Red osier cuttings planted
February 19, 2026
shrubs, planting log | permalink
The other day I took some small cuttings off the red osier dogwoods (Cornus sericea) I planted last spring and then I realized that MH had much bigger ones and asked if he could spare a few stems. He brought some over last night and then I cut them into 8 to 10" pieces. Today I put them into the ground, first using a thin rod from something or other to make the hole, then pushed them in up to 6" deep. I put about 6 over by the black cherry, 10 near the existing one on the south hill, and 5 on the other side of the driveway. The latter I put a cage around - I put them close enough to fit in one of the cages meant for tree protection I still have. I think I'm going to leave the ones on the hill unprotected, but soon I'll make a big cage to put around the ones by the black cherry. I still have 20 cuttings sitting in about two inches of water; I want to see if they'll root so I'm going hang on to them for a week or so.
Stone border added along road
January 11, 2026
planting log, herbaceous | permalink
Following some advice on the fediverse after voicing frustration about people driving their vehicles through landscaping where I'd recently mulched and planted a bunch of native seeds, I added a border of large stones every six feet or so just inside the curb. The biggest probably weighs 100 lbs or more, but most were like 30 or 40, some less. I scavenged them from elsewhere on the property - some were along the edge of the patio, some I'd used to make a border around the herb garden, two I'd put in front of apple trees I planted on the eastern hillside, and the last was one I'd previously moved from the very back of the yard to the edge between the grass and the various shrubs behind the bird feeder on the terrace. It amounted to 11 of them in all. Around them I planted hemp dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) seeds, which I'd collected from the back of the terrace in November.
Fall 2025
January 11, 2026
planting log, trees, herbaceous, seed collection, wildlife, seasonal review | permalink
Fall was busy, but that's starting to be a refrain. Every season is busy. I feel like there is a lot of work to do, and I want to get as much of it done as soon as possible so there's more time for things to grow. To get bigger, to spread, to produce fruit, to begin to crowd out the grass, to block the view of the road and the gigantic increase in traffic due to a stop sign being put at one end of it (seriously, somewhere between 50% and more than 100% increase, the exact number depending on getting some raw data from the township for a recent count they conducted). I wrote very little about my activities, so much to catch up on here. I may later go back and add posts for a few of these things, mainly so I can link back to them from future posts and the rough map I'm making.
The biggest project of the season was cutting down the Japanese Maple in the front and planting two Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) in its place.
I planted two additional trees, both of which came free of charge from the township's shade commission: a White Oak (Quercus ruba), in the southern woodland edge, and a Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), in the northern woodland edge.
A few existing trees have become tall enough that I'm no longer worried about the deer topping them, and so cages were removed. However, there's still the risk of rubbing. So I did some research on a way to protect the trunks with natural materials (rather than, say, plastic guards), and found the suggestion of burlap. I bought a 35-foot roll of 3-foot-wide burlap from a local hardware store, then cut sections of about 3 or 4 feet long. I then placed these around the trunks, pushing open small holes between the threads to put limbs through where I could, and tied the ends together with some twine. It seems to have been a successful - only one showed a little rubbing, but no further after an adjustment. On the other hand, the serviceberry near the road that I planted either the first fall or spring after moving in needed more protection. Deer have been keeping it trimmed, so I finally put a taller cage around it.
Transplanted somewhere around 50 to 75 common blue violets from my vegetable garden, most to front meadow along road but also a few between the tulip tree sapling and elderberry in western woodland edge. I also collected a fair number of their seed pods and spread the seeds in the same area. American plantains and yellow wood sorrel were also moved from the vegetable garden to the same places, though not nearly as many.
Another big project (maybe 15 hours over a few weeks) was planting literally thousands of native seeds, mostly herbaceous but also some shrubs/small trees. I have no idea the exact number, but somewhere between three and five thousand. The vast majority were tiny tiny seeds that you just strew on the open surface (and hope for the best), but many others were ones that I planted into the soil (and hoped for the best). My plan is to do this every fall, for at least the next few years. Most of them I bought, but some I had collected from existing plants in my garden. Here are the species, with the collected ones indicated with an asterisk, along with location:
- Hickory - at end of driveway, in northern woodland edge; these were given to me by MH, via a friend of his
- Lupinus perennis subsp perennis (Sundial Lupines) - front meadow along road
- Antennaria plantaginifolia (Pussytoes) - western woodland edge, in wood chips between rock wall I built and bald cypress; on eastern hillside
- Rhus aromatica (Fragrant Sumac), which first needed to be hot-water stratified and soaked - western woodland edge mostly, but also some by new white oak in southern woodland edge and some by new brushpile on terrace
- Conoclinium coelestinum (Mistflower) - front meadow, in mulched area in front of butterfly milkweeds
- Penstemon hirsutus (Hairy Beardtongue) - southern woodland edge
- *Apocynum cannabinum (Hemp Dogbane) - front meadow, right at edge of road; in front of blueberries on terrace; in front of blackberries and raspberries on terrace
- *Lepidium virginicum (Virginia pepperweed) - front meadow, along road
- *Plantago rugelii (American plaintain) - front meadow, along road
- Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium) - front meadow, along road
- Iris versicolor (Northern Blue Flag) - front meadow, along road
- Amsonia tabernaemontana (Eastern Bluestar) - front meadow, along road
- Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio Spiderwort) - front meadow, along road
- Solidago odora (Sweet Goldenrod) - front meadow, along road
- Cornus amomum subsp. obliqua (Silky Dogwood) - southern hillside
- Packera aurea (Golden Ragwort) - at corner of front of house
- Hibiscus moscheutos (Swamp Rose Mallow) - southern hillside, around existing red osier (that's a wet area and both like wet feet)
- Amorpha fruticosa (False Indigo) - I mistakenly bought a ton of these seeds so they went just about everyone in heavy doses: northern woodland edge, along border of brushpile on terrace, along the log border in middle of terrace, front meadow in grass next to roadside mulched area, at end of driveway, probably other places
- Viola pedata (Bird's Foot Violet) - around new white oak in southern woodland edge
- Clematis occidentalis var. occidentalis (Purple Clematis) - beneath red or black oak in western woodland edge
- Clematis Virginia (Virgin's Bower) - around lamppost in front meadow and pole on front porch
- *a tall goldenrod, either Solidago altissima or Solidago canadensis
- *asters - on terrace
- Carex eburnea (Ivory Sedge) - in backyard, beneath playset after desodding it
- Asclepias incarnata (Swamp or Rose Milkweed) - southern hillside, terrace
I also planted a few things in pots and put them in my fenced-in vegetable garden for some protection from being dug up, like the eastern redbuds I mentioned above:
- Hickories - ones from friend of MH and also ones given to me by a contractor that did work on our house
- Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England Aster)
- Physocarpus opulifolius (Prairie Ninebark)
- Staphylea trifolia (Bladdernut)
- Swamp Milkweed
- Sundial Lupines
- Silky Dogwood
- *Cornus Florida (Flowering Dogwood)
Stored some seeds I collected paper packets:
- Asters
- Goldenrod
- Eastern Redbud
- American Plantain
- Hemp Dogbane
I finished making the birdbath stump that I'd started in summer, or at least enough for now. Two-thirds of the top is chiseled out. Maybe I'll do the other third sometime. At first I thought it wasn't working, because the first time I filled it, it was empty about 30 minutes later. But it just needs to get water-logged and then it will hold water for a while - possibly a couple days (which is great, because I don't want stagnant water to be around for mosquitoes to lay eggs in, and perhaps it drying out is a good trap for them). Idea came from National Wildlife Federation, David Mizejewski, Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, 2nd edition, 2019 (p. 73).
Other things:
- planted mountain laurel
- bought more elderberry cuttings that will be arriving later this month or early next. Of the dozen I'd planted last year, three or four did not survive.
- bought and put out a "leave the leaves" sign.
- split firewood
- harvested first apples - from the black arkansas tree - with my daughter.
- planted garlic
- put vegetable garden beds to bed
- read A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt
Garlic year three planted
October 10, 2025
garlic, planting log | permalink
This afternoon I planted 64 cloves from the biggest heads harvested mid-summer, timing it to coincide with the advice my mom was handed down to plant during the waning phase of the moon. There are still a few basil plants in the bed that I'm letting go to seed, but thankfully they all happened to not line up with the rows, so I think I got the garlic evenly spaced out. I planted a little shallower than last year, thinking that maybe the failure rate was higher this past year than the year before because I'd planted deeper. We'll see. Once they were in, I covered the bed with a thick layer of dried grass clippings. Weather-wise, it's been cool the last few days - nearly 60 during the day and mid 40s or low 50s at night. Mostly that way for the next week, though will be almost 70 tomorrow. Looks like a good chance of rain for a couple days in the week ahead, so that's good.
Mountain laurel planted
October 3, 2025
shrubs, planting log | permalink
My excellent wife got me a gift card for Direct Native Plants earlier this year and I finally used it to buy a mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). The timing of its delivery worked out well: it hadn't been long after I finished preparing the site that it arrived and I put it in the ground. Looking forward to having Pennsylvania's state flower blocking part of the view to the road. Many more things will need to go in to fully block the view, but it's a start.
Summer 2025
September 29, 2025
trees, shrubs, herbaceous, vegetables, fruit, lepidoptera, seasonal review, planting log | permalink
On the tree front, I transplanted a few small saplings (4 or 5 inches tall at a maximum) from one place to another: I found a small eastern redbud (cercis canadensis) growing between two of my blueberry bushes, and moved it near the picnic table on the terrace, for eventual shade. I attempted to move a black walnut out of the yard and to the western treeline, but it did not survive. Similar thing with an oak, but on the other side of the driveway. But then I was successful, after being more careful with the roots and more frequent watering, with moving two other oaks out of the yard to the same place. I attempted to graft a few cuttings from the apple tree at my mom's house, whose apples I learned to juggle with. Neither survived. Did not help that it was not the correct season for it. I will try again either late this fall or early next spring. I identified, with the help of MH, three black walnuts. (I was worried they were the non-native alanthus altissima, "tree of heaven".) Two are good where they are, but the third is in the herb garden and so that will have to be moved once we get closer to winter. Removed the fencing on a couple, but then protected with burlap in mid September to protect from deer rubbing.
In shrubs, I found a great laurel (Rhododendron maximum) naturally root layering while visiting my mom, and I think it has successfully taken to my place on the western edge, although growth is slow. Of the 12 elderberries I planted in February, the range of success is pretty wide: of the nine that survived, one is about 4 feet tall (with a new shoot from the ground the same height), another is nearly 3', a couple are close to 2', and the rest are between 1 and 2'. The ones doing the best I had to put bigger cages around, twice. I'm starting to have fencing on hand when I need it, which is convenient and no further expense.
Perhaps the biggest effort of the season was at the herbaceous layer, namely removing the crabgrass that had taken over the four-foot-wide strip of mulch next to the road that I put in last year. That little patch - what I'm trying to make into a "roadside meadow" - has been a bit of a pain in the ass. First I heavily mulched it to kill the grass. A fair amount of weeding grass that survived was done a number of times. Twice I tried to start a holly hedge, and both times it failed. I spent a lot of time planting lupine and blue vervain seeds in it this spring, and mostly they were eaten by the deer. And then the fucking crabgrass. It took a good five or six hours worth of work to remove it all, and then an hour getting and spreading mulch, and then the occasional 15 minutes of weeding here and there to get what survived. After that, beginning in late August, I spent several mornings every week digging up and transplanting blue violets, and the occasional spotted spurge, from my vegetable garden. In all, it ended up being about 40 or 45 of them. I planted them right at the edge of the grass, every six inches or so, hoping they will help to keep it out. The spurge went further in, toward the road. I really like those two plants together. At times I found seed pods from the blue violets and tucked them into the mulch beyond the spurge. I also started a little patch of yellow wood sorrel on the other end, also dug up from my vegetable garden. A couple American plantains got transplanted on that side as well, and some of their seeds spread. Little bluestem seeds sown at the corner with the driveway, but no germination and probably wrong time of year (going to try again in spring).
In other places, non-native thistle was removed, native pokeweed was frustratingly removed by the spouse, grapevines removed from azaleas (I'm actually not sure of nativity of either of those, come to think of it, nor if the vines are really grapevines). Various things trimmed around the AC units. Bricks and rocks moved from one place to another. Got (self-)certified with National Wildlife Foundation, and put up a sign.
The herb and vegetable gardens were good, in addition to being a source of blue violets and yellow wood sorrel. Tons of tomatoes. Cherokee corn, but I need to learn how to harvest/cook it properly if I try it again. Damn groundhog ate the green beans a number of times, resulting in not many harvested. Peas got thrashed by deer, I think, just as they were beginning to first ripen (they ate the tops of the plants, not the pods, damaging the whole plant anyway). I gave up after the second time it happened and the plants didn't seem like they would recover. That was also a disheartening moment. Decent garlic harvest.
The backyard orchard: peaches grew, but I either waited too long to harvest or the trees are just too young (or some other reason that caused them to be dried up and molding when I checked on them in July). Of the seven apples on the apple trees I counted in May, there are three still left on the Arkansas black. Not sure what happened with the two other trees, but the one missing from the black is from me trying it way too early. Have since read up and discovered that it won't ripen until probably November and with perhaps three months of storage after that.
In addition to the black walnut (and redbud), I also identified:
- bittersweet/climbing nightshade (solanum ulcamara, not native)
- various asters (native)
- common dewberry (Rubus flagellaris), common copperleaf (Acalypha rhomboidea), and white vervain (Verbena urticifolia) (native)
- Virginia Pepperweed (lepidium virginicum, native), whose seeds I collected, spread, and stored (it's plain but still pretty, seems like a few more would be good)
- white clover throughout grass (trifolium repens, not native)
- monarchs, monarchs, monarchs
- definitely much more that maybe I'll add later
Finally, I read Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife by David Mizejewski/The National Wildlife Federation (2nd ed., 2019).