Another busy weekend

March 29, 2021. Spring is hitting its stride in eastern Kansas. Saturday was gloomy and cool but Sunday was gorgeous! All of the seedlings are well-watered after a week of beneficial rain. I spent the weekend in the Greenbelt installing some garden fencing and planting the third round of seedlings from the Missouri Department of Conservation. This batch included 10 more Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), 10 Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) seedlings and 10 cottonwood cuttings. These were mainly planted along the central walking path behind the thicket of plums. The buckeye were planted inside the wooded area along the creek - far enough away from the path to provide shade, water access and keep errant seed off the public thoroughfare. The redbud were planted closer to the path with a few extra planted on the west end. The last round of cottonwood seemed to be shaded out in the creek so I planted these on the north side near a little clearing hoping the light will save them. I think this will be my last go with cottonwood since this habitat just isn't right for them.

It is exciting to see the landscape come to life again but the bright green patches of honeysuckle within mock me from their roost. Just wait until fall! Grrr. Some young errant shrubs pulled up easily in the soft ground, but planting was the goal at this point in the season. I did some clearing and shaping of the public areas for esthetics. Fencing was placed as a cue to the landscaping company to protect emerging seedlings from over-zealous mowers. And emerging they are! The wild plum has done fabulously with most of the 25 planted seedlings leafing out - even those subject to grazing. The Prunus species all did well - all five of the planted Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) are leafing out and it appears that as many as eight of the ten Black cherry (Prunus serotina) trees are leafing out! In light of this success, I have ordered 10 more Black cherry seedlings set to arrive this week. These will be planted in the same central area to the west of the first batch.

I was also delighted to find one of my early plantings of elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) from 2 years ago thriving. It was planted on the east end of the central zone and will add stunning color to the early summer display in that area. I added some cuttings from a broken branch of another elderberry plant that I came across as I was checking the central area. Elderberry is another species that is thriving in this planting. I am working to track down the Roughleaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii) that exists naturally in the zone so that I can protect and nurture new growth and hopefully provide nutritious berries for migrating birds.

I will enjoy documenting my progress on this platform. Cheers!

Plantings:
10 Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra)
10 Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis)
10 Cottonwood cuttings (Populus sect. aigeiros)
Source: Missouri Department of Conservation

Publicado el lunes, 29 de marzo de 2021 a las 01:25 PM por ann223 ann223

Comentarios

No hay comentarios aún.

Añade un comentario

Entra o Regístrate para añadir comentarios