We checked in at the office and asked about the oak. Sure enough, they had several and they were HUGE, well 6 ft tall, which counts as huge for this tree.
Beautiful fall color? Not so much.
Still I was very excited and selected my tree, then of course we had a look around. I don’t recall which sequoia this is (we looked at a few, Heather might have been contemplating a purchase) but that’s some nice fall color!
And cute cones too…
The white sky and silver needles on this Korean Fir combine to give me a winter chill.
Wait! There goes my tree!...
I'm sure everyone has those moments in their life, when for whatever reason, they feel just a little more adult than they did the second before. This was one of those for me, holy cow! I'm buying a tree that's being moved by forklift! Never-mind that Heather and I were able to lift it out of the truck just fine and I moved it around at home with a hand truck, here a forklift was used and that makes it a special purchase.
Look at that mahonia! It's huge...
Schizostylis coccinea
These were quite the shock of color and so delicate among all the trees and shrubs.
It was so chilly that morning for a moment we were tricked into thinking that might be ice on the pond, thank god it wasn't.
I looked at the name on this beauty, but forgot it before I could share it with you.
Heather pointed out the flat conifer in the front looked a little like a sombrero....
While I admired this handsome fellow who just happens to go by the name Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Wissel's Saguaro' damn, I might need one.
So we've made our selections and they're both tucked in the truck, Heather's is Thuja orientalis 'Franky Boy' who's having about the cutest bad hair day ever.
Leaves are dropping from my oak like crazy, I grabbed a couple to show Andrew later as I assumed it would just be a stick by the time we made the drive back to Portland.
But no! A few leaves remained. Look at that cute, silly, little thing, dwarfed by the doomed privet.
I also grabbed a not yet brown leaf from a group of smaller plants in a greenhouse, perhaps there is hope for a bit of fall color next year? Oh and I found something else interesting. If you look up this plant on the Buchholz & Buchholz website (here) and click through to the 7th image you'll see something resembling catkins, could it be? Has anyone seen them in "real life?" (*update, duh...evidently that's how all oaks bloom, thanks Peter!)
New tree safely at home I thought I'd take a moment to admire my first tree purchase and think about how much he has grown, oh Clifford. That's when it occurred to me, I think of my garden as having just this one tree the Magnolia macrophylla. Lots of shrubs, but just the one tree.
When in fact there's a Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica, against the house), and for that matter an Embothrium coccineum (front and center) which has grown from about 15" tall to over 8 ft tall just this year...
Wait, in fact there are two Loquats, this one hiding under the privet, waiting to grow strong and tall.
And of course the Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate'...
Oh and need I mention all of these are in my back garden and just feet away from each other? I'm going to turn into that crazy tree lady after all!!!
All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
From one crazy tree lady to another, welcome to the club!
ReplyDeleteBridget
Thanks! Do we have meetings? Are there dues?
DeleteWhat a great choice for the privet bed! Your Embothrium gives me hope for my replacement one that I bought on the Kitsap Peninsula nursery jaunt, which I managed to get into the ground before my back gave out. I love that chocolate Albizia, I've been tempted a few times, but tales of its aggressive spreading scare me.
ReplyDeleteWe shall see what winter brings to my Embothrium. I've heard many tales from people who've loved and lost. However the fact their are two of them thriving nearby at the Kennedy School gives me hope.
DeleteI once bought a 10' tree (my bald cypress). That one was a pain to drag into location, as it was just about the biggest you could move without machinery. Love the leaf form on your new purchase!
ReplyDeleteYou've got a truck right? I could be really dangerous with a hauling vehicle at my disposal daily!
DeleteI felt that way when I picked up my two palo verdes recently. I think we feel this way because trees are much more permanent, or they seem that way.
ReplyDeleteThat deciduous redwood, by the way, is a dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).
Well getting rid of them certainly is more expensive than yanking out an over grown shrub!
DeleteYou bought an oak!! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteSeeing your Embothrium coccineum makes me sad I killed mine, but slightly relieved after seeing that growth spurt I wouldn't have had room for anyway. And I think the tree with the gorgeous butter yellow foliage may be Liriodendron tulipifera - does that sound like what you were told?
Right autumn leaf color, but can't be Liriodendron -- look at those fruits -- or buds? I'm curious now!
DeleteWhy oh why didn't I snap a photo of the tag? I usually do...
DeleteBesides the fruits/buds it's much more shrubby than a Liriodendron would be (in my very limited experience). But the leaves certainly do have that Liriodendron shape...
Oh hey, Neil below said Lindera obtusiloba...what do you think about that? Looks good in the pictures on Google...
DeleteYes, I think Neil is exactly right. What a lovely color the leaves turn in fall! It looks shrubby, but at a 20x20 mature size, some might call it a tree ;-)
DeleteOr maybe a wall...
DeleteWow, you are really a grown up now with a forklifed tree and everything! I'm so glad you found this tree because it's such a beauty. I once saw a single catkin on mine but it wasn't all that pretty. That's the way oaks bloom. I've wanted to see Bucholz and Bucholz for a long time especially since they're the place that had the variegated gingkos a few years back. So cool that you got to see the nursery and that you found a specimen that large! Happy new tree to you!
ReplyDeleteA grown up, finally! There were a lot of beautiful things at the nursery...
DeleteThanks for setting me straight about the oak blooms, I really am hopelessly tree stupid.
Hi Loree,
ReplyDeleteHope you are well.
I like your new tree very much and I can see it fitting in very nicely with the rest of your plants. I am looking forward to seeing the Privet removal and planting up of the new section next year.
Sequoia do look very pretty at this time of year. I have a Metasequoia glyptostroboides in my back garden and it is starting to go a lovely shade of pinky brown. I bought it without realising just how big they get, but I think my lack of real summer heat is retarding the growth some what, which is no bad thing, ha ha!
Hello Adam! Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Think of how much you've enjoyed that tree which you probably wouldn't have planted had you known? And you are probably right about the heat.
DeleteThat oak is going to make a huge difference in your garden. It'll be interesting to see what the area looks like when the privet is gone.
ReplyDeleteI am quite excited and scared both We're going to see the ugly garage of the neighbors behind us. It's a shared building so it's painted 1/2 one house color and 1/2 the other. Seriously. And probably will have some windows visible on one of the houses, ones we've never had to deal with. I just keep telling myself it really has to come out...just too big...(eeek!)
DeleteLovely oak tree! Now you're legit dedicated to the privet removal!
ReplyDeleteGood point!
DeleteYou never hear of crazy tree ladies being hauled away like they do with crazy cat ladies.
ReplyDeleteHa! That's true. Probably because they disappear behind the trees and everyone forgets they're there.
DeleteHi Loree ,
ReplyDeleteNeil here in Victoria again, I think the yellow shrub may be Lindera obtusiloba it always had that striking fall colour when I used to walk by it at UBC Botanical Gardens (Asian section) in Vancouver. Love your Oak and my Loquat is growing again?
Hi Neil...Lindera obtusiloba, sure looks like it could be from the photos on Google, thanks! Yay for growing Loquats! Unless you're worried about the new growth getting sapped by the winter chill?
DeleteYes, exactly, frost on everything this morning so the little candles of new growth on the Loquat might be a bit tender. However, I do think my Dahlia imperialis is doomed and the Brugmansia and red banana need to head to my shed! brrrrrrrr!
DeleteI remember this one! Neil is right (and now I want one all over again).
DeleteI'll have to join that crazy tree lady club. Hey -- don't forget to put your new Argyrocytisus battandieri on the list! I'm so jealous of your trip to B & B -- looks like a lot of fun. Love your new oak, congratulations!
ReplyDeleteOh I think you're definitely a member Julie! And you're right, I saw the Argyrocytisus battandieri (and olive!) yesterday and realized I missed mentioning it. Plus there's a ginkgo that's finally going in the ground too, and a ceanothus but technically it's a shrub...(rationalization!)
DeleteYou're an experienced gardener and instinctively would know what to do to keep things under control, so having a few trees close together should be fine ;) that's a nice oak, and a very upright one too as this type tend to flop around which warrants staking, but yours looks like it won't ever need it.
ReplyDeleteI may need you guys to convince Andrew of this "experienced gardener" thing...
DeleteThat was definitely a selling point, the fact that it has such a nice upright, strong trunk. It's been taken care of in it's youth. It will help to balance all the crazy wacky leaning things in my garden.
Good choice on the oak, a fine tree species. Fall color is over-rated, anyway you have plenty of that and much more! Those damp skies and plants, I always forget how the other half lives. Back to putting on lip balm...but you should see the yuccas I took pics of yesterday...
ReplyDeleteYes I thought you might approve. And since you mention it I would love to see the yuccas...share please!
DeleteI have a Loquat too, I've given up on ever getting flowers or fruit but I do use the leaves for tea for coughs. It tends to grow too big for its space, like everything else I grow. Your new oak should look cute when it leafs out in spring.
ReplyDeleteHey, you think that yellow tree up yonder that you weren't sure about is perchance a Sassafras albidum? I'm always looking for one of those. (And BTW, I was looking for Argyrocytisus battandieri aka Pineapple Broom when I came across this.) I'm so off track today.
ReplyDeleteNo, a couple of folks identified it as Lindera obtusiloba, I think they were correct.
Delete