The Home Ownership Thread

[ValidusLA]

@Gibonius That Mikawa went into the ground in October 2020. It came at a pretty decent size, height wise, but still in a ~1gal pot. From Conifer Kingdom in Oregon.

That bed is indeed sort of singular at my property composition wise. It is on the north side of my house and very close in to the house. The back of the house faces ever so slightly NE, so the bed gets a lot of shade.

Added to that, its the only bed at my house that is just.....insanely clay heavy. Maples generally don't like wet feet and I have been dumping gypsum, peat moss, coffee grounds, mulch, you name it into that soil to try to loosen it up.....and its a bit of a project to say the least.

@Mujib I sorta just had some extra pea gravel from my path. I wouldn't do it again. The white rocks in the back ground are holding down the raid chain basin and I have a lava rock sort of channel under that to drain rain chain water away from the house.

 

[Gibonius]

@Gibonius That Mikawa went into the ground in October 2020. It came at a pretty decent size, height wise, but still in a ~1gal pot. From Conifer Kingdom in Oregon.

I've ordered stuff from Conifer Kingdom. I got a really nice Chirimen hinoki cypress from them.

That's a great result for mail-order in general, much less a one gallon. I have some three gallons that are half that size after a couple years, and they weren't something as slow growing as a Mikawa.

That bed is indeed sort of singular at my property composition wise. It is on the north side of my house and very close in to the house. The back of the house faces ever so slightly NE, so the bed gets a lot of shade.

Added to that, its the only bed at my house that is just.....insanely clay heavy. Maples generally don't like wet feet and I have been dumping gypsum, peat moss, coffee grounds, mulch, you name it into that soil to try to loosen it up.....and its a bit of a project to say the least.

Yeah my whole yard is clay. Basically like trying to dig into a brick in the summer, but my yard at trends towards dry instead of overly damp so at least the maples appreciate that.




I just decided to dig up and toss a couple rhododendrons that we planted (well my dad gave them to us) right around when we moved in. They never really thrived, rhodos are hit or miss around here. My neighbors have some that are 15' across, then others just die for no damn reason. Azaleas almost universally do great, but somehow straight rhododendrons are dicey.

Always feels bad to me to pull a plant that's still alive, but they were obviously never going to recover.

 

[RedLantern]

I love the institutional plant growers like that. My dad's been in the industry for 48 years, just retired last year. He's been buying from places like that for decades, I'll have to ask if he knows them.

The amount of passion in the industry is really something. Real contrast to the soulless homogeneity of Home Depot etc.

I've decided that I much prefer to buy my plants from autistic people for these reasons.

 

[RedLantern]

I said a little earlier that there is an upcoming American Conifer Society event locally to tour some member gardens. One of the members is also a member of some Japanese Maple organization, and here is a video of his garden from last year - think a lot of you will appreciate it! Skip ahead to about a minute in to get to the juice!

 

[UnFacconable]

Me when this thread turns to horticulture.

It's not that I don't appreciate the content, it's that it's so far removed from my life that I sometimes wonder if you guys are making up all of these words. Like am I being punked or is this real life?

 

[ValidusLA]

Me when this thread turns to horticulture.

It's not that I don't appreciate the content, it's that it's so far removed from my life that I sometimes wonder if you guys are making up all of these words. Like am I being punked or is this real life?

 

[UnFacconable]

View attachment 2172387

I have land now and still don't know how to buy trees by the gallon or what flavors of japanese maple pair best with the mouthfeel of my soil.

Am I in the whisky thread?

 

[brokencycle]

I have land now and still don't know how to buy trees by the gallon or what flavors of japanese maple pair best with the mouthfeel of my soil.

Am I in the whisky thread?

Just PM @Gibonius privately and make him do all the hard work and save a fortune.

 

[Gibonius]

Me when this thread turns to horticulture.

It's not that I don't appreciate the content, it's that it's so far removed from my life that I sometimes wonder if you guys are making up all of these words. Like am I being punked or is this real life?

My dad and brother are both huge plant nerds, like they do it professionally but it's also one of their main hobbies. It's honestly a foreign language sometimes, especially since they know the Latin names for almost everything. They're always going over new weird rare plants they picked up or saw somewhere.

I didn't really get in to plants until I bought a house and started paying attention to stuff I might want. I'm still way behind my family.

 

[otc]

What's the proper term for a tree that has a decent amount of trunk before the foliage starts?

Like if I want a tree that can go in the middle of a grassy area and can take up space and provide visual interest, but will have like 4' of trunk growing straight up before it spreads so that it doesn't block the grass.

Unfortunately our USDA zone kinda limits the japanese maple selection that works.

Edit: In the 2023 zones we are 5A or even technically on the edge of a pocket of 5B, but I still feel like that's pushing it and I'd like something that's OK into zone 4 because we've been seeing some extreme cold snaps.

 

[UnFacconable]

Unfortunately our USDA zone kinda limits the japanese maple selection that works.

Edit: In the 2023 zones we are 5A or even technically on the edge of a pocket of 5B, but I still feel like that's pushing it and I'd like something that's OK into zone 4 because we've been seeing some extreme cold snaps.

OK, now I know you guys are just forking with me. What type of japanese maple whiskey pairs best with 5A Wagyu? Don't make me google this.

 

[ValidusLA]

OK, now I know you guys are just forking with me. What type of japanese maple whiskey pairs best with 5A Wagyu? Don't make me google this.

No Acer Palmatum whiskey in 5a generally. Too cold. At least in the heat you can baby them.

 

[double00]

What's the proper term for a tree that has a decent amount of trunk before the foliage starts?

a leggy tree ?

you can just gradually prune it up as it comes in ( here the deer do that anyways ) , but look for trees that like a vase shape or whatever is going to suit your situation . fwiw I don't spend a lot of time shopping for plants in an abstract way I figure out what the situation calls for then I jump in my Jeep and head over to the nursery and look around and talk to those dudes . then you'll see both what's available and what's appropriate for your actual geography . I can appreciate the concept of having a gallery of specimens but the idea here is functional space .

Like if I want a tree that can go in the middle of a grassy area and can take up space and provide visual interest, but will have like 4' of trunk growing straight up before it spreads so that it doesn't block the grass.

Unfortunately our USDA zone kinda limits the japanese maple selection that works.

Edit: In the 2023 zones we are 5A or even technically on the edge of a pocket of 5B, but I still feel like that's pushing it and I'd like something that's OK into zone 4 because we've been seeing some extreme cold snaps.

we had a week-long ice storm last winter our maple ( it think it's a bloodgood , it's prob original to the house so maybe 60 years old ) shrugged it off , they are dormant in the winter . what you don't want is a false spring and then a freeze .

that said Japanese maples are happy as an understory , if you already have big trees at your place you could site your maple there , the bigger canopy should temper the extremes

 

[otc]

what you don't want is a false spring and then a freeze .

Well...we get those pretty consistently.

Plus the general dry mountainous climate temp swings....Looks like it made it down to mid 20s last night despite being 60+F outside right now.

 

[double00]

Well...we get those pretty consistently.

Plus the general dry mountainous climate temp swings....Looks like it made it down to mid 20s last night despite being 60+F outside right now.

as I say your local nursery is a good resource . also you can just walk around your neighborhood to figure out what material will work locally