Comments on: What I learned in Gardening School, Part I

By: Nancy Buley

Nancy Buley — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:59:23 +0000

Dee, Great report! Thanks so much for sharing Jim’s tree talk with your readership. It’s such a thrill for us tree growers out in Oregon to meet Oklahoma gardeners who share their stories and experiences on your website. Red Dirt Ramblings is a fun site and now I’m hooked. By the way, last year I planted a line of Royal Raindrops Crabapples down my driveway (a dozen or so), and they are spectacular. I will send a photo when they bloom in a couple of weeks.

Your friend in trees,

Nancy Buley/Marketing
J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.
Boring, OR 97009

Gee, Nancy, thank you. I really learned a lot from Jim’s talk. I’m glad you like the site. I bet your driveway looks extraordinary. I plan to put three Royal Raindrops along my split rail fence line. I’ll show a photo when I do.~~Dee

By: Dollybelle

Dollybelle — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:56:33 +0000

Dee,

I would love a Royal Raindrop Crabapple too. We have 2 drab colored crabapples that I would love to replace with something with a bright happy color like Royal Raindrop. Wouldn’t a whole tree of that knock your socks off! (Sorry my first post looked so weird cause it was my first one ever and there was some advertising to the side and now it’s gone. I think I’ve got the hang of it now.)

Laurie, thanks for commenting. Perhaps we’ll both purchase a RRC. I’d like a row of them down my fence line.~~Dee

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:21:10 +0000

That was a great article and well written. Some of the trees you listed are on my must have list for my new home. The Yoshino Cheery is on my list cause it is so hardy here and lived perfectly through our drought this summer. I do have to wrap it’s trunk in the winter. I want to look up that crabapple you mentioned. If you have time, could you email me that list. Our climate is not so different than yours. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Thanks, Anna, you’re too kind. I’ll try to scan the list in and send it to you tomorrow.~~Dee

By: Cath

Cath — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:31:53 +0000

Hi Dee, thankyou so much for your beautiful description of the robins springtime behaviour. I have passed your bloglink onto my Mum who loves robins for the memories she has of her childhood in England. (We’re in Australia). It’s just lovely to read your story of listening to the advice from the tree nurseryperson for your area. So different from our requirements here!
Cath

Hi Cath, Thank you for stopping by my blog. I love robins too. They tell us that winter will soon be over, don’t they. Oh yes, your requirements are so very different than ours. You should be going into fall about now, right?~~Dee

By: Curtis

Curtis — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:41:08 +0000

That crabapple tree sounds really good. Thanks for sharing the class with us Dee.

You’re quite welcome. I intend to do a post on Proven Winners too. I may do the crabapple. I’m still undecided.~~Dee

By: Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Mr. McGregor's Daughter — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:01:30 +0000

Yes, the newer Crabapples have persistent fruit – that is, if you don’t have more persistent squirrels! Good tree advice, especially about planting by powerlines. My only caveat is with the planting advice. I would not rely on the soil level of the container to determine planting depth. Sometimes there’s too much soil in the container & a tree can end up being planted too deeply. A better measure is to find the root flare & plant the tree with the root flare slightly above soil level.

MMD, good point about the root flare. That is the best guide. I don’t think I would mind the squirrels getting the fruit instead of it dropping on the ground, thus making a mess.~~Dee

By: Worx

Worx — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:48:37 +0000

“Plant trees that have shiny, waxy leaves”. Thats a great pointer. I’ve always been planting trees and expecting them to take root without doing the preparation in advance. Thanks for the good pointer.

Worx, as soon as he said it, I thought, of course. Up until then, I never thought about it at all. Thanks for stopping by.~~Dee

By: David

David — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:28:37 +0000

“ahhh . . . . .”

Great report!

Thanks.~~Dee

By: Martha/All the Dirt on Gardening

Martha/All the Dirt on Gardening — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:53:07 +0000

Hi Dee –
Glad you got to go to the OK Gardening School. I had a great time there last year and was sorry to miss it.
Thanks so much for posting the tree recommendations for those of us who couldn’t go.
It’s going down to 16 this week. Yikes our poor daffodils are blooming and will get their heads frozen off.
I put in Brussels Sprouts and broccoli starts after you mentioned them on your blog – did you get yours planted?
Martha

Hi Martha, I tried to plant some seeds today, but when it started snowing on me, and my hands were freezing through the gloves, I thought to heck with it. I came back inside and wrote a post instead. Don’t freeze in your part of the state.~~Dee

By: deb

deb — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:52:40 +0000

Sounds like a good class. I took the landscape design course at A&M. Our tree guy didn’t show up. Rat.

That’s the pits. I hate it when speakers don’t show up.~~Dee