Thanks, very lush. What's interesting is my area is pretty dry and suffered from the late freezes, yet apparently because of the freeze, a number of trees have forgone flowering and put out unusually big and dense foliage.

Looks like you have alot of evergreens to make a good wind-break in the winter months.

Lovely, Maackia. Thanks for the tour!

Very nice maackia!

You've done a good job!

😎

Very nice!

Beautiful!

Lookin’ sweet Maack. Thanks for the tour.

tj

Garden is looking great! Thanks for sharing!

Spring is the best! The Korean(?) maple is stunning!

' Korean(?) maple '

Looks like a Korean/JM cross of some sort.

Wait! I think I got it!

A. palmatum x pseudosieboldianum 'North Wind'.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6504558/asian-maples 😉

No worries.

The tree looks great!

I had to look twice before I knew it was heavier/wider on the left.

Many times,the tree without the traditional form, like some of the Japanese Maples, is the one most people want. 😎

Thanks again!

Thank you all for the encouraging comments. In my 69th year I’ve figured out that gardening is a long process. it may have a beginning, but not an end. I find myself doing more pruning and less planting. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still planting, but it has slowed waaaay down.

maackia, at 73, I dig what you're saying. Less planting here, loving what I did plant, and wondering what next?

maackia, you're the same age as me, and finding the same situation. Cutting and trimming aren't as hard as all the initial planting/watering, but it does keep me at it during the warm season when I include a new planting here or there.

PS I think because of last summer's drought, alot of lower, somewhat shaded limbs have been sacrificed by a rather large number of my 20-yr old trees. Dawn redwood has given up on most of its lowest branches, and pondcypresses look like they're both in bad shape, tho baldcypresses are fine.

Looking real good Maac. Long period of dry in N. Ill. followed by violent nights. Wed. 4 hour without power. At least we got some rain.

Ron

I'm glad there's an east Asian maple option for folks in zone 4.

'Don’t get me wrong, I’m still planting, but it has slowed waaaay down'

This season and most likely from now on, I won't be adding any more new plants to my yard.

I do have greater disabilities since my back surgeries and age (nearing 74), but what's beginning to bother me the most, is that every time, I plant a tree or shrub, I'm looking at 3-5 years before I can quit caring for and protecting it (It's a little like having kids! 🤣).

Last season, I was really hopping, putting up surrounds, tree tubes, sunshades, etc.

And there're still enough items around here, from past plantings, I'll surely be kept busy, for the next couple years! I just can't run like that anymore.

So, other than replacements of failed plantings or simple removals, I seriously have to consider backing off, and not adding to, the more physical activities, of garden work.

You guys are old! 😜

See maackia? I told you so. 🤣

My point is that the gardener and gardening evolves. Planting is obviously a huge component when starting out, but gardening is more than planting. Oh, and while I’m on my soapbox, have you considered just letting a plant try to make it on its own? No shade structures, covers, ties, etc. Yes, it would be a big step, but you never know, they just might make it on their own. You know, just like MTM in the Minneapolis-based show.

'have you considered just letting a plant try to make it on its own?'

Yes, but's a tough climate.

The central issue is my fused back.

When I try to work, all the stress of bending, lifting or twisting, is focused on the already deformed vertebrae above and below the fusions. The vertebrae/disks above are smaller and weaker and won't take that kind of punishment for long. The part below is the single connection to the pelvic bones and if that ever goes, major surgery is ahead and another 2 years of my life spent on recovery time. I was warned about this after the last surgeries. So no, I'm done.

The upside is, my yard is looking pretty good and will have a lot less work this Fall than I've had in a long time and maybe none the following season. So, with a thankful heart, I have fond memories of adventures past, learning experiences and can laugh at the stupid un-accomplishments also. 😄

Bill, I got a fused back too -- L3 & L4. That was done 11 yrs ago & a complete success, but the "bad back" for decades before did weaken lower-back muscles permanently & so I have to bend-at-the-knees instead of at the back (which makes my knees hurt instead).

Well, I've already had L5, L4 & L3 fused and started out in life with Scoliosis & Juvenile disk degenerative disease. 😜 So take that! 🤣

But seriously, any kind of back pain is no fun at all. And is especially bad when the knees, hips and sacroiliac begin to decline.

I was told long ago that I'd be old someday. It might've been the old man, that I stuck my tongue out at, when I was a kid. 🤣

Oh, I noticed the 18" red pine seedling/sapling, I added to the shelter belt, August 2021 has put on a remarkable amount of new growth. 21" on the main leader just this season. ;-)

It might stretch out a little more during the summer.

Depends if we get rain.

Bill - did your bur oak start growing a lot yet?

no!

I thought I had the answer and I can't say it was a total failure either, because I did get more growth this year than I ever had. The main leaders had 12" on them last I looked and 6" to 10" on the rest of the branches.

But these trees show determinate growth, so it might flush another time depending on weather or if I feel like watering it, this summer.

How did your do?

The J. squamata has recovered well enough from the sun burn and abuse that I think I'll give it another chance and see what it looks like next season.

I still have a couple of potted plants with no apparant place to put them but they should go in the ground soon.

Juniperus squamata 'blue star', 6-16-2026:

:-)