Falling In Love (a.k.a. Peep's gardening journal)

[PunkinPeep]

Back to the arborist question for a sec. I found them almost by accident. We have lots of folks up here who do "tree trimming" and will leave your trees looking like a stalk of broccoli. I, for some funny reason, didn't like that effect for my forest, so I called the fanciest ad in the yellow pages. Turns out they not only have 2 certified arborists, but a master forester on staff.

What I liked about working with them was the focus on the health of the trees and my forest in general. I thought we were going to have to take out several trees, but ended up losing only 3. Two were long past rehab and 1 was a crabapple.

Yeah, they were more expensive than the other guys, but the results were awesome. Highly recommend finding one if you have lots of trees to work on.

Thanks! :bouquet

 

[Lavender2]

Granted, most cities probably do not (not sure), but our city has a master forester on staff... he will come to check trees and give advice for free. And not just your trees, but native plants and the health of your forest.
Sadly, most people in our city are not aware of this. We happen to know because he's a friend of ours.

A 'tree service' will come in and chop down whatever tree you point at and want removed.
The benefits of getting advice from an expert are great. They will look at your property from an environmental view and help you with a plan.
You seem great at doing a lot of research on your own too, this will surely benefit your property in the long run!
Did you see that your 'Bursting Hearts' (Strawberry bush) is an endangered native plant in 2 states? ... A wonderful native to cherish!

I am so glad your taking the time and doing some research before chopping.
I have gardened in the shade of deciduous trees for many years, and have a large forested area that we have left natural.
I also live in a swamp... the mosquito should be our state bird... ... but I cherish my shade gardens and native plants the most!

I know one must have sun to grow veges, but walk softly, learn more about your trees and take only what you must... try working around nature's canopies, if you can. Many, many 'part shade' perennials will do beautifully under a deciduous canopy. Sun loving plants will actually benefit from some shade, esp. in your climate....

 

[PunkinPeep]

Lavender2,

I did not know that about the bursting hearts! I knew they were rare, since no one i talked to could tell me what they were. I finally got an answer by emailing a botany professor at Stephen F. Austin. He specializes in studies of our area, and he has become an amazing resource. He can tell my non-professional descriptions of a plant and write me back with a picture and accurate identification every time. I'm hoping he doesn't get tired of me, so i try to do as much research as possible on my own before i contact him.
Anyway, that strawberry bush (i don't call it that because it's too confusing, and i don't want anyone to try to eat it) is absolutely so special to me! I think that probably most people will cut down that sort of thing before they realize what it is - probably why it is endangered.

As to the trees, hubby and i are serious tree lovers! The day we cut down those trees, i am sure we will both shed tears. But we have been tracking our sunlight for a year now - trying to find a place to garden, etc. And thankfully, most of the trees we will remove to open up some sun, will be pines, which in the piney woods, are far from endangered. Other than the pines, there will be i think 3 or 4 oaks and 1 or 2 hophornbeams, which i hate to cut down. But if we can do it with that few trees (as opposed to those who clear a forest for a house) we're doing pretty well. Oh, and the area will still be in the shade part of the day after all of that. Most of that area was cleared by previous owners, which is why we're picking that area for gardening. I'm hoping we can keep the dogwood that's in that area, and i'm trying to convince my husband that we can keep our favorite oak as it will only block sun part of the day.

We're planning to replace the pines with either smaller evergreens (maybe cedars) or fruit trees. So it still won't be bare of trees. We just need trees short enough that they don't block sunlight from the entire yard.

As to the master forester, it might be, now that i think about it, that there would be someone available for that kind of thing in our area. Since we have a couple of big national forests right here, the forestry service is pretty strong in our area.

But i don't know if we'll need him since we have no intention of cutting down anything but those few trees.

Now, if we get to buy the land next to that section (sometime in the wild blue yonder), then we may need some help. That place is a mess! Someone who owned it in the past, apparently came in and cut down virtually everything and then it was left. And it's just a mess because all the trees are about the same size and competing for sunlight - and none of them thriving at all. It's really surprisingly ugly.

I guess i'll stop rambling on now.

I love the feedback!

Which states is it that the strawberry bush is endangered in? Where did you find that information?

 

[Lavender2]

Sounds like you have wonderful resources and an excellent plan!! :happy_flower

The USDA site is one of the best resources for natives, invasives, etc...
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=euam9

If you search any plant, then add 'USDA' after it, most likely the site will come up as one of the first hits...

Here's another great one, esp for your area...

http://www.wildflower.org/

Happy gardening!!

 

[PunkinPeep]

Great links!

Thank you! :bouquet

 

[PunkinPeep]

After posting my all time favorite native flower in my first post in this thread

Euonymous americanus L.
"Hearts-a-bustin'"
"Bursting Hearts"
"American Strawberry Bush" (but don't eat these strawberries unless you want to spend the week in the potty)

I gained the courage, after reading a really long time - and from all of your (TEG's) encouragement, to take some cuttings.

Reportedly, this is one of the world's easiest plants to root from cuttings, and since one of the sources that i read (but didn't bother to reference ) said to take the cuttings in the fall, that's what i did this evening right before dark.

I had scoped out what might be the best place for them to put on their autumn show next year, and i decided on the area between the back of the house and the drip line. The ground there is moist and shady - seemingly perfect for the Bursting Hearts. And since they need something to lean on as they grow older, i figured the back of the house might work.

I'm not sure how many cuttings i took from the two plants that are firmly rooted in the areas of their choosing. But i stuck them in the ground about every foot-and-a-half-ish for the 30-foot length of the house.

Now i'm dreaming about the display. I'm afraid i'm going to spend the whole winter, waking up and running outside to check on them, and they'll still appear to be doing nothing at all until February or so (our winters are quite short-lived). I'll be praying for them every day. I'm so excited i can't stand it!

This is my first true attempt at any level of gardening that might be classified anywhere near 'landscaping,' so we will see, won't we?

 

[injunjoe]

Wow you go girl!

I am very impressed with your enthusiasm!
Not to mention you are doing your homework! Not just asking but researching also!

So you say you have a professor that you can ask questions, think you could ask him to join us here at TEG ?

Joe

 

[PunkinPeep]

I'm sure i could ask. The worst he could say is no!

Thanks for the compliments! I am a researcher at heart. And the only way i can really learn something is by jumping in. So.....i did.

I am really appreciating all the support here at TEG. Sometimes the research can get you only so far. And it's nice to have real people to talk to too.

 

[PunkinPeep]

:rainbow-sun Stevia Cuttings :rainbow-sun

No, i still don't have pictures.

But the other day when i was offering up stevia seeds for experimentation, i was also taking cuttings of the entire plant to try to root for next year.

I really don't know what i'm doing. I followed Joe, the cutting meister's advice here , but since Joe kindly assumes i am less ignorant than i really am, i'm still a little lost.

But you have to do what you can do with what you have to do, and sometimes maybe, i'm hoping, tlc will do the trick. :rainbow-sun

I ended up with 11 cuttings in six pots. And i used soil from my yard because that's what i have right now. I'm pretty sure our soil would be described as sandy loam. It's pretty nice. I tried to get all the roots and junk out of it as best i could, and then i just proceeded.

If i worry too much about the details i don't understand, then i just won't go forward. I've decided i like going forward with uncertainty better than sitting still with uncertainty. So there you go.

I put all the pots on a plastic tray (a broken cake pan topper) on top of my microwave, which is kind of under a fluorescent kitchen light - and also right next to the kitchen window. I tented the whole tray in a see-through-ish white trash bag.

This morning, i decided i should check on my cuttings (it has been three days, i think?), and i was SHOCKED at how wet it is in there! It wasn't that wet when i tented it! I just barely barely watered the soil. And i still don't understand why it's so wet now, but i think it's pretty cool.

When i checked, one of the cuttings was looking "perky," as i interpret Joe's meaning. Its leaves were super tiny to begin with, and it seems to be carrying on. The rest still look dead - well, deader than they looked when i put them in there. So i put the tent back on to wait. Waiting is so hard to do.

Now that i've taken off the tent once, i keep wanting to go back and look at the cuttings more, and that was only about an hour ago.

The one perky cutting encouraged me that this might actually do something. I hope so!

 

[injunjoe]

Hey that sounds great!

Sounds like the tent can be removed soon and you can just keep an eye that they don't dry out.

Mist them a few times a day, watch the soil and you should have many new plants.

Good for you!

Joe