Checking in on the big(ish) trees

While we embrace our “wide open spaces” desert prairie property, we also are trying to grow a number of good-sized trees to provide a little more interest and a little more privacy. Most of these trees are in their second year, a few in their third. So they are still working on getting established. We go around in the water wagon and give them individual drinks at least once a week. But by this time in the summer they are still pretty stressed, just trying to make it to the first frost.

So this is a little circle tour around the property checking in on all of the trees we have planted.

Our big red maple in front thinks it’s fall, which actually it almost is!

These two maples are also along the front driveway and are both looking good.

The larger of our two weeping willows. The branches along the bottom are front Montana who trimmed some off for some kind of grafting or rooting experiment she is doing.

This smaller willow desperately needs more water. We’ll keep working on it!

We planted a whole row of aspen trees behind the shop. A few of these aspens made it, and then we replaced a few that didn’t with pears. This is the first of that row, right along the driveway stretch that goes to the neighbors, and it is a great looking aspen. Of all the places I am happy to have a strong tree, this is it (in terms of somewhat blocking the neighbor’s giant dumpster in front of their house.)

The second in the row is now a pear, doing fine.

This aspen gets the least amount of sun (the neighbors have a huge tree shading it), but it is growing great, though a little crazy. This is not a tree that we can actually see, because it is behind the shop.

Another aspen that was replaced with a pear, also behind the shop.

This aspen is doing the best of all. And again, it is in a good position because we can actually see this tree, and as it grows it somewhat blocks the neighbor’s backyard. Behind it you can see our lilac plants. I think we have 10 of them. Last year the deer decimated the lilacs, and I had to cover them with netting. I hope that doesn’t happen again!

We have five river birch trees, which are in their second year. They are still rooting in and doing just fine. They will be fuller (leaf-wise) in a few years. Also good for privacy blockage, interspersed between the lilacs.

Another river birch.

Now this little crabapple is a real survival story. This is on the corner of the goat field, toward the front. This tree was decimated by voles and had ZERO roots. I mean ZERO. Steve (or Montana, I can’t remember) just re-planted it in the dirt, a large stick with no roots, and that little sucker survived! It is actually thriving. Honestly amazing.

This crabapple is in front of the porch, actually right by that other little crabapple. This tree is doing terrific, actually the best of the small trees that we planted a few years ago. it loves being planted under the landscape fabric and river rock, even though it actually gets the least amount of water of any of our trees (mostly because we forget its there when we are water-wagoning.)

Crabapples are my favorite trees, because they have such beautiful pink blooms in the spring and then they develop their fruit later in the summer. Always pretty.

This little stick is actually a WALNUT tree! It is another one of my favorite stories of survival. We planted this three years ago, and it immediately died. It started out looking a lot like it does now, just half as tall. And it never took off and, like I said, was completely dead. The bee hives used to be over here, so I just left it dead in the ground, because I didn’t want to get stung pulling it out. And the whole area over there is a bit random and extra weedy, so I didn’t really care. The next year it was completely dead. We never watered it, because it was completely dead. Then this year, suddenly, it’s not dead! It’s totally alive. I have no idea what it was up to, but this is the little tree that could.

We have two fruit espalier trees in the garden, this one is a pear.

It even has one little pear on it! We will be trellising the espalier trees sometime in the next few weeks, because their horizontal limbs need support.

This one is an apple, actually a grafting of several different kinds of apples!

Up front, kind of by the driveway, we planted two apples that are doing fine.

This one is doing a little better than the other, but neither gets all that much water, so I’m just happy they are alive.

And now we are back to the front of the house and this little magnolia tree. This little fellow is such a pretty tree, but only a few weeks ago it had zero leaves. It has slowly started working its way back.

The bottom line from our tree experience is that if we are willing to water for 2 hours every day, including making extra trips to the water station for refills, our trees would all be doing great. We try to not completely neglect them, but we also do NOT want to spend 2 hours a day on them. So we are all hanging in there together, and hopefully 5 years from now we will be really glad we planted them all!