John Andrews Gardening Thoughts

I have been shopping for a coral bark maple for weeks, now. I finally found one at a nursury near downtown Knoxville. The owner said he didn't have any, but there were two just as you entered the lot. They were mixed in with some other Japanese maples and now labeled as coral bark, but only as Sango kaku. The last time I went in he really didn't have any. Here is a link to info about this tree. I was really eager to plant this tree because it is the centerpiece of the path to the woods in that corner. I got my stuff and dug the hole and was about to plant the tree when I decided to check the visual layout so I stuck the shovel in the hole and walked back to the house by the deck to look. The shovel handle was hidden by the larger dogwood in the middle of the back lawn. That location would not work because we would not be able to see the tree from the deck. I picked a better location and noted that that is where the cable runs through the back yard over to the house. I can plant here, but I have to dig very carefully not to disturb the cable. It is somewhere near the marks left by the cable searchers. I had everything marked recently but now the marks are gone and the ground is covered with mulch. Rain today, so I didn't dig. I will when it dries out a little.

We went to Oak Ridge to the Willow Ridge nursury and found several more plants for the path to the woods. We got a nice witch hazel, a sweet olive, and a star magnolia plus some smaller plants. They have a broad selection and very knowledgeble staff. I will be planting for the next few days.

Yesterday I picked up a very nice multi-trunk redbud tree to place on the northern side of the new pathway to the woods. There is an out-of-the-way nursury downtown (Knoxville, TN) that has very good prices. This will be an outstanding spring showpiece next year. We will have to wait for the pictures.

Today I priced the other small trees and shrubs that I am looking for. Found the Star magnolia at Home Depot for $80. :-(. The coral bark maple is available at Home Depot, Saplings, and at Meadow View Greenhouses and Garden Center in Lenoir City. These run from $130 to $150. Ouch again. Meadow View also had a couple of Witch Hazel plants. I have not seen any Sweet olive trees yet. Still looking.

There is an eight foot section of cedar fence at the end of the path to the woods. I got hinges and a latch set to put on the fence to make it look like a gate. It won't open, but it should look nice.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain tonight. This morning I fertilized the huge back lawn with 23-3-2 lawn fertilizer. Now I will have to mow.

Next door neighbor planted a new dogwood and had a lot of heavy clay soil left over. I took it and placed in in a large low spot in the lawn. I will add peat moss and then till it into the area. I keep adding odds and ends of grass sod and soil there, so maybe I will fertilize it and plant the squash and pumpkins there. I have some tan field pumpkins sprouting that are heirloom seeds. Maybe put in watermelons, too, like last year.

Massive thunderstorms last night left piles of hail under the shrubs and beside the RV. Today is the day to take the RV to Kodak to have the generator repaired. There are still three yards of mulch in the driveway that has to be moved so the RV can get out of the yard. Also the ground is very wet after the rain -- we got a little more than an inch -- so I had to wait for the water to soak in and run off.

I moved the mulch to the corner of the back yard by the woods where I am building a small mulch island with a "Y" shaped path to the corner where a little piece of fence blocks off the open corner and the cable connection. The other day I measured out the curve to match the curve of the old dogwood tree but with a larger radius and I painted the outline of the island and 3-foot wide paths on either side. I have 3-foot wide landscape fabric to lay under the path. The island is just to be 3-4 inch thick mulch to block the grass and allow planting of the 15 small azeleas. My job this morning was to move the mulch from the driveway to the island so I can get the RV to the appointment.

Done! The eastern path segment landscape fabric is pinned to the ground and outlined with mulch. Now it is ready for the pine bark nuggets that will be the path material. When that is down, I will add pine bark mulch on top to solidify the path and fill in the gaps in the larger nuggets.

The three yards of mulch was just about right. I need some more, so I will order another load. I will complain, too. My cart holds 0.42 yards and by my count I only got 4.3 yards for my money.

Pictures comming when the plants are in and the path is done.

Five camelias are now resident in the shade of the maple and the Bradford pear and the mulched area is bigger by about 2 yards of mulch. I had to move the kausa dogwood to do the job right, thus requiring the expansion of the mulched area.

An interesting aside, I found lots of small rocks, say 1-1/2 inch across, looking like worn crushed granite or railroad ballast buried where I planted the camelias. I found even more when I accidently poked as a low spot in the lawn with the pitch fork and clinked on a rock. There were many of these just under the surface at that point. No telling how many more there are here, or why they are here. This is not construction gravel!

Pictures later.