Sunday, November 2nd, 2008
I made a vow a few years back. I vowed that I would never buy trees from Arbor Day again. Obviously, I didn’t have much luck with my first batch.
I think the problem with the last batch of trees was that I put them in planters over the Winter. They didn’t do well in them. The planters froze like big ice cubes and only one or two of the trees survived. Since then, I told myself that I was just going to buy the more established trees.
Well, as usual, I softened my stance on the subject. I thought about it a few days ago and decided to give another round a try. This time, I would plant the trees directly in their permanent homes right from the start. Since they ship the trees in the early part of November, the soil is still soft enough to get a shovel into.
Baby Blue Spruce
I became a member (again) at ArborDay.org. With membership, I got 10 free Blue Spruce trees. I then ordered 10 Norway Spruces. Yesterday, I received the Blue Spruces in the mail. I was pleasantly surprised at the health of them and immediately planted them along the edge of the lawn and the woods. Since the trees are less than a foot tall, I also put bamboo stakes next to each tree, so I don’t run them over with the mower.
I have yet to receive the Norway Spruces, but since I liked what I saw with the first batch, I decided to order 10 more Norway Spruces. That will be 20 in all. I am going to spread them in between the Blue Spruces towards the front and side of the property. In about 10 years, we should start to see some growth.
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Thursday, November 9th, 2006
A while back, I ordered some trees from The National Arbor Day Foundation. I received the Norway Spruce trees the other day, but found the bulk of the other trees sitting on my front porch last night, when I pulled in the driveway from work. I was a little curious about the size of them.
When I opened the package of Norway Spruces, I was pleasantly surprised to see 10 trees, each about one foot high. They were pretty full trees. These trees come with their roots bunched up together and surrounded by gel in a plastic bag. It is recommended that you plant the trees immediately upon receiving them. Luckily, I saved all the plastic containers from all the shrubs I purchased throughout the summer. I mixed some topsoil with some sandy loam and planted all the Norway Spruce trees…one per container. I added these new trees to the collection of about 25 I am growing on my back porch.
As I mentioned above, the rest of the trees were waiting for me last night (by the way, I ordered a new shipment yesterday). I found two boxes with 3 Red Maple trees, 1 Paper Birch, 10 Canadian Hemlock trees and 3 Saucer Magnolias.
The common question everyone has is how big the trees are when you get them. Here is some insight. The Red Maples came about 2-3 feet high, the Paper Birch came about 4 feet high, the Hemlocks came about 8 inches tall and here is the good part…the Saucer Magnolias came about 6 inches high. They say these trees are supposed to be 1-2 feet high. Oh well. I have all these trees planted now in their own buckets on the back porch. In a few years, I will be able to plant them in their final place.
Obviously, these trees are meant for patient people, but go ahead, give it a shot and get your own!
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