Garden Doh!

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zonedenial Iowa City, IA(Zone 5a) Oct 01, 2004

I've had more Doh! moments in the garden than dogs have fleas. I love birch trees, and had collected several nice ones, but always coveted Betula jacquemontii, the white barked Himalayan birch. According to accounts I read, it's trunk was of such a startling white, that in it's native mountain valleys it glowed in the evening gloom like a beacon. I finally sprang for one, ordering it at a very dear price from a high-falutin' West-coast nursery. It was only a foot high, but I planted it and have nursed it along so that it's now three feet high. I was over nosing around our local nursery looking at trees, since they have a half-off end of season sale. I was wandering about looking at nothing in particular and almost ran into this birch tree, and slowly tipped my head back, looking almost straight up, as it dawned on me that I was looking at a twenty foot tall Himalayan birch in a gigantic tub. My eyes then ran back down the tree to its base, where the price tag showed it was slightly less than I had paid for my stick. Doh!
Anybody else have any recent Doh! moments to share to make me feel better?
Don

This message was edited Oct 1, 2004 12:23 AM

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Joan Belfield, ND(Zone 4a) Oct 01, 2004

Don, you bought it, right?

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notmartha Bay City, MI(Zone 6a) Oct 01, 2004

LOL i hope so!!! :)

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zonedenial Iowa City, IA(Zone 5a) Oct 01, 2004

No, cuz I already have one in the ground... I'm not one to just throw money around on a tree, you know... nosiree, not me! Instead I bought a birch Grayswood Ghost, sitting right next to the Himalayan birch... and... not on sale....

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Joan Belfield, ND(Zone 4a) Oct 01, 2004

LOL! Me thinks you need to go back and get the Himalayan, or it's gonna haunt ya!

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zonedenial Iowa City, IA(Zone 5a) Oct 01, 2004

You know something? I wasn't that crazy about the Himalayan, seeing it full grown; it's really tall and narrow and just not as pleasing as I thought it would be. Plus, the Grayswood Ghost is actually a picked clone of Betula utilis v. jacquemontii, and one English nursery describes it as the best white barked birch available.
Besides, in looking over the Forestfarm catalogue, I've decided I need the Chinese paper birch, with " singularly beautiful bark, which is shining orange-brown with a pink and gray bloom".
Don

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Joan Belfield, ND(Zone 4a) Oct 01, 2004

Pretty soon you are gonna have me looking at birch trees.

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notmartha Bay City, MI(Zone 6a) Oct 01, 2004

LOL joan!!! birch addiction-hmmmm thats a new one!

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zonedenial Iowa City, IA(Zone 5a) Oct 01, 2004

Julie, it's NOT an addiction... I can quit ANY TIME... by the way take a look at this:

http://www.esveld.nl/htmldia/b/beudoo.htm

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