I took down the tree for two reasons. One, it was ugly. Ugly as sin. I hated it.. it had no.. character, no life. It was just .. there. Second, it had no color. It would sometimes turn yellow in fall and then fall off, but, most of the time, it just turned brown super quick and that was that. I can think of only once that I got some nice color.. a few years ago half of it turned orangish and the other half stayed green. Pretty. So, I got a replacement tree. I had many ideas on what kind of tree I wanted, but it's almost the wrong season to be planting trees (getting too hot), so the selection is getting pretty thin. My favorite LGS, Tagawa's.. well, let's put it this way: I haven't bought much from them this year because I can't afford it. They've gotten SUPER expensive because they've become almost a brand-name here in the Denver metro. Anyways, I wanted a smaller tree with good fall color. I was looking for a big-tooth maple (native to Colorado), paperbark maple, or a Brandywine maple because they stay smaller (about 15') and have spectacular fall color. Tagawa's didn't have the Brandywine (1st tree on list), but they had the Big Tooth & the Paperbark. A 1" caliper (one inch thick at the base of the trunk) Big Tooth was $249.99!! And, a 3/4" caliper paperbark was $229.99!!! Holy crapzilla, Batman!! Two years ago, they couldn't give away the big tooth maple and now they want HOW much? Oh, it's because the grower has changed the name to "Rocky Mountain Glow" maple.
BAH!
Some of the other trees I was thinking was a ghost tree (impossible to find), golden rain tree (can't seem to find one at a decent price bigger than 1/2".. found a retailer who can order me a 3" for $400), or a profusion crabapple.
I wanted to go to this other Home Depot yesterday (Sunday) to see if they had any Royal Red butterfly bushes as I'd already checked out the 3 closer to my house. And, of course, I had to ogle their trees. And, way in the back is a unmarked tree (no tag). I recognize it.. but can't place it. It's a decent sized tree, about 12' tall already and almost 2" caliper. I'm loving this tree.. not sure what it is yet.. wait.. let's check the bucket. YES! Not only this tree is a container grown (no B&B trees for me.. have not had too good of luck w/ B & B) tree, but it's also a sweetgum!! They have spectacularly beautiful fall foliage and are a definitely different tree!! I don't think that there's 5 sweetgums in the entire city of Parker, that's for sure! I know that Zuzu hates 'em, but I love their foliage. Now the spikey ball seed pods they produce.. maybe I'll get lucky & this one won't produce? It doesn't have any seedpods on it for now, nor any evidence that it will produce any.
So here's my front yard w/the tree still in it's bucket ready for planting. I am having a friend come over tonight w/her chainsaw & hoping to get that stump out. If we can, then I can just put that tree right in it's spot. Still have gazillion tons of room for planting!! I still do have to intermingle all the sawdust through with the cedar mulch because it kinda looks stupid w/a line of sawdust from where the trunks were broken up into manageable pieces. I'm not sure if Montezuma will make it.. pretty badly squished. Dolly Parton also got badly squished.. she's not having a good year. Yes, on my sidewalk is a ton of new plants to put in (I love butterfly bushes) and there's a tarp in the middle that is holding the dirt from around the trunk. And excuse the garbage cans in the front.. garbage day. I recycle all my plant pots (lady who is bringing her chainsaw will be taking them), so that's why they're all stacked there too. My yard is a disaster...
