Monday, July 29, 2013

Privacy pines

In April, 2010 I planted 7 marked-down Eastern white pine trees back by the golf course.


Now, in 2013 - 6 of those 7 survived the 2011 deluge (rainiest on record - almost 60" precip that year) and the 2012 summer heat wave/drought and the subsequent autumn deer devastation (bucks stropping velvet off their antlers).

Honestly, these guys are looking pretty darn good!  


I've wanted to add more to the property, but box stores are very erratic in their nursery items.  I found these balled white pines in 2010.  Have never seen them since.  Same with the Runyan yews I found that year.  In 2011 I found potted hemlocks.  I bought all I could.  Have never seen THEM again either.   I've learned to snap up when I can because I refuse to pay through the nose at local nurseries for items like this.  And get a guarantee from a nursery on a plant?  Nope.  I'll take the 1-year return policy at the box stores and continue to play the landscape lottery.


8 comments:

  1. Love the pines - they're stunning!

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    1. They should look really good in another couple of years. :-D

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  2. I use the box stores for the basics too. I use the nurseries for the really "special" out-of-the ordinary stuff. You're right--they don't have good warranties like the chains....but the service/selection still reels me in!

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    1. I don't buy 'special' anymore - the deer make a beeline for anything like that. :-(

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  3. Aren't you glad you planted them! Just think if you hadn't that bare hole would still be there without those screening beautiful trees.

    I feel the same 'motherly' way about the three oaks I planted in our west yard. They are huge now and two must be about 20 years old.

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    1. Oh, no doubt. In another 5 years they should totally screen out the 14 green. My crabs, planted at the same time, are showing mixed results. The Robinsons are doing well, the Praire Fires are weak and wimpy. I'll post my 2-year-old hemlocks soon. What kind of oaks? Do you get lots of acorns?

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  4. The jumbo nursery near me offers a guarantee on all plants, even if the idiot who bought them never watered anything. But the big box stores are much much cheaper. But it's a real crap shoot as to what they'll carry every year. Your pines look great! :o) They appear to be deer proof!

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    1. Yep. Crap shoot for sure. And no, not deer proof. Last fall they used their antlers to strip off bark from all 6 trees, sharpening up for rutting. I'm surprised the trees didn't die. I've got a whole lot of bent tomato cages wrapped around the trunks with all the pointy ends turned OUTward. Freaking deer.

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