What new plants have you just put in the ground?

Yippppeee for peonies. I know the rule is not to plant too deep but my parents had a serious landscape job done ages ago.Moving dirt over an old garden.The peonies grew thru several feet of earth and bloomed singles for years until the house was sold. Maybe they werent hybrids

Two Burma Midnight peonies from Peony.net, the recommendation of Gary (Leawood Gardener). One had 14 eyes and the other 9. I've never seen that many eyes on a peony I was planting for the first time. They were a half price sale. I had space for them in my new shadier yard because they are early blooming singles, and I found from growing Burma Ruby that if you have shade early singles really do work.

The really nice thing about them is that they were easy to install. Some of the peonies that I have received have all the eyes clustered at the top, making them, at least for me, harder to plant. These eyes were spread in such a way that I didn't have to dig halfway to China to get them in. A nice touch at the end of a long gardening season when you really are a bit tired of digging one hole after another (of course, no one made me buy all those roses!)

FWIW I do not have one peony in my garden. Sun and space have always been at a premium. I guess I must rely on your pictures for my Peony 'fix'!

Honestly, they have taken a definite step back in my garden. I am using my sun mostly for roses, grasses and lilies. These happen to be shade tolerant peonies, which is why I could do it.

If it's s fix you want, I will be happy to provide it!

Finished putting it 3 "Solar Eclipse" heucherella a couple of days ago. I believe these are the last new plants for me this season (excluding bulbs still to come). In fact this is early for me as I recall last fall putting in new plants up until November1st!

I'm trying to finish up too. I gave in to the urge to take advantage of a ridiculous sale at Santa Rosa Nursery ($1.99 plants, $7.99 flat shipping) that is coming any day now. That, a peony and a few bulbs will do it. I have unpleasant memories of years of planting in November while blowing my nose and having my eyes tear up from the cold. No rerun for me!

I suffer the same fate in late fall.
Plant and bulb arrival time is the second consideration for me.
I will be planting Columbine,Monarda and coreopsis.
I also took advantage of SR sale.The ran out of one of 3 coreopsis so I just took the 2 that were left.No back orders.

Thanks. Located Santa Rosa sale. Got several plants I left behind at old house (alchemilla mollis, artemisa silver mound, scabiosa butterfly and pink mist, lambs ear ) - LOT cheaper this way. Also got 3 types of echinacea, 5 types of shasta daisy (think I was losing them to voles before), hardy white verbena (worth a try), blue ceratostigma (always killed but optimistic). Love blue flowers - so do those rodents with big ears. Lost almost all the new delphiniums to them. Need to finish rabbit fence soon - before winter - so I will be ready for spring and more blue flowers.

Just finished potting up new and replacement shrub plants from Girard 40% off sale into pots (if very small) then flexible tubs. Also put some lilies in tubs until I have a place for them in the ground with daffodils and/or shale. The spring Girard order had trouble with the heat and drought. Finally located a place that sold pansies and put them in the tubs with the shrubs - they are really nice for winter and spring. Trying to decide which dwarf fruit trees to order and when (now or spring). Bulbs coming soon too, mostly dwarf daffodils for the pesky wabbits. Finished putting new tall, border, and dwarf iris in beds. I actually have 2 beds for border and dwarf iris - how cool is that? Still need to finish planting 11 old and new daylilies in beds. Back sunny yard is close to being done - brick lined beds, mulched paths, plants, obelisks, solar lights. Will restart veges soon in tubs - lettuce, etc.

Front mostly shady yard almost done - clover looks good - neighbors cannot grow grass because of shade. Rhodos (lost 5 of 6, 3 more are burned), azaleas (lost 1 of 6), hostas (still alive but burned), kalmias (lost 2 of 3 to Bigfoot and bunny), heucheras (most are good that were not stepped on by Bigfoot), 2 types of viburnums (alive and got more), newly planted white hardy mums (sure I believe it). Moved the dwarf conifers to tubs in back because of rotten bunny - left boxwoods there but bunny is chewing them too. Can't shoot them (too many cops nearby), have to live with them somehow - little daffodil protectors coming mid Oct. Just finished pulling some crab grass and strange weeds - it is about 99% clover. It seems bunnies do NOT prefer clover over my plants.

It is the word 'sale' that seems to be hardwired into our brains and causes us to order more, and more, and more. I really need to stop ordering plants now. The ordering is fun but the digging gets to be a chore.

Ahhmen !!

You've got that right, sister!

I haven't ordered anything, but I am planting all the perennial and biennial plants I grew from Winter Sowing. In the last two days, I planted 70 plants, Lilies, Digitalis, Penstemon and others. I still have about 60 more to plant. I have looked at the catalogs but told myself I just need to get the plants I have in the ground and move around the plants in the garden that need to be moved.
The weather is so nice right now, but I do get tired.
Donna, reading your calendar of planting made me tired. How do you do it? You are very organized. I am going to print your list out and look up the plants I don't recognize.

I have also started making a brick border around my gardens. That will be an on going project.
I think it's easier to to work in the garden in the fall than in the spring. You can see where all of your plants are yet and not dig into something that hadn't awakened yet.

I dug up some daffodils a couple of days ago. They had surfaced. Someone posted above that they divided them due to them surfacing. I thought they had surfaced because we did not dig them deep enough to begin with. So, now I wonder if I should dig them back up and divide them? More daffodils are always nice. They are white ones.

carolmo: what's a bunny fence. We had rabbits for the first time this year in 25 years. We have rabbits, deer were horrible, ground hog, and something? has dug a burrow right next to my rose bush.

Donna, I have Jude the Obscure--love it. It gets very tall and is wonderfully fragrant. Easy care.

Birder,

Phenomenal - Jude was a happy error. Order two roses, get three! I have been looking at pics of it and it looks wonderful. I just had to place it carefully because apricot, however lovely, is not in my color scheme. So I located it away from a pink rose (Marchesa Boccella) and closer to a white rose (Sea Foam).

I found a lot of daffodils had been pushed to the surface. I put in 5 Mt. Hoods from Old House Gardens a few years ago and now I must have 70 at my old house (which closed today - the buyer is over the moon, he loves the house and garden so much). So on my last trip I pulled up about 20 that were no more than 2 inches down. It's so nice to find a buyer who loves what you have done and wants to keep it. It makes me smile. That's why I can't be sad.

Do bear in mind as you look at my insane list that I had not only been planting since 1998, but my garden was full. And when I started pricing replacements I was stunned. They costs had gone up 3-4 times. Since through the spring and summer I was driving 64 miles every Friday to tend to the garden, I would just bring pots of compost and dig up some of the ridiculous excess. There were a lot of homes for sale in my community. Mine was smaller but because of the easement and placement the garden was much larger than most and chocked full of goodies. I knew that I would attract fewer buyers but they would be more passionate (at the last minute, we received an offer $10,000 higher). If you had weeks and weeks to do it, and had to take care of another yard, you would probably do it to. Especially if, like me, you are a little nutty (yes, I admit it!)

And I think on the scale of garden passion I am 11 out of 10. I have been told that I "caress every leaf". I get a bizarre satisfaction out of researching unusual plants and then finding out EXACTLY what they want. Some people cook like that, some sew like that, I garden like that. I love creating beauty with my own hands and my own ideas.

Yep! A little nutty.

Bunny fence: 2 ft tall, 1 inch holes, 50 ft long chicken wire fencing attached with wire to bottom of chain link fence that allows rabbits to get through on the bottom. Supposed to place at least 6 inches under surface to prevent them digging under. Instead, we wire 1 ft on fence and 1 ft on the flat surface and wired it down with landscape fabric stakes. If they still get through, I can later dig the mini trench and place the bottom in it.

I am getting close to being done with the garden bones for the year. 547 bricks to line the beds (I kept track), garden soil, compost, 2 obelisks, solar lights, tree stakes for dwarf trees, cedar and rubber mulch for paths, 2 sprinklers provide almost perfect coverage in back now (will avoid planting in 2 corners), now set up to merely turn off one toggle and turn on another to change to other sprinkler (had to use 4 sprinklers at old house but with 2 toggle sets or shut off valves).

Iris and daylilies are finally all in today. I do not know how I have so many of each. It just happened. I am glad I took as many plants as I did from my old house - it would cost a fortune to replace these - even if they were still available. Only waiting for bulbs mid Oct from Brent and Becky (dwarf daffodil plant protectors), and on sale perennials (echinacea, shasta, etc.).

Still have cleanup to do, and must figure out what to do with patio area since broken patio was removed before I moved in. Have giant pile of dirt in patio area that I need to thin out (dirt from holes for new plants), one old shrub I need to dig out, apple limbs cut down and apples on ground from neighbor's trees that hang over fence. Have old leaky birdbath that city trash people will not take - will learn to seal concrete soon - have material and will experiment. If it turns out badly, I can pay to have it hauled.

At least the weather is getting cool enough to work in. 15 tomatoes did poorly; I need to remove them for the bunny fence but noticed many new baby tomatoes so will wait. The cooler weather is being good to the plants. Have pepper plants - they seem to be doing well, but I did not even look for peppers because we were so busy with the grunt work.

Think I must wait til spring for more trees, even though I could get some now. My to-do list for house and garden is big and does not shrink - when I get something done, another item is added.

Most everything survived the heat and drought due to daily watering. My water bill was not high at all - and 3 months of them now were supposed to be real and not estimated. One person in another nearby town got a $600 bill for one month just watering the lawn. Ouch. I did spend over $600 on rubber mulch for paths, because I like it, had it before, looks really good, does not roll downhill with rain, does not require refurbishing all the time, can take leaf blowers, and is very bouncy when on the flat. I used to have wood mulch applied every single year at great expense and it just turns to black dirt - not what I wanted for paths.

Tossed 2 lavender roses (just cannot seem to keep these 2 alive) but noticed remaining roses are heavily budded now. Wow! Jude the Obscure (new), Evelyn (new), and some others will give the place wonderful fragrance and beauty.

I have a shipment of Coreopsis coming. Center Stage and another that looks like it plus Route 66.
I will finish planting columbine and monarda this morning. That should end plants for this year. Its getting harder to find room plus dig new holes without standing on other plants.

Wow, Carolmo, I thought I was ambitious. What a ton you have on your plate! You are really doing all that work yourself? I loved lining the beds back home with bricks, but I think I used about 200. I hope that you are breaking up the work so that you don't kill your back.

I addressed the watering issue by using lots of soaker hoses in my yard. It really kept all the bills except for one at about $60. Over the years I had acquired about 30 soaker hoses. I had 23 roses in full sun, and I would put the hoses in, bury them with mulch, put them on timers that went 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off, and it worked. I was actually giving some to my grateful neighbors. I particularly like to put them around the base of trees and thread them through new beds and plants.

Next mission is to block out the chain link fences with the junk in the yards to the east. And the dog. (Pic. 1) At this site, I am installing a trellis from home, and I will grow Tess of the D'ubervilles on it, as I did at home. I had three trellis - a wonderful and very heavy wrought iron one from Smith and Hawkin (Pic. 2) , a President Lincoln trellis I got from Edmunds years ago, and a huge redwood one I had installed in cement. The S&H was exquisitely made, but not only has S&H been taken over by Target, but the Target stuff is cheaply made. So I took the two I could, and I am growing climbers up them. When I looked for trellises of that quality, I could only find inferior ones for three times the money.

The rest of the chain link is being boxed out by two deutzia Codsall Pinks (thanks Weerobin) and a Miscanthus Giganteous (I didn't know it would grow in shade - thanks Viburnum Valley). I do have three ginormous autumn clematis that grow on other sections of the fence. Pic 3 - yes, there is chain link under that mass!

Better yet, a tree that was removed from the front parkway more than 20 years ago had heaved and cracked te sidewalk in the front. No one had ever been able to persuade the village to fix it. I was redoing the front parkway, having tilled it, and being in the midst of thatching it, but I was advised to hold off untill the work was done.

The lovely men from Elgin are doing the work. 3 sections of sidewalk. My old community uesed to "share" the cost with you. Here, they pay for it all. Whoo hoo! And look at that smile! (Pic. 4)

Pic 5 is as of yesterday afternoon. When it's done, I will finish thatching and put down new grass.

Donna, I think you placed the Jude the Obscure well. It does turn different shades of color, and I think it's a "blender". It will pick up pinks, whites, yellows, apricots. So, I think you did well.
I think it's wonderful you were able to take so many plants with you. NOt only do they cost a lot to re-place, some of them probably have some sort of sentimental value and bring certain memories back. You were soooo lucky to get a buyer that appreciates your yard. Usually, buyers let the gardens go, and they look awful. I hope this will not be the case.
It's about to rain, and I have plants that need to put in the ground, so I have to cut this short.

I haven't yet read the bunny fence thread but will soon.

Just planted Monarda Blue Stockings and Columbine McKanas Giant and BlueBird.

Oh, thank you Birder, It's good to know that about Jude. I have never seen, in da flesh (The Big Easy) some of my roses. They are only pictures.

The garden won't really need anything more until spring, when the grasses will need to be cut back. That said, there are a heck of a lot of grasses, and some of them are huge - five feet across. We would tie them and use a hedge trimmer - you can also hire someone to do it. But in exchange you get the equivalent of a beautiful fence. I am so glad I planned my garden around fall. The grasses (55?) are blooming, the smoke bushes (5) are blooming, the two crabapples are loaded with berries, and most of the viburnums. Add to that the reblooming roses, and it's pretty wild. And a fairly mature paperbark maple.

If they like grasses, they must be in heaven.

Showy stuff!

I am jazzed, my Santa Rosa order of coreopsis come today. Ya gotta love tracking numbers.

I got another set of gifts from my friend I originally met on DG. She connected me with the Peter Schneider rose event.

We went to lunch and she brought me a bunch of goodies. 2 huge clumps of sweet woodruff (gallium odoratum), so big that each can be divided into four plants, at least 25 plants of geranium Bevan's Variety, more geranium robertianum and other plants she is identifying for me. What phenomenal plants for shade! And what a perfect time to get them.

The geraniums are particularly welcomed because I somewhat impulsively installed a Charles de Mills rose. It is a gallica, and they are shade tolerant, but they also sucker like mad, which meant that I had to move several plants away from it, while using it to beat back lily of the valley (having removed about 500!) Now instead of open ground (the weed's delight) I have hardy geraniums and sweet woodruff. Could it be any better?

The only catch is that I am simultaneously working on the parkway. After tilling it, there is still old roots that I am removing with a thatch rake, then laying top soil, putting down seeds and watering. Happily for me, I had acquired about 25 soaker hoses over the years, which I am using to keep the seed moist.

So I am trying to install about 40 plants - plus my bulbs are coming. And one more peony. And I dug up a massive hydrangea to relocate it. So I had to move an Endless Summer I put in earlier this year (I got two 2 quart ones at the bargain price of $8 each!)

I might pot up my alchemillas and miscanthus for the winter and put them in my garage. They will join two lilium speciosum I was give, a rose Glamis Castle that's in a pot now, two tender hydrangeas and heaven knows what else.

Discovering the benefits of late season sales is definitely a blessing and a curse!

The biggest change in my garden is my lack of reluctance to dig things up and move them around. I used to be afraid to do that. Now I don't hesitate.

Donna

Snapdragons which had been growing in a pot for a few months. I grew them from seed and do not remember which ones they are. Luciee {;^)

Have all Santa Rosa sale plants in ground - gorgeous things - will buy from him again. Have Brett and Becky's large daffodils and minor bulbs in. Almost have dwarf protector daffodils all in. Need to move some recently potted Girard sale shrubs (3 viburnums) into ground of front yard now - will keep some (azalea, 3 rhododendrons) in large pots for winter. Three great suppliers named here.

Paid to remove old broken bird bath - not worth fixing - man had the nerve to say it looked like I had a lot of work to do - he was looking at the many containers. I said I was almost done. Hmmph. Gardeners do not take such criticism well.

City will haul wood pallets used to get supplies from Lowes earlier, and one semi large tree limb we did not cut up. Many bags of trash tree limbs from neighbors apples trees that hang over fence. Many trash bags of 14 tomato plants to free fence for bunny fix. Front and back yards starting to look really good now. Hostas in front starting to look poorly - but I expect them to come back. Clover looks good in front. Mail man still avoiding front yard with wire fence. Across street, man has yellow tape up to stop walkers in his yard - at first I thought it was police tape but then remembered he was working on yard.

Metal tree stakes all in (thanks to teen) - 3 fruit trees alive from spring planting, 4 fruit trees coming mid November - holes dug, 7 more fruit trees coming mid March. In a few years, spring will look fantastic with the 14 dwarf fruit trees. 2 apricots, 3 peaches, 1 nectarine, 1 plumcot, 2 japanese plums, 5 mini dwarf apples. This will be my 3rd and final orchard. Pity no real room for my Shogetsu flowering cherry. But might sneak it in anyway.

Bunny fence and 2 gates chicken wire fix finished yesterday by teen helper. Looks OK to me - all that matters - after bunnies anyway not to win beauty pageant. Bad semi-dead shrub cut up and dug up by teen - I should start calling him the Hulk. All dumped dirt from digging holes now spread flat in patio area. Need to paint old gas light post. Ready to mulch and maybe plant later at ends. May move large containers of plants into sides of soon-to-be-patio area.

More cedar mulch and landscape fabric hauled yesterday. Lowes increased mulch prices a lot in last few weeks. Teen does not think I should cedar mulch the rest (about 1/3) of the back yard - might do anyway. He thinks it will be overdone. But I will not allow weeds again and will not mow. Cannot afford to replace concrete patio - broken and required to be removed before I bought house. OK - think I will use landscape fabric in the middle third near the house for a patio, put plants in ground (later) and plants in large containers on both sides, with some mulch all over so I can at least walk on the sides without getting muddy. Have to think about it. Hulk will help me Wednesday. Will have to get more bricks - nuts - wish I had done this when they were still on sale a few weeks ago - hate to find out what the new prices are.

After the protector bulbs are in, will start dreaming of getting more delphiniums again next year. I left room for them.

wow!!! I'm gone for a couple of months and everyone is soooo busy, lol....when you are all done with your places I've got plenty of things here that need to be done...

I had to wait for the heat to subside here....this summer was just to warm for me to get much of anything done other than watering....Have been busy planting since mid Sept.. Put 180 perenns in, and pretty much filled in most of the gaps in my border. Leaving some room for annuals tho...and newly planted perenns to fill out and mature.

Started on my backyard....Oh wow, what a mess!!!! Lol, was nothing but feild grasses. Rototilled 3 times and raked and raked and raked....tried to get most of the perennial feild grass below the root line so will have less to contend with next spring, might be some weeds...maybe not, I can hope tho...

Been working on my plans, trying to figure out where I want all my goodies!!!! I started buying plants this spring, mail-order, Lowe's, Home Depot. Trees, shrubs and some clems., and a bunch of perenns and Iris that were traded for here at Dave's. Who knew back then I wouldn't even be starting the project til Sept.... egads!!! Ground is raked now, still have some ground to be tilled up yet, but only if II have time.... Dug holes yesterday for my lilacs which will outline the fences where the deer could come in. Stated planting today and yuck the breezes are kicking up a bit more dust than I like, (snow is moving in for the next few days, then I have to wait for the whole thing to dry a bit so I can get in and begin more planting. Gosh, I'm hoping for some MORE good weather, PLEASE!!!!! I have about 6-700 plants to get in before winter, of that there are almost 300 Iris. Thankfully everything is in pots. So if the weather holds I should be able to get most of it planted, and what I can't will get placed in tunneled rows for the winter.

I am done planting except for the 4 fruit trees coming soon! Cold weather coming again tomorrow.

Went out to start laying bricks on the edge of the so called patio area and found oak leaves over a foot deep next to house. I felt doomed. I have 2 giant oak trees in front yard, trimmed so few limbs are over house. Most of the leaves were very close to the house. The earlier mulched areas and planted areas had very few leaves. This is a good thing. Little work here.

I located the leaf blower/shredder. The leaves are fresh, they blew easily but they did not really shred - not brittle enough yet. I dumped one batch of 'shredded' leaves to the fence over the bunny fence part where the tomatoes were. Looks really good. I also think I can merely blow them to the sides of the patio area where I will someday plant more goodies. It will be beneficial to have leaves here. So, bunny fence can have leaves on it and look better. Who would have guessed? I need about 80 more bricks (back to old price) and do not yet know how much more cedar mulch (higher price but still cheap) is needed. I can use oak leaves as mulch for plants and paths near the fence. This turned out great. I am not doomed after all.

I will get shogetsu flowering cherry next spring when I can get it smaller and cheaper than now. I had it at 2 previous houses and really like it. I think I can insert it next to patio but away from low hanging wires/cables.

Carol, your thread from a couple of days ago sound like we are looking over each other's shoulders. I got my Brent and Becky and Old House Garden daffodils in, as well as chionodoxa (white for under the crabapple, pink for over the daffs) and my "protector daffs" (WP Milner) are near the White Trumphinators and the turkestanicas. By the way, the OHG daffs were all huge double noses. They are the biggest I have ever seen.

And I put my Santa Rosas in - 3 alchemilla mollis and one miscanthus giganteous. They were small and I was contemplating waiting until spring - but it was 80 yesterday!

A dear DGer gave me at least 50 geranium Bevan's Variety and geranium robertianum. I have a wonderful shady walkway and most of them went there. The previous owner had mostly wild violets and they are OK, but this is better.

I love my peony foliage. It's tough to make myself cut them back.

My anemones won't quit. They have a ton of secondary buds and have been blooming for weeks.

The robertianums and Bevan's variety look lovely amongst the fallen leaves.

And the salvia turkestanica refuses to stop blooming although I keep cutting it back.

I marvel at your projects, Carol and Warrier. They just seem very taxing. Yes, I can do things in pieces but those pieces sound very heavy!

One nice thing is that several of my new roses are putting out lovely little flowers.
I had a bunch of small bulbs from previous years - daff offsets, for example, that are not mature size. Ornigothalem nutans. And decided to put them under my raspberry bushes.

I picked up a Prunus x yedoensis (yoshino) cherry to put in the backyard, now I just trying to figure out where to put it, the plan is still open enough to change things....any input would be appreciated. Do the roots become a problems, ie surface roots like a Maple? Do the roots seek water such as a poplar, (wellhead is close but will keep 25-30 ft away, but not sure where the pipe from the wellhead goes across to the house). Suckers? Is it fragrant, one place I read it says it is, true or not? (It's like the trees in D.C.).I would like to plant it close enought to the house to eventually give it some shade (southeast exposure).

And also any input on Cercise canadensis (redbud), picked up 3 at Home Depot for $10 each, they are about 5ft tall now, I do know they are a smaller tree from those I've seen around the Denver area. Just love the flowers in spring and the large leaves. Wanna place on the corner of the house to help hide the satalite dish on the corner of the house. Any personal experiences would be helpful. Seen any full grown specimens about. How big ht and wide? I've read the tags and looked up info on both but sometimes they don't tell you everything, sometimes they under size things from what I seen.

The other tree I need to place is Tilia cordata Greenspire (Little leaf Linden), I understand it's also fragrant, more pyramidal. Roots? Any other info. I might find useful?

I picked up 3 Acer ginella, just love this one, but the roots can be a problem. Can't plant anything below it as the roots are very fiborous. But it's the only maple that has fragrant flowers in the spring and lovely red fall color. So I know I need to find somewhere close to the house but not that close as I want the planting area. Lol. I will probably be able to plant a ground cover or reseeding annuals with these.....

Another I have a question about is Hawthorne phaenopyrum (Washinton Hawthorne), says mature height is 25-30ft. I have only seen as a 7-8ft shrub and was fragrant from what I remember. But the liturature says the flowers stink. Any input? And does it get that big?

Ok, ya all put on your thinking caps, lol..... and thanks for any info.....Kathy

Pix: I got 12 of these, Spiarea Van Houtte, to line a "Spring Garden Room". They will line all spring bloomers, which will eventually lead to a "Rose Garden Room". I love having an open pallet in which to play....It's just placing trees that has me a bit befuddled, lol.......

Donna - do you grow the G. robertianum as a biennial? I'm wondering how moist the soil has to be for that one.

I adore prunus yedoensis. I had one. Yes, the roots tend to be surfacy, but don't let that stop you. It does not sucker, and mine was not far from the sprinkler system, and it never sought water.

Mine was on a "bad site", on the northwestern side of my house, completely exposed to the wind, since my house is across from an open field. The only thing you will have to do is prune limbs that grow too low on the tree.

Most of my pictures are at least 3 years old - some 5. But this is a tree you want!

Remember, it's the Tidak Basin tree in Washington. Dozens of them stand with no issues. This is a carefree tree.

This message was edited Oct 25, 2012 1:18 PM

Kathy: I do not know about watering Yoshino, but Shogetsu died when planted too high up a slope, it needed to be at the bottom of my old sloped lot. I assume they are similar. I never noticed root problems, just extra growth from the rootstock that needed to be cut off. Put it where you can see it a lot or sit under it in spring. I love Shogetsu and got the rhododendrons mist maiden because they looked like her. Double pink fading to white. It is supposed to be fragrant too but I never noticed it.

Around KC MO, redbuds are understory small trees, seldom getting over 20 ft - but they can. I like the heart shaped leaves. I think the leaves turn yellow in fall.

At one house, I planted a lot of crabapples. Most got diseases (sellers do not list this problem - drat them). Some had huge messy fruit. At last house, I planted a disease resistance white crabapple tree with tiny red fruit (sugar tyme) - the fruit were not a problem, usually left on tree until birds truly hungry. If I had room I would get this again.

Donna: I am going to learn about all the plants you have that I do not know. I started listing them. I am definitely going to get lily silk road some day. And, I will try all the blue flowered plants I used to kill like cynoglossum - think this lot is better than the old one. You know a lot more plants than I do. I gave up trying to learn the latin names when I found out I was mispronouncing all of them - thanks to Victory Garden. ;)

Hawthorne is used as a common windbreak tree not huge, but large old trees will , like maples, lose limbs, only they are not as large as most acer species except box elder maple , that it is closer in size. comparison unto..
I have a few Cercis canadensis lots of seed pods ,if you trim them to grow more upright ,they are neater, but a little messy with the pods ,that is why other cultivars without pods or red year round leaves are gaining popularity.
If you trim that to grow upright give it the distance of a large sofa say at least 8 feet ,it will touch the house in 4 or 5 years. Branches do not usually get large enough to become problematic .I have seen some very old Redbuds that had to be trimmed though.
These two mentioned I can answer a few questions about the others I know nothing about besides the Yoshino growing in DC and it is also grown for Bonsai .lol.

Careful careful careful with the redbud. I know several people who have them. They can be fabulous - and then inexplicably die.

As for the littleleaf linden, go for it! This is a young one (picture 4). We had to replace the other since the idiots who put in our landscapping for the subdivision put left it in a wire bag. Too bad, because it was wonderful. But lindens are bulletproof, and the littleleafs are very elegant. I find the American Basswood a little coarse.

If you had space, I'd tell you to get a baleyi linden (1,2 and 3. The littleleaf will have the same shape, but not as low to the ground. A more magnificent, easy tree never existed. (the bedraggled tree to the left in the second picture is not ours! Our neighbors id not take care of their trees.)

You will end limbing it up, but if you have room!

Lindens are my number one choice for a shade tree.

In my opinion, ditch the Hawthorne. I contemplated it. It is really nondescript. I don't understand the hosannas. And watch out for the thorns. And yes, they stink!

We had two crabapples. One was disease resistant, one not. I treated the one that was not with sulphur alternated with another product, and I felt it was worth the trouble. Here is our disease resistant crabapple, which was on our patio. It held all of its apples to the end of the season - then dropped them all. They were not messy or gross and I just swept them up. But look at at! Get a multistem!

The other was not disease resistant, which did mean spraying it starting in April, every two weeks for a total of four times.

But wow!

It did not drop its berries. And I never found out what it was, since it was a replacement. But I preferred it to the other.

It all depends upon what you want and what you think you can do.

I have just started out with robertianum, but like several biennials in my garden I always have it because it seeds. I started parsley as a ground cover plant years ago. It is biennial, and not only do I have it every year but it spreads because some of it blooms and dies but produces seeds (first pic) so that the next year you have more. (Second pic). And more and more!

I actually dug up clumps from my old house and planted them. They all took! I am assuming robertianum will do the same. The person who gave me the plants also gave me a bag of the seeds to throw around the yard.

Yup, these trees will be exposed to spring winds. Part of the reason for planting somewhat close to the house but not close enough for any limbs to ever touch...I live downhill from most of my neighbors. Property next to me and above has no trees in line of sight uphill, the neighbor above them only has native ponderosa pines. See pix 1, pix 2 is same after rotil and raking. My problems are: wind tunnel in the early spring. Heavy rainfall and HEAVY (hail and water from above and behind me) runoff in July downpours, (my neighbors property has corral areas just behind and above me, so nothing to break the run of heavy rains). And is southeast exposure to the hot sun in the summer.

I have planned a row of common lilacas all along my fence lines, then another row of larger shrubs, (4) Viburnum plicatum Shasta and smaller rows of probably 3-4ft Spiareas in that corner area. 1. to keep deer out (I know is several years away but...) 2. to break the wind tunnel effect in spring 3. to break summer run off, which runs down my property all the way into my long border taking soil and flowers with it. I would love to do a French drain system but out of the question ($$$$). So I figured the best way to approach my dilemas would be with plant material. While waiting for my trees and shrubs to mature I will plant any and all flowers I can, annuals and perenns., mostly to break the water flow in July.... and cover the ground. Pix4 is some of the hail and water damage.

Pix 3 is my flower garden after one of those July storms, it had washed away the top layer of freshly (3 weeks fresh) soil that had been rototilled and just awaiting new plantings of flowers. Am glad to say this area is fully planted now, so plants hold most of the soil....I'm trying to break up the raging flow before it ever gets to this area with the backyard plantings.

Pix 5 is the east side of my flower border early this spring, more mature plants have helped to hold the soil in place....and notice the downhill slope, the dirt road at the upper part of the pix is the bottom of the hill.

Hope all this makes sense.

Think I'm joking about the winds here in Colorado...go to your home page and look the the history on the right side of your page........I remember when that happened to the forest...and the sad part of it was most of that wood is still lying there rotting. Couldn't be harvested because the terrain was to rugged to get to it....sad because soooo many homes could have been build with it....

I'm glad to say that the winds never reach that speed here where I am.....whew!!!!!

Just took these pix of the backyard and my garden, gives you an idea of the downhill progression. Also in backyard pix can see placement of all my little pots of lilacs and second row of shrubs, so far, and why they are sitting there now, lol....

I remember the WIND from a trip to relative's house when I was a kid. I have never forgotten it. Scary.

Regarding the slope - think I would try to find a flat place for the cherry near the house that does not dry out fast. I do know that slopes really drain fast. I am not sure what experts would recommend.