What are your plans for your co-op trees and shrubs?

I thought it would be fun to start a thread about people's plans for the trees and shrubs that they purchased from the co-op.
- What did you order?
- Do you have spots picked out for your new plants?
- Have you started prepping the beds?
- Do you plan on putting them in the ground this fall?
- If not, what are you overwintering plans?

It does not matter if you ordered a few plants or a hundred, please share you plans.

- Brent

Okay, since I kicked this thread off, I guess I should share my plans. My order consisted of 36 plants (12 Nikko Blue Hydrangeas, 8 Oakleaf Hydrangeas, 6 Japanese Snowball Viburnums, 6 Sweet Shrubs, 4 Kousa Dogwoods).

The image below shows the primary location for my new plants. The empty area on the left used to be covered with bamboo and there was a Pin Oak that was knocked down in Hurricane Isabel last year.

4 of the Viburnums are going along the fence line. Behind the Tulip Poplars on the right, there are some Forsythia bushes that I plan on removing and replacing with 3 or 4 Sweet Shrubs. I plan on putting three of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas along the fence on the right and another three along the fence on the left. I am planning 5 Nikko Blue Hydrangeas along the fence to the left next to the Oakleafs.

I am not exactly sure about the Kousa Dogwoods, but I liked them too much to pass up. I am going to plant a tree or two in front of the Viburnums, but I am not sure if I want to use a Dogwood or something with more color (maybe a 'Forest Pansy' Redbud). I may plant a Dogwood along the side of the house or plant a couple as understory trees in the wooded area behind the fence.

There is another area along the side of my house for the rest of the Nikko Blues and another Sweet Shrub. I ordered an extra or two of each plant just to make sure enough survived the winter and looked nice.

Last weekend I spent a number of hours hauling mulch for this area (after this picture was taken). I have the basic bed lines in place and I have been working to finalize the planting layout. I have a terrible time visualizing on paper, so I have been out driving stakes to help visualize the layout.

- Brent

Brent, how nice you have a plan! Looks good.

Unfortunately, I do not. I am quasi-homeless and I thought ordering some plants would enable me to "visualize" them in my new house/garden, thus manifesting my new place.

Good thread idea, BTW.

Darius: Based on the size of your order, I have to assume that you are not visualizing a 1/4 acre lot in the suburbs. Good luck!

- Brent

Actually Brent, many of those are for my best friend, as a surprise gift for his birthday for his new garden! Took a while to pul out of him what he'd like without giving the game away!

Mine are just the 30 river birch to line my driveway, and 30 red twig dogwood rooted cuttings, I don't expect but half the 6" red twigs will survive the winter in pots since I don't have a really good place to heel them in. However, I DO see the survivors outlining my new garden.

A few of the hydrangea are for me, too... just have an idea, but not a space for them here, so... part of my new place!

Well, I only got a few things and no real hardwood trees because I have no place for them. I got hydrangeas, Viburnum and Dogwoods. One of the Hydrangeas and one of the Viburnum are for me, but the rest are going to my best friend for her place in Oklahoma. The Dogwoods was just suffer horrible deaths in my clay alkaline soil, but I will enjoy them when visiting her place. The Soil PH is much lower up there and we found a few dogwoods growing in the wild up there so they should be happy.

We are planning to move to Kerrville, TX, 3 hours north of us, before the end of the year. Our new place is 25 acres covered in cedar, oaks, madrone and rocks. Since I have been an avid container gardener for a number of years these new plants will find their way into appropriate sized containers and live in my present backyard until we make the move. (With the other 80+ potted plants....)

Once in Kerrville I'll make some raised bed-type planters for the redbuds, as the rocks there are broken up by the occasional bit of soil. Hopefully from there they will find their way into some growing space.

The dogwoods, hydrangeas & japanese snowball will probably be kept in painted Rubbermaid tubs (the BIG blue ones they sell at Wal-Mart that people use as kid's toy boxes and laudry tubs). Since I hope to take copious numbers of cuttings off of them to start new plants to give away to family & friends and to sale, chances are they will never get too awfully big. Plus, I can more easily manipulate the Ph balance of the soil around the hydrangeas.


Thanks for this thread, Brent! It'll be neat to see what everyone else has planned for all their plants.

LOL chuckling here because greed got the best of me with this co-op, I only have 2 acres, I know which ones I wanted (and ordered) but no clue where in the landscape they will reside. I do have a rather long driveway that I am trying to brighten up on either side, so know some will go there, and along the west side of our property is an old pasture field, and it shoots tons of weeds into my area, so some will find homes along that fence line as well as hopefully bring more critters and birds there. I also purchased a few extras for my sister who just now is building a new home and will be NEW landscape material for me to plunge into he heh heh, she doesn't know yet though. LOL

I ordered several of lots of things, honeysuckle it will climb up the garden fence around the gate that I know where it will go, some of the dogwoods will be in containers until they get a little bigger, I don't want to accidentally run them over, but for the most part, I am trying to create a more secluded area, we had one large maple when I bought the house 3 years ago, and planting trees and shrubs was one of the first things I did. lots of pine trees went in for balance and also critters. Behind our house is a large swampy area, so there will be nice areas there for some, just need to decide which go there. The hydrangea, those of course will go somewhere near the house, etc......... Time will tell when they get here, I will just run around the property and lay them out, and pray hubby is in a digging mood LOL he usually digs the holes and I come along and plop them in.
Hope to hear more of some others' plans :)
~Laurrie

Well,
Greed got the best of me too! I plan to use about 1/2 the plants in a new BBQ area on one side of the house. I have big plans for a nice picnic/bbq area for next year....My sons HS Graduation party and my 25th Wedding Anniversary...all within two weeks of each other!

The other half of the plants are going to local High School Landscaping class.
My son is in the class and with budget cuts, etc they rely on grants and donations for their projects.

Congratulations, Beckster! On the 25th AND the graduation!!

And what a neat idea - donating to a landscaping class. Although we don't have anything like that here I never thought about donating to our church's yard or a local schools. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time..... : - }

Something got the best of me so I have many trees coming to play with. Some will go to my daughter's school and be in large pots. The school is next door to a public school with a 3 acre concrete playground and the trees will break up the view.

One of our needs is to have big big pots of trees along one part of the side fence because our neighbors are very close there and I can see them eating breakfast as I eat my own. The river birches will probably go there. When they get bigger we aill pound out the walk and put them in the ground.

On the same side but in the front garden the mock oranges will go along a short picket fence where the neighbors like to lean and throw over soda bottles. There is a big pittisporum already there and these will be underneath.

The winter honeysuckles will either go on the opposite side of the front or in the far back side, havent decided.

Corkscrew willows are being split with my mother and mine will go on another side fence that has holes where the lavatera and abutilon are too short to meet the bottlebrush and fruit trees.

Hydrangeas again, are being split with Mom but they will be in big pots around the back porch.

The sweet shrub and viburnum are to plug more fence holes.

The maples- one will be mine and the others are Christmas gifts.

How exciting!!! The neighbors just paid $650 each for 4 ficus. Granted they are HUGE but I have time.....

Woo Hoo! I am pressing ahead. I stopped at the nursery on the way home from work and picked up 4 Viburnum Juddii and 1 Viburnum Shasta. Not quite the co-op prices, but not bad for $7 each. The Juddii's are B&B and originally priced at $25 each and the Shasta is a 3 gallon originally priced at $20. I still hope to pick up at least one Oakleaf Hydrangea this fall.

BTW, I have seen Red Twig Dogwoods for $4 to $7. These are nice sized plants and probably a better bargain than the cuttings from the co-op. I am debating about going back to a nursery that had 2 variegated dogwoods.

- Brent

Lucky dog! Lucky dog! (Wanna do a co-op?)

Alice: Zone 9 Texas huh? Here in Northern Virginia the temps are falling and the season is winding down and nurseries are clearing out the existing stock and getting ready to sell Christmas stuff. The stock is very limited and the quality is iffy (lots of root bound plants). I don't think I can run a co-op off 8 plants, and the shipping would be very expensive.

I have never planted in the fall, but I keep hearing that this is really the ideal time for planting shrubs in my area. I am crossing my fingers.

- Brent

Brent_In_NoVa - I don't think I can run a co-op off 8 plants,

Hey, you said you were thinking about going back for more!

Dang! It never get cold enough here for clearance sales.......


Best of luck with your terrific finds, Brent!

Well my Saturday shopping trip did not turn up quite the same level of bargains. I paid full price ($40) for a nice looking 3 gallon Fosters Holly but I did get an Oakleaf Hydrangea at 40%.

One nursery had a huge 'Alice' at some ridiculous price but it was beautiful and their container stock was a little pricy and not in great shape. The nursery down the road had hydrangeas at 40% (though the original prices were rather high). I had a 3 gallon 'Alice' in my cart but then I came across a HUGE 7 gallon one and the sale price of $35 seemed reasonable.

- Brent