Skip to main content

Featured

Rose Pruning Again

Late February to early March is the time for the major pruning of roses. Back in December, I did a preliminary pruning , now is the time for the last major pruning before the spring season begins.  First, a comment on hybrid tea roses. This is what most people have in their gardens. I only have a few hybrid tea roses. These are the roses that need the most drastic pruning. Basically, you cut all the canes down to about 1 foot, making the cuts right above an outward-facing bud. The result will be something like this -  Most of my roses fall into the shrub and climbing categories. These roses are pruned differently and not as severe as the hybrid teas. For shrub roses (and many of the David Austin English roses fall into this category), I first take out the older canes completely to the ground. The older canes are easy to spot - they will be thicker and darker in color. After thinning out the older canes, I remove any canes that are damaged, crossing one another and canes that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Black Tupelo - a spectacular tree for autumn color


This is my favorite tree at the moment. It wins the prize for the most colorful leaves. It is known by a string of different common names - 'Black Gum' (also spelled as 'Blackgum'), 'Black Tupelo', ' Sour Gum' and 'Pepperidge'. I like the name 'Black Tupelo' since we used to live close to Tupelo, Mississippi (birthplace of Elvis). The scientific name is Nyssa Sylvatica - Nyssa after the Greek water nymph and sylvatica is Latin meaning 'from the woods". It is a member of the dogwood family (Cornaceae).

The tree will probably get much larger than I'd like and I'm sure it will cast a lot of shade - not necessarily a bad thing. I did not know until recently that it is a major bird and insect attractant. The female tree produces purple/blue drupes that bees use for honey production and birds love to eat. 

The fall color is spectacular - a combination of bright orange, yellow and deep reds but it was one of the last trees to change color. It does hold them nicely and still has leaves at the moment despite some really strong winds. 

My video shows the tree is various stages over a three week period. The tree is 3 years old and was planted in September of 2018.


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Email Post

Comments

  1. chavlinessNovember 9, 2021 at 8:18 AM

    Once you explained the name's meaning, Water Nymph From The Woods, I was totally invested in memorizing the latin name Nyssa Sylvatica. The fall colors are wonderful and would get even more impressive the bigger the tree gets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kris PetersonNovember 9, 2021 at 9:11 AM

    Wow! It's spectacular.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hoover BooNovember 9, 2021 at 4:41 PM

    A very beautiful tree. The autumn color is spectacular, but the growth habit is also lovely.

    Of course I had to go listen to Van Morrison 'Tupelo Honey'.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts