Hello Y'all,
I am brand new to this forum so I suppose I'd better say hello and give some pertinent info about myself. I a 39yo man living in Baton Rouge, La. I believe this put me in Zone 8 (?). I am an amateur gardner and have been developing a butterfly garden for 3 years now, with some modest success. Mainly Monarchs, Eastern Black Swallowtails and Gulf Fritillarys. I've had many odd visitors, but these are the only 3 I can see going through all of their lifespans. Having said that, I am much more interested in trees. Hurricane Gustav (2008) took down 12 70' pines, broke a huge trunk from an oak (which had to be cut down), snapped a very tall (60') bald cypress of to about 15' (it has survived and is doing great), these big pines crushed a huge white dogwood and a large fig. I then had the remaining massive pines (about 5-6) cut down to avoid a repeat. It was truly a miracle that my home nor my neighbor's homes were hit. So, I have lots of rooms for trees.
I guess my first question is this: How might I go about establishing ginkgoes in my yard? I am cursed with HEAVY clay soil and have watched helplessly as ginkgo after ginkgo died. I tried many techniques, none worked. I won't say which as I'd like to hear unbiased strategies. I get A LOT of contradictory advice on this. Also, I cannot get a white dogwood to grow. I know that they certainly CAN, at least, grow in my yard. I'd like to put in a eucalyptus as well. I put one in and it seemed to be doing well, it grew quite a bit but is now failing.
Now for Jasmines. Will Jasmine; Maid of Orleans do alright where I'm at? What types of jasmines would do well here?
The biggie, but as I get contradictory advice I always ask. When is the best time to plant a tree? HOW to plant a tree in my clay, also. Mainly the timing here, though. When to plant bulbs, shrubs and vines as well?
Soil amendment? I get contradictory advice, here, too. What are y'all's ideas on whether and how to di it.
Thank You,
Pan
