Thanks to everyone for y'all's help.
Now, more question, requests for clarification and etc.
Horn toad, I've no trouble with water. We get enough - sometimes, though, we get A LOT all at once which isn't so good (I'm not referring to hurricanes, they give rain absolutely but more banal storms can have more by far. But what's water got to do with anything? Besides pooling in my dug holes to rot away roots?
Dyzzy: The dogwood we lost was in an area whose whole dynamic has changed. It used to be in a partially shaded spot (VERY shady, as a matter of fact). No longer. Besides, I've got 3 Blackthorn Bushes going it that area now. I am willing to jettison eucalyptus. Ginkgoes, however, are far and away my favorite tree. They grow here, though the only one I can specifically recall is at the Old State Capitol grounds (I worked maintenance there in high schhol & some college). The ginkgo there is the largest I have every seen, that that includes photos! It's HUGE! The soil there, while better than mine, in still full of clay. Long story short, is ginkgoes grow here. Luckily, I've a large yard and the potential for smothering my b-fly garden is nill.
David: "Any tree planted in the ground should be protected from blasting summer sun in its first year." Excellent advice. I believe this may have been the culprit behind the death of mant of my trees. I began to suspect this but having it confirmed is GREAT. Your strategies for doing so are good as well. As you might guess, it gets fabulously hot here. I will, but what should I mulch well in Winter? December passes for what you'd likely call Fall here, but back to mulching. Mulching with leaves? Why? I normally use pine bark. I'll be putting a note re cypress mulch at the bottom, for now let's just say I don't use it. Lastly, I don't understand: "...and the top be about 2 feet below grade in your planting hole." What is meant by this? I have NO idea. Also, the size of hole you suggest is beyond my capabilities and for whatever reason day laborers do not have a 'spot' in Baton Rouge where they congregate - so I can't find them to hire. Alternative ideas?
Rick/Corey I've no problem with areas I'd be happy to allow runoff to fill. But how to get the water to cooperate? Install some kind of underground irrigation system? That seems impractical, to say the least.
Here is what I'm going to try. Dig a hole much more deeply than I would for a shrub, then dig - in a 360 degree diameter, around said hole going only about 6" deep and put in regular topsoil for this 'perimeter.' The main hole I will use topsoil, various amendments (compost of all varities) and spoilage (the original soil that came out) mixed with leaves I've collected this Fall - mostly water oak and maple. I may add some proportion of pine bark mulch. The last two components are to give the roots room to spread. I'll then plant the tree about 2" above the level of the ground (that is, the level the tree is in the pot will be 2" higher). Doing this allows the roots that go horizontal to have a much easier time of it. I will plant as many trees as possible in areas that have shade during te hottest part of the day (easy for dogwoods, etc - not so much for ginkgo). For all trees I will rig something to (ty David, great idea) protect them during August and September, and any other super hot days. I'll protect them in this way for their first 3 years. You know how people say of SW heat, "It's a dry heat?' Well, that isn't a cliché. I've been out there and spent some while here Their temperature, while very hot - hotter, by the numbers, than south Louisiana, is FAAAAR less unpleasant than the humid heat here. I don't exaggerate when I say a perfectly in-shape person will begin to sweat within 15 minutes just by walking around down here. It's... enervating. A word invented for our heat. If you're on the levee or even near the river you can count on breezes that are nearly constant. This is why so many runners run along the top of the levee!
The method here described has been gleaned from dozens of websites and forum posts. Wish me luck! If this fails, I may be stuck with some variety of dwarf ginkgo - of which there are many. Anything from bonsai sized to 70' + is the wonderful ginkgo. You see God himself shares my taste for this wonderful tree! It grew when dinosaurs walked the Earth and still exists in a variety of cultivars. God and I share similar tastes, a bragging point if even I heard one! I wonder if He likes strawberry flavored milk, sweet iced tea, mimosas (the drink) and mint juleps? Probably.
GENERAL MESSAGE!!! PLEASE do not buy cypress mulch! Yes, it has qualities that pine mulch doesn't, but if you could see what beautiful cypress swamps or cypress flats look like - and then what they look like after they've been harvested, you would feel exactly as I do. Disgusted. And contempt for those who use it. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!
