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April


griteater

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I thought you were joking about the free trees from Lowes. Are they saplings? I never had any luck with them, they just grow so crooked for me. But I'll check it out. Glad you got a nice rain!

The trees they are giving away in West Columbia are pine saplings about 2 ft tall :arrowhead: I asked a friend of mine that works at Lowes why pine and she said each region would have trees that were native to the area. Like the south doesn't have enough pine trees already...lol

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Ended up with around .40" from the rain earlier this morning. Quite a contrast compared to all the warm and sunny days we've had (80s to 50s). I've dropped to 48° now with drizzle, which will probably last until sometime tonight or the next early morning period. Then its back to the 70s and 80s, which by the way I wouldn't be surprised if some folks hit 90 for a high nearby.:sizzle: That warmth on Easter is going to be impressive for sure and would nearly convince me to whip out the umbrella tables early this year haha, though that would be a bad idea given the storms we have been experiencing.

My neighbors will be planting their squash, beans, and tomatoes near the end of this month, which I imagine the weather will keep them in check to ensure good growth. I'm thankful that the oak in my yard hasn't died yet, as it's really grown some leaves in the past few days. Now I'll have some shade to work with when I'm grilling. :)

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These clouds are very tough to break this morning...I was hoping the sun would crack through this morning...

20110423_1331_sm_CLT_vis.jpg

give it a couple more hours and these low clouds will be mostly gone, I think. Notice the mountains are already out of them for the most part. The sun has been breaking through here a lot the last hour and its already muggy. Next few days we're going to get an early taste of Summer with higher dewpoints and really warm air...good test for the first A/C use.

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clouds starting to thin out over SC. once again the wedge holds longer than forecast. supposed to the 67 at noon and not even out of the 50s yet. shocking!

amazing how we can get a wedge and it stays forever. but in the last 5 or 6 winters we rarely get them - and thats when we need them most lol :scooter:

still socked in here at nearly2 PM but looks like it should be clearing up soon

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These clouds are very tough to break this morning...I was hoping the sun would crack through this morning..

Tell me about it. It's now 2:20, and I've yet to see the sun. I put off the mowing as long as I could hoping that the sun would come out to dry off the blades of grass. But, I had to go ahead and mow the grass even though it was still wet because we're hosting an Easter egg hunt on the lawn later this afternoon. I couldn't have the kids traipsing through a jungle!

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turned out to be an awesome day here. I spent all day in the yard , planting like crazy. Ran out of time to cut the grass though, even though its in desperate need, the fun stuff first. Did anyone get a tree from lowes? I went twice today, but declined the saplings. I've got plenty of those in the woods anyway, if I wanted to transplant :arrowhead:

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turned out to be an awesome day here. I spent all day in the yard , planting like crazy. Ran out of time to cut the grass though, even though its in desperate need, the fun stuff first. Did anyone get a tree from lowes? I went twice today, but declined the saplings. I've got plenty of those in the woods anyway, if I wanted to transplant :arrowhead:

ended up gorgeous here as well - and yes i love lowes but no, i didnt get a pine tree either lol. they are all over the place (and dont do well in ice storms so wont plant one near my house) - i would have rather had a choice of a dogwood, maple or something

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Can't stand pines anyway, they're only good for straw and falling on houses. Get maples of any type. I have a Japanese Maple at my patio and out front, I'll get a picture of it in a while and post it. Beautiful tree but it can get zapped by very cold weather as it's starting to green up. I don't think I'd try it in the mountains. I have 4 sugar maples across the back of the yard, but that's it for big trees in the yard. I don't want things falling on the house and filling my gutters with leaves or needles. I do have some 50 foot Leyland Cypress down one side of the backyard, LOVE those. Great fence, wind block, and shade for other plants.

I've had great luck with my lelands. It has been about 8 years now, and they are near 20/25 feet, some of them. They were about a foot and some inches when I planted them. I've had several of my neighbors Lelands blow over though, during Ivan. I wenched them back up and staked them for him and they survived. Next time I plant any I think I'll work the soil down way deep so those roots can get a good hold.

I got lucky this time with that batch of rain sitting over the midlands this morning. Not sure how much is in the bucket, but has to be close to an inch :weight_lift: I planted a small (about 4' tall) Japanese maple last spring :wub: I would like a cottonwood tree for the back yard, but I've been afraid to get one with the lack of rain these past few years :(

Yeah, I'm planning to get some cotton woods, and I like the look of Robert's Glory Maple. Got a few drops of rain last night, but I need lots more.

Those bastards took out 2 or 3 acres of pines on my family land. Fortunately they were away from any of the houses but they did fall on our road to the barn for awhile. We finally got most of them cut but we left a few for the Pileated woodpeckers that were nesting in there. One good thing is we get a lot of fatwood from the old stumps.

Oh, man, I've got lighter all over the place, but it will be winter before I got out there collecting again. I get crawling with ticks when I just look into the woods now :) Worst I've seen since I've been here. Ravinous little beasts!! T
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I've had great luck with my lelands. It has been about 8 years now, and they are near 20/25 feet, some of them. They were about a foot and some inches when I planted them. I've had several of my neighbors Lelands blow over though, during Ivan. I wenched them back up and staked them for him and they survived. Next time I plant any I think I'll work the soil down way deep so those roots can get a good hold.

Yeah, I'm planning to get some cotton woods, and I like the look of Robert's Glory Maple. Got a few drops of rain last night, but I need lots more.

Oh, man, I've got lighter all over the place, but it will be winter before I got out there collecting again. I get crawling with ticks when I just look into the woods now :) Worst I've seen since I've been here. Ravinous little beasts!! T

I hate to say it, but eventually your leylands are probably going to go the way of the St. Louis Arch one of these Winters. The heavy wet snow of 2009 splintered many around here, but actually if you cut them in half they still look good and come back. I have a feeling its going to be a bad tick season here too. I usually pull a few off by late May and June. Of all the creatures, the ones that bug me most are the wolf spiders. They find their way inside every year and head straight for the bedroom and shower. I'd rather sleep with copperheads.

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I absolutely hate spiders. Yesterday I was making a trellis for my scuppernong. I went over to my garden and picked up a timber and carried it over to the post hole. I set it in and noticed the worlds largest black widow had been on the underside. I had rolled the timber over to check but hadnt noticed. I snapped a picture and sent that thing to hell. I cant stand those things.

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I've had my fair share of problems with those pests. Recently, I've seen the ones that have the tendency to live on your ceiling. They'll drop down out of nowhere while you're on the computer or watching TV when all the sudden you notice those things dropping in front of you. Hate it when that happens and completely startles me. They are small brown/black with two long front and rear legs while the others are small. Kind of like this:

atlkpv.jpg

On a side note, I took another nice ride on the bike today around town after the clouds finally broke, which I was stuck in the mid 60s until the early afternoon and shot up to around 76 for a high with calm winds. Sadly on the way back home, the breeze kicked in and made things tough since I'm having to face the wind instead of having it on my back. Seems to be that way on most calm days so far this month with breezy conditions. Today is going to be a hot one for some with mid-upper 80s for highs.

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I hate to say it, but eventually your leylands are probably going to go the way of the St. Louis Arch one of these Winters. The heavy wet snow of 2009 splintered many around here, but actually if you cut them in half they still look good and come back. I have a feeling its going to be a bad tick season here too. I usually pull a few off by late May and June. Of all the creatures, the ones that bug me most are the wolf spiders. They find their way inside every year and head straight for the bedroom and shower. I'd rather sleep with copperheads.

I saw a guy at the mall that was sleeping with copperheads once...that wasn't you was it :)

Robert, if I could get half the snow you got that time, I'd take my chances with the Lelands. That glory maple of yours...does it have lighter color on the underside of the leaves, and kind of shimmer in the wind?

There was a tree in the backyard of a house I rented years ago that had a great tree in it, and I never could find out what it was. The leaves were jagged and half dollar sized and lighter on the bottom so when the wind blew it looked really good. Your pic reminded me of it. Tony

I absolutely hate spiders. Yesterday I was making a trellis for my scuppernong. I went over to my garden and picked up a timber and carried it over to the post hole. I set it in and noticed the worlds largest black widow had been on the underside. I had rolled the timber over to check but hadnt noticed. I snapped a picture and sent that thing to hell. I cant stand those things.

Got spider bite once. It made a nice little crater in a bulls eye, but it healed up eventually. Don't know what it was..didn't hurt much. Ches, my boy, you need to wear gloves when you play with the spiders. That's the lesson I learned. I hear those black widows burn like a red hot poker..and don't stop for a long while. T

I sure hope this next system means a little more rain business than this last non-system did...down here anyway.

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I saw a guy at the mall that was sleeping with copperheads once...that wasn't you was it :)

Robert, if I could get half the snow you got that time, I'd take my chances with the Lelands. That glory maple of yours...does it have lighter color on the underside of the leaves, and kind of shimmer in the wind?

There was a tree in the backyard of a house I rented years ago that had a great tree in it, and I never could find out what it was. The leaves were jagged and half dollar sized and lighter on the bottom so when the wind blew it looked really good. Your pic reminded me of it. Tony

that wasn't me LOL. The maple I have doesn't really have a shine underside, its a little bit lighter. I have noticed it has pretty red stems though. I think you might be thinking of the Silver Maple, but not sure. If Powerstroke could chime in, I know he'd know. When I bought it I wondered if it was a mistake, since it was just 5 or 6 feet tall, with all the branches curled up right next to the trunk. It looked like an inverted umbrella, just the spine, and no leaves. It turned out just like the picture though. Very happy with it so far. Now I've got a pretty big Yoshino Cherry in the front yard, can't wait to see how it turns out

post-38-0-40213200-1303683946.jpg

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Finally got some pictures although some were taken in the fog. arrowheadsmiley.png

Here you can get an idea for the size of the leylands. The tree to the right rear next to the leylands is a Golden Raintree, and you can see two maples just starting to leaf in the back.

P4230029.jpg

Here's one of the Japanese Maples

P4230031.jpg

One taken this morning with the fog

P4240042.jpg

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Got spider bite once. It made a nice little crater in a bulls eye, but it healed up eventually. Don't know what it was..didn't hurt much. Ches, my boy, you need to wear gloves when you play with the spiders. That's the lesson I learned. I hear those black widows burn like a red hot poker..and don't stop for a long while. T

I sure hope this next system means a little more rain business than this last non-system did...down here anyway.

I had my gloves on for sure Tony. I value my fingers too much. I've got to have them to pick some music every now and then. I told my wife I would like to gather up all of the spiders around me for a meeting. I'd tell them that I appreciate what they do but that they need to stay out of my sight. I have to kill them when I see them.

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FINALLY, a great day here in the hills ! Nice 76.3 degree day, with no WIND. Plus, I shot my first sub 80 round of golf (78) this afternoon.

And to keep this horticulture thread going, my azaleas are about to bust loose.

Joe, a friend of mine used to get an application to the Masters every year, and he never played a lick of golf in his life. Keep shooting in the 70's and there is hope for you yet :)

attachment=26315:maple2.jpg

Thanks for the pic, Robert. Nope, that's not it. I'll try to go get a pic of it and see if anyone can identify it.

Finally got some pictures although some were taken in the fog.

What a beautiful yard! I know you enjoy that!! Tony

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love all this talk about trees. I usually hit lowes right before they put out Christmas trees in the fall and they put most of their shade trees at least 50% off. I have got some nice jonesred maples that way. Someone talked earlier about silver maples. my experience with those is that they grow really fast, but as a result, are not as strong, and break easily. The Jonesred is a cultivar cross between a silver and a red I think. I won't know how they fare for another few years though.

Powerstroke, If I were closer to you, I'd definitely look you up. I usually go to a local nursery, but do go to Lowes when they are half off. Another thing I do is I get seedlings from the forestry service (usually sawtooth oaks), and grow them in pots for a few years before I put them out (otherwise the deer get them). I also grow oaks from acorns. I've planted hundreds (actually prob close to a thousand if you count the 500 white pine seedlings I put out one time).

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man we are getting a nice t-shower right now. I must admit I haven't been keeping up because I had just done some touch up paint work at lunch on part of my deck that was recently painted.

edit. just saw hawksfan's post. yep definitely one popped up right over my house! good for the rain, bad for my paint ;(

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love all this talk about trees. I usually hit lowes right before they put out Christmas trees in the fall and they put most of their shade trees at least 50% off. I have got some nice jonesred maples that way. Someone talked earlier about silver maples. my experience with those is that they grow really fast, but as a result, are not as strong, and break easily. The Jonesred is a cultivar cross between a silver and a red I think. I won't know how they fare for another few years though.

Powerstroke, If I were closer to you, I'd definitely look you up. I usually go to a local nursery, but do go to Lowes when they are half off. Another thing I do is I get seedlings from the forestry service (usually sawtooth oaks), and grow them in pots for a few years before I put them out (otherwise the deer get them). I also grow oaks from acorns. I've planted hundreds (actually prob close to a thousand if you count the 500 white pine seedlings I put out one time).

Yep we did a job last year with the forestry service with 1000 saplings of white oaks. When i buy a tree I want instant trees. Fruit trees I would get a Lowes.

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