A very dry spring here with unusually warm temps. So fewer snails. Now a cool, wet June and the snails are out and about again.

Fabulous!

Could've used another rain or two but so far good growth on everything.

Acer Pseudosieboldianum: getting to be one of my favorites. :-)

:-)

maackia, I've seen groups of trees pushed in a direction like that -- I guessed that a downburst or other hurricane-force wind might have done it. Neighbor's large white pine also leans in the leeward wind direction.

Things are good here as I escaped the usual late frost, but incessant May rains has caused alot of bacterial/fungal infections on some tree and shrub leaves. All the leaves on my cranberry viburnums are twisted messes.

maackia,

very nice!

That magnolia should've been a center piece in the front yard!

Those tilted trees, I have no idea other than what beng said about a strong wind almost flattening them.

How far is that big one from the house?

Just starting to get dry here.

The pine grew next to a large oak that succumbed to disease a couple years ago and was removed. What you see is basically shade effect. It will be interesting to watch the pine develop and fill in over the next several years.

Tannenbaum mugo

Weeping norway spruce. It’s the reflexa variety

"The pollen has been coming in clouds and coating everything like a volcanic dust."

Oh yea, the pollen. I can't bear to sit in a closed-up house in nice weather, at the end of teh day you can see the layer of pollen all over everything in my great room (three walls of windows). Floor duster takes care of it quickly, but still... Didn't even think it could be coming from the two giant white pines I have in front of my house, I just figured it's pollen coming from everywhere and everything.

The temps were below normal for a good portion of May -- terrible for the annual flower displays so far but great for trees and shrubs.

My dogwoods out front are just coming into bloom -- spectacular display this year! I had glorious tree peony blooms this year, the nicest and longest I can ever remember. It stayed relatively cool so they bloomed for more than 2 weeks, when most years I'm lucky if I get 5-7 days, if that. All my trees leafed out beautifully, I think they all appreciated the boost of moisture from the decent amount of snowmelt in the spring.

My Japanese lilacs ("Ivory Silk" and "Snowdance") are budded to the max -- going to be fantastic show when they get started.

Surprisingly, my horse chestnut didn't bloom well. It was loaded with budded panicles that never really bloomed. If they did it was only for a day and I missed it. Very ununusual. The tree itself is beautiful, though -- the flowers are simply a bonus for me.

What is not doing so well is a few new trees I planted. Fortunately it's been cool, or else they'd look worse. The paperbark maple I bought took some wind damage upon transport home, even though it was wrapped by the nursery, so it doesn't have any leaves at the top and looks scraggly. It is leafing out on the lower part, and those leaves look nice and healthy. It was B&B'ed, when we worked to free it from it's heavy, sticky clay rootball there were hardly any roots left, so all in all it's actually doing well, all things considered. I figure it'll set new leaf buds at the top and be fine next year if it grows enough root mass.

I planted a large linden that is wilting. I wouldn't say it's struggling as much as recovering. I had to do some serious root surgery, the roots were circling the pot and growing back into themselves, I couldn't untangle much of the root mass and had to do some big-time cutting. Poor thing. At least the leaves aren't burning/drying up...yet, although I do see a few yellow leaves. Here again, if it can just make it through summer it should be fine next year, it's probably just busy below ground re-growing it's system. We'll see...

Porkchop, what a great write-up of your garden! My first thought was where are the pictures, but once I read through it I realized they weren’t needed.

Lane, would the two conifers you’ve shown be planted in the so called ”hell strip?” I know you get some snow and ice there, but it wouldn’t seem to bother either of them. Do they use salt on the streets where you live?

Yeah, they are in the hell strip. Doing quite well after a heinous double whammy fall/spring freeze in 2020 and 2021. They don’t use salt on the roads, but I think they use mag chloride in a liquid form. The only thing that stinks about the trees there is I don’t have irrigation there so I have to water by hand. Also have another weeping Norway, two Oregon Green Austrian pines and a Swiss stone pine that iI hate because it won’t grow - all in the hell strip

Nice trees!

I'd say your trees look pretty good considering your soil type and the semi-arid conditions you have there, LC.

Spray from magnesium chloride can be damaging to evergreens, if they get enough of it.

I don't know if water is expensive there, but regular deep watering should help leach any salts away, down through the coarse sandy soil.

I always give my smaller conifers a good shower, when I have the hose out. They seem to like that, and it keeps the bugs at bay also.

Keep up the good work! :-)

Thanks, Bill! I water a lot regularly. The tree would die a sure death without it

In a few short years a visit to the hell strip might become a thing. It seems a unique planting to me, but maybe in your part of Wyoming it is more common? In any case, anyone with a passing interest in conifers will take notice.

bob,

Well, compared to the choice gardening places we know of in the PNW and other places out east, people living in the Midwest are all living in a hell strip, aren't we?

We just make the best out of what we have and learn what works and what doesn't. And I do understand how we can come to think our personal spot of heaven is the best place of any on earth.

Anyone that makes a go of it with yard/gardening in suboptimal areas should get a round of applause and are inspiring others to try things they never would otherwise.

bill

' Thanks, Bill! I water a lot regularly. The tree would die a sure death without it '

And on the same note LC, too much deep watering can leach out all the good stuff, like necessary nutrients, especially when you have well-draining soils. So be sure you're giving your trees enough of what they need, during the growing season. But not too late in the season.

Hell strip is interesting. I live on a busier street and I wanted screening and a barrier so my kids wouldn’t just run out into the road, catch balls, etc.

There are lots of trees in the hell strips here including gigantic cottonwoods. I got the inspiration to do some conifers from this guy that has a beautiful scots pine in his hell strip

maackia, tree to the right of your leaning but healthy-looking white pine is red maple?

in 1969 the effects of Hurricane of ’38 on a red pine plantation in Greenfield NH were evident. All the trees leaned in the same dirction. They were much smaller in ’32and bent withiut breaking in sustained hurricane strength winds. They were ruined for harvesting but left impressive documentation of the hurricane..

Broadening the question in the title a little, how has my garden done this past growing season: generally very well, thank you, but 1 intermediate and 2 dwarf conifers died. I am only looking to replace 1 dwarf next spring though (overcrowding issue, it's amazing how supposedly slow growing conifers can grow so fast)