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Apr. 24th, 2005 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianA year ago I stumbled across Forest Farm, but I didn't order anything. They had a lot of interesting varieties of trees I wanted, and had decent prices, but the shipping was a bit prohibitive.
I gave them a shot this spring, and the order arrived a couple of days ago. I had one box of one gallon pots and one of tubes. I was very impressed with the way they packed the trees, and the condition of the trees themselves.
I planted a Parrotia persica (Persian Witch Hazel) in a position where it will provide summer shade to the air conditioner/heat pump once it gets a wee bit bigger. Still and all, it's decently sized and fully in leaf. The other gallon plants were all part of the foundation plantings - cornerstones for my primary planting goal this year. The Taxus baccata 'Fastigata' (English Yew) will cover one of the front four quadrants of the porch. The Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) is centered under the family room window - it will provide some edible fruit that the birds will also enjoy as well as forming a security barrier of sorts. I planted a Darmera peltata (Umbrella Plant) to one side of the deck - it gets wet there, and is in shade a good portion of the day, so it should be happy.
Most of the tubes (~2"x2"x6" pots) also went into the foundation area: three Pieris japonica - "Flaming Silver", "Forest Flame", and "Mountain Fire" (sensing a theme with the naming convention of the cultivars...); a Pyracantha "Teton" under the school room windows to provide similar purposes as the Mahonia - although the berries are only for the birds; and a Cephalotaxus harringtonia "Duke Gardens" to cover one of the other quadrants in front of the porch.
About ten years ago, we were considering (only somewhat seriously) relocating to Tasmania (somehow we wound up in Eastern PA...), basically because I liked the scenery... a key point of which is the gum trees. I especially like the snow gum - in fact, it was a search for a nursery that sold Eucalyptus pauciflora that led me to Forest Farm. Although they didn't have the species, they did have a debeuzevillei and niphophila subspecies - I planted one of each, one by the ivy triangle at the top of the driveway, the other over by the firepit. I also decided to try a cider gum - Eucalyptus gunnii - down on the edge of the meadow. The snow gums are smaller, almost shrubby, to 20-30' or so; the cider gum will get to 60-80'. Of course, they're all a bit of an experiment, as they're listed as Zone 7 plants - and we're in Zone 6 at best (although the area is sometimes listed as Zone 6-7.)
Anywho, took pictures of all the foundation plantings just to get a point of reference - as soon as I get them developed and scanned, I'll post them. At the moment, the shrubs are smallish, with circles of mulch around them. Over the course of the year, I'll be getting a bag or two of mulch, until I eventually get a 4' border around the entire house. Next year I plan on finishing off the other backbone shrubs for the foundation - some Oakleaf Hydrangea, a couple of Mountain Laurel, a Rhododendron, a few Mugo Pine, and some more yew (or some other evergreen that will form roughly a 4x4x4' cube without too much fuss) - and the year after that, I'll finish it off with a variety of groundcovers.
I gave them a shot this spring, and the order arrived a couple of days ago. I had one box of one gallon pots and one of tubes. I was very impressed with the way they packed the trees, and the condition of the trees themselves.
I planted a Parrotia persica (Persian Witch Hazel) in a position where it will provide summer shade to the air conditioner/heat pump once it gets a wee bit bigger. Still and all, it's decently sized and fully in leaf. The other gallon plants were all part of the foundation plantings - cornerstones for my primary planting goal this year. The Taxus baccata 'Fastigata' (English Yew) will cover one of the front four quadrants of the porch. The Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) is centered under the family room window - it will provide some edible fruit that the birds will also enjoy as well as forming a security barrier of sorts. I planted a Darmera peltata (Umbrella Plant) to one side of the deck - it gets wet there, and is in shade a good portion of the day, so it should be happy.
Most of the tubes (~2"x2"x6" pots) also went into the foundation area: three Pieris japonica - "Flaming Silver", "Forest Flame", and "Mountain Fire" (sensing a theme with the naming convention of the cultivars...); a Pyracantha "Teton" under the school room windows to provide similar purposes as the Mahonia - although the berries are only for the birds; and a Cephalotaxus harringtonia "Duke Gardens" to cover one of the other quadrants in front of the porch.
About ten years ago, we were considering (only somewhat seriously) relocating to Tasmania (somehow we wound up in Eastern PA...), basically because I liked the scenery... a key point of which is the gum trees. I especially like the snow gum - in fact, it was a search for a nursery that sold Eucalyptus pauciflora that led me to Forest Farm. Although they didn't have the species, they did have a debeuzevillei and niphophila subspecies - I planted one of each, one by the ivy triangle at the top of the driveway, the other over by the firepit. I also decided to try a cider gum - Eucalyptus gunnii - down on the edge of the meadow. The snow gums are smaller, almost shrubby, to 20-30' or so; the cider gum will get to 60-80'. Of course, they're all a bit of an experiment, as they're listed as Zone 7 plants - and we're in Zone 6 at best (although the area is sometimes listed as Zone 6-7.)
Anywho, took pictures of all the foundation plantings just to get a point of reference - as soon as I get them developed and scanned, I'll post them. At the moment, the shrubs are smallish, with circles of mulch around them. Over the course of the year, I'll be getting a bag or two of mulch, until I eventually get a 4' border around the entire house. Next year I plan on finishing off the other backbone shrubs for the foundation - some Oakleaf Hydrangea, a couple of Mountain Laurel, a Rhododendron, a few Mugo Pine, and some more yew (or some other evergreen that will form roughly a 4x4x4' cube without too much fuss) - and the year after that, I'll finish it off with a variety of groundcovers.