than nine years. Right now, three main canes are over 12' tall but it doesn't have the mass yet as the other did. I will have to check with Vintage and Roses Unlimited about getting another. The problem with getting roses mail order, especially with Roses Unlimited, you need to purchase three roses and I'd want only the New Dawn. That is a downer. However, now that I think about it, Roses Unlimited also has Summer Wine which is another I would want, so with just one more, I could order three. I need to think about that quickly. All my roses in the back of the house took a hard hit this year. Many of my strongest roses froze to the ground. So far, I've lost just Ellen Wilmont that I can see. Even my most tender Crimson Bouquet survived. Then roses such a Marie Pavie, Charles Aznavour, Shaifra Asma, Ann Marie de Montravel, Rose de Rescht, Baron Prevost, Frau Karl Durschki, Bonica, Gruss an Aachen and all the climbers except New Dawn seem untouched. Even the very hard to root City of York, only two inches high when I finally planted it last fall, made it through the winter. It had just one 1/4" root on it after 4 months of diligently struggling with it to get it to root. Finally I had no choice last fall but to plant it. It's growing beautifully now. Go figure. I'll have to let you know what I do now, but there's no question that New Dawn is dead. Oh, I am heartsick about this.

Garden thoughts

After showing you this gorgeous picture of Longwood Gardens weeping hemlock, I must show you mine... This little on is about hip high and has been in the ground close to 5 years now. It's average growth is about 1/4" a year and at this rate it should take about 200 years to look like the one at Longwood. I do have this one a bit close to my well, but at it's growth rate, I'm in no big hurry to move it. I figure the well will be long gone before the tree gets big enough to interfer with it.

My new and improved west garden bed. After we discovered that the forthsytia had a gull disease, we had them dug out and transplanted the area with other plants, most of which were planted last fall. I don't usually like planting in the fall because of the severe artic winds we get here, many plants that haven't had a chance to establish a root system will usually die. To make matters worse, the Douglas fir was a problem for the nursery man to get it dug. I'm watching this tree closely and making sure it gets plenty of water and fertilizer this year to keep it going. I'll know soon if this tree has made it or if it is a goner. There is some die back on it, but also there's some on the blue spruce as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Bones of Longwood Gardens Cont.