Getting There

Despite my continued frustration at my relatively slow progress trying to restore our property, I was happy to see how big one of our black gum trees (Nyssa sylvatica) is getting.  I am enjoying its fall color.

However, that is not what prompted this post.  While trying to get some shots of the fall leaves (with my digital camera, not posted here), something caught my eye.  My alder trees are finally making flower buds/catkins!  I have been known to get pretty excited when my trees become sexually mature!

These trees started as bare root seedlings that had been temporarily planted in a decaying mulch pile.  After too many years of not moving them to there final location, I finally moved them this spring.  The move seems to have been very beneficial to them.  They recovered quickly and are now about 5 feet tall...and making there first catkins.  I hope to protect them from the deer and see them bloom in the spring.  I am, also, looking forward to seeing their cone-like seedpods come fall and winter. :)

They Should ALL be Caged!

I can't be sure if it was just my normal procrastinating nature or disappointment over what happened that has kept me from posting this, but here goes: I was out in the yard, after a snow, looking for animal tracks and basically anything of interest, when I checked up on the dogwood I had planted in what will be our woodland. I was disappointed to see that the rabbits had eaten around the bark, which will likely kill the young tree--at least the upper portion. I am hoping it will grow from below where they ate.

For three years, the rabbits never bothered the first five dogwoods I put in. A deer did nibble the twigs on one of them, but has left the rest alone. I put six more in this year and did nothing to protect them. Now after seeing the damage that the rabbits did to this one, I protected the other young ones the best I could without running out to buy more fencing. Aluminum foil, should foil those bunnies!

I do have cages around many of my tree seedlings--especially around those that I know are readily eaten by deer or rabbits.

There is more to this story. I was planning to save this for a series of posts I planned to create called "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", but here it is: Although the 3-year-old black gum tree seedlings I put in the first spring that we were here were not bothered by the rabbits and only a few were *lightly browsed* by the deer, I found that only the tag is left of the one that I planted under the forsythia bushes that I'm in the process of removing. ~sigh~ Here's hoping that it will come up from below as well!

I've yet to put a cage around all of the trees and shrubs I've put in, but perhaps I should. One thing I've learned from this is that anything planted where there is cover needs more protection than those planted where it is more open.


The black gum before.


All that is left is the tag.


The damage to the dogwood.

It Feels Like Spring! :)

I was out in the yard yesterday, and I even sawed off three overgrown forsythia that I've been wanting to remove. After cutting them to the ground, I pushed them back some, but left them in place to provide cover for the birds. One or two branches that had been in contact with the ground had rooted which made it rather difficult to move this one unrelenting trunk.

It was around 50, and I had to take off my jacket and go around in a T-shirt, but it wasn't until today, which is colder, that it really reminded me of spring. I think the sun had a lot to do with it. :)

I planted two more dogwood in the area (a total of three) and a black gum seedling. I wanted to cut back the forsythia (and remove its roots in the spring) to keep it from shading the black gum. Although the deer don't tend to do more than "lightly" browse" the black gum seedlings I put in the first year here, I put more twigs from the forsythia around it to protect it. The sooner it can grow to sexual maturity the better. I want berries to feed the birds. Like hollies and some other trees, the male and female flowers are on separate trees. I have no way of knowing at this point if this one is male or female. So far I have seven black gum on the property--all of which I planted. I planted five the first year, lost one, and planted 3 more this year.




before

after