First picture is my helleri holly shrub, I planted 3 in a row (in the front of my home) about 3 years ago; they doubled in size. My second picture is my faux boxwood shrubs in cute planters, they will remain perfect in size and carefree. My third picture is a container planter with: purple potatoe vine, firecracker sedum, and lemon coral sedum, that I planted a month ago and they tripled in size.

Wow Bill you got much faster growth than mine. But, mine had shade and root competition from the maples seen in the background. Just to the right was a gigantic ash, but that's now dead from EAB.

Yeah, all day sun on this one and it's not too far from the lilac hedge but I lay the hose by it when it gets dry and give it a soaking. :) It may have been closer to 3' tall at the start.

Here's Sept 2017. That's 2' tall chicken wire. The tree is a good foot above that figuring about 4" of new growth.

2018 Oct. This is 4ft chicken wire. After 16" of new growth it's about a foot taller so 5ft. tall?

Crazy leader growth.

2019 was another 16" growth extension of the leader. So ~6-1/2'.

This is July of 2020. >8' tall.

Last year (Sept. 2021) was close to 24 new growth" >10'.

Well it don't add up, with 8" new growth this year, we're talking 11 ft. but my 20 ft. tape this AM showed about 12' 1". But some of my leader lengths we're only estimates. :^)

I wish I had time to look for photos, this is a great topic for a thread. Maybe in the winter months. [g] Or maybe July during a heat wave I'll have more time. Love seeing the trees fill out and stretch up that way. David that tree in your after photo, is so healthy and full looking and just really does transform that area.

Back in 2017, I received a Cotyledon that quickly started to rot out. I kept cutting up the base and the rot would follow the cut. At the end of all hope, I cut the plant all the way to the top, with only TWO LEAVES remaining. The ridiculous column of the remaining plant was about the length of my thumb. I documented this journey on Gardenweb here (I incorrectly identified this as a Kalanchoe in the original thread):

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4956748/kalanchoe-hollowing-out-inside-of-base

This is that plant today, with a four-foot canopy width. This is definitely my greatest plant victory, so far. This plant is grown in @tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)'s gritty mix. Currently, this Cotyledon is flowering and has put up about 20 flower stems, each with a bouquet of orange flowers.

My backyard drops 4 feet in a 9 foot span and to avoid mowing I did this originally.,.note the arbor on the right.

22 years later it looks like this

You can just see the arbor on the right by the Picea pungens ’The Blues’.

A better look a ’The Blues’

tj

My Abies balsamea only grew about a foot this season. So maybe it's slowing down. I tried to get a tape on it but with the wind and distance to the top, the tape kept breaking over on me. At one point it looked like 10'4" before the tape collapsed. Not bad for a scrub 'woods rescue'.

Anyways, just thought I'd post this update as we near the end of the growing season up here in the frozen tundra. lol

8-10-2023:

FWIW: Finally got an accurate measurement. 11'7" today.

Abies balsamea only grew about a foot again this season.

Of course, it was a dry year, and I didn't water very often.

Nice looking fir. Is Abies balsamea more tolerant of dry conditions than usually thought?

It's about like any native tree. If you baby it along and give it a chance to grow a good root system, it's surprising how well these trees can adapt. I see a few of these growing in yards around town. Even a couple of big Tamarack in two different yards that I know of.

Here's my Larix laricina, developing quite well. It endured some pretty dry ground this season.

I just water when it gets really dry. I don't think it's done growing for the season and it's pouring rain outside now. If nothing else, the soil moisture will help Fall root development. ;-)
edit to add: L. laricina (Tamarack) March 2020.

8-10-2023:
10'6"

Don't know why I didn't get into this post at some point, so now I will.

Tuliptree 1 year after planting as a mail-order bare-root stick from Direct Gardens in 2004 for about 2 dollars.

In 6-2020, same tree about 60 ft tall. Near 70 ft now.

Can't stop myself.......

Yard about 2004 when I was first planting. Note electric/telephone pole.

Pic taken from fairly near earlier spot in 2015. Again, note same telephone pole. Green giants lining road, southern magnolia and little sourwood (which has finally grown a fair amount to 10+ ft).

haha! beng, that's the addiction showing.

May of 2019: Celtis O. & Ostrya v. seedlings I started during the winter.

Today 8-11-2023:

Ostrya virginiana: Gained 2 ft. this season, 9-1/2' tall.

Celtis Occidentalis: 11ft.

Here's another:

Q. bicolor (swamp white oak) growing on sandy high ground.

3-5-2020: Acorn collected at the NYC Freedom tower.

8-11-2023:

Near 4 ft. new growth in several directions this season. 7 ft. tall today.

:-)

Can't stop myself.......

Just one more.... I, I, I promise. ;-)

2-2-2020: Picea Mariana from seed.

8-11-2023:

56" Tall. iirc: 14" new growth this season.

Bill, interesting that you got an acorn from the Freedom Tower plaza. One would think they chose SW oaks of good lineage. Yours and the hackberry look good. Hackberries are pretty common in the Cumberland Valley of VA north into PA because they like the limestone areas.

At the time we were in NYC, the acorns lying on the ground were numerous.

And I wasn't interested in planting a tree chosen for good growth in NYC, especially a slow growing tree like an oak. I didn't even know what type of oak it was.

There was a tour guide talking to a group of people and we heard her say that anyone that wanted to, was free to pick up acorns.

DW decided she had to have some and stashed a couple in her purse. ;-)

There were a number of reasons Swamp white oaks were chosen for Freedom tower. Tons of articles out there explaining all about it.

Turns out they're even recommended for planting as far north as central MN.

I researched Northern Hackberry and noticed the Ph preference was higher and less acidic than one would have thought. And I have tweaked the soil around a few of my trees. I may have spread a little Dolomite lime around that one, a few years ago. ;-)

I had planned to bump this someday, for some reason. Might as well post another Abies.

Spring 2010 - Abies firma, about 5' tall not including pot, extremely root bound. Though at least the nursery owner warned me of it! I have described in prior posts how I very carefully cut and/or unfurled the roots...it took about an hour on each tree. I bought two for something like $60 each, which was a great price. I have posted pics of the other one that's a little fuller but shorter, this one is sparser but taller.

(yes, that's my now giant 'Ogon' with it.)

Last month...roughly 30' tall, though I will confirm tomorrow.

Here is a closeup of the cones I took today.

A magnolia that I took from the woods as a small seedling about 40 years ago.

It took it 20 years to bloom. I was not expecting this monster when I planted it.

Coincidence that I just came across and saved this pic on FB (before seeing this post) of the progress of a live oak in Thomasville, GA over 125 yrs.

Thanks for posting Ben, they do seem to open up with age. Betsy, I'm glad your freebie worked out for you!

I put my Jameson two part pole pruner next it, measured with tape as 17'. Yeah my tree is 30', maybe a bit more. (a great purchase btw, if you're on the fence about getting one)

You might wonder about the original Ernest's fir I posted. Why is it not nearly as big?

1) was from Forestfarm and in a nominally 1 gallon pot, but maybe actually bit smaller. While the locally bought firma was - maybe 5 gallon? I've never actually seen a labelled set of nursery pots to know exactly. That's my hunch.

2) the firma as you can see, had a very hefty caliper. It had been field grown, on a drip watering system, for years. While I bet the A. recurvata spent a lot of its life in a hoop house at Forestfarm.

finally

3) the site the recurvata was planted had terrible root competition from a *giant* ash tree just off frame to the right. It also had a holly tree in front of it, relative to the sun. Both firmas had far less competition. Now that the ash is dead and removed as of 3 year ago, I expect the A. recurvata to really take off. The holly tree, the American holly I've determined not to keep because it's ugly, has had 3 of 5 stems removed...the rest is going to go next spring or next fall. I am keeping another that is a much better tree.

While I had the pruners out, decided to snip one of the cones for a close-up view.

Really enjoying this thread! Wow, the photos of the small trees that turn into very large beautiful trees over time. LOVE that magnolia. Love the story of the acorn from the Freedom Tower in NY. Beautiful Abies, David. Love the all! Thanks for posting these.

March 28 2022. If you zoom you can see many of the young trees. And today, August 29 2024.

Notice how my view has changed as well as my garden...from native Quercus garryana and a rainbowed sky, to houses.

^-- Wow! Very nice.

All of that in less than 3 years? Must be magic. ;-)

Everyone's seen all my stuff in a recent thread but....

Here's 4 ilex verticillata (females) seedlings planted May 28 2021.

3 of them didn't make it, so got 2 replacements end of September '21 and planted them the next spring (the left most plant survived).

Left most plant in the forefront. August 23 2024. The two replacements behind are not far from catching up. Lots of berries showing up.

Davidrt, concerning Abies firma, I got and planted a tiny one from Forestfarm last spring 2023 (glad they're still in business, got a plum yew from them!). Disappointed this spring tho, it budded out the same time as nearby Manchurian fir and buds got frost-zapped. Still alive, and needles are actually very similar to the Manchurian (not quite as sharp). This is why I got 4 bare-root Canaan firs this spring from Musserforests -- all of those look good so far (alot of watering this hot summer) and hopefully, as advertised, are late budders, ie frost resistant -- the Canaan valley WV is certainly a severe frost-hollow.... Canaan fir below.