I am an Oak Park tree killer, and I’m not (too) ashamed of it. This week, Davis Tree Care came out and removed the gigantic magnolia tree that dominated our side yard. This makes the 4th tree that we’ve had Davis remove for us. I love trees, but what the heck can you do with: a 30-foot high magnolia in a 10-foot wide area between our house and the neighbor’s, an Ailanthus (tree of heaven – say no more), a Siberian elm right by the garage door (and the garage was brand new, too!), and a pie cherry tree right in the middle of the back yard.   Who plants invasive trees like this?  Who puts in a new garage by squeezing it between two existing Siberian elms?  Ah well, I’m sure future owners of this house will puzzle over why we put in a fish pond!

Do not think that I will leave the side yard empty, although the poor plants that have struggled in the shade of the magnolia and houses might welcome it. I want to plant some shrubs or small trees, but nothing so large that we suffer the same problems that the oversized magnolia caused. Candidate shrubs so far are:

• spicebush – Lindera benzoin
• witch hazel – Hamamelis virginiana
• bladdernut – Staphylea trifolia
• one or more native Viburnum

I might plant multiple species, but I also have to be mindful that it’s a small space.  I’ve been lusting after spicebush for a while, but witch hazel’s fall blooming sounds really good about now.  Whatever I pick has to be a shade plant that can handle clay soil, and I am going to be sure that they are not going to grow more than 15 feet tall, nor interfere with the neighbor’s sidewalk.  Anyone out there have positive or negative experiences with any of these?  I’m going to keep looking at Possibility Place’s online catalog too, and dream about replacing our remaining Siberian elm with an oak.

I believe we’ve just passed peak color here in NE Oak Park. It was glorious this year – check out the parkway basswood!

The leaves have come off quickly this week with all the wind and rain we’ve had. What comes after peak color? Raking and vacuuming/shredding, of course. Next up, the story of the one tree that is no longer there…

The cold and rainy weather got me feeling as if bulb planting was overdue (more experienced gardeners have told me that I’m overreacting), so I got some bulbs planted in the front yard today: snowdrops and crocus. Since the gas company had to rip up the parkway to put in new pipes on our block, I didn’t have to do quite as much hard digging as in the past. I’m not sure how attractive these bulbs are to the local squirrel and raccoon population: we’ll know come March!

The garden gets less and less lush by the day.  We’re definitely having a good tree color year in Chicago, although we haven’t had quite enough dry days to appreciate them.  And the Caroline raspberry is still yielding a few sweet berries – winter is still a few weeks away.

The serviceberry ‘Autumn Brilliance’ is living up to its name today.

The other cultivars (I assume) I see around are more yellow to light orange; ‘Autumn Brilliance’ has a lot of red and purple in it.

Nothing says fall (or autumn) like a red tree against a blue sky!

The grape woodbine doesn’t have a lot of berries left, but it does have a lot of color.

I apologize for neglecting this blog for several weeks.  Not only is the garden not all that inspiring right now (except for the everbearing Caroline raspberries, which continue to be delicious), but I keep putting off taking more photos because I haven’t done anything with the vacation photos I took in mid-September.  But no more: it’s picture time!

In bloom:

• calendula



• volunteer aster that popped up by our patio this year (Aster novae-angliae?)



• white woodland aster (Aster divaricatus)



• marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)
• petunia
• sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

In fruit:

• raspberry ‘Caroline’



• crabapples
• grape woodbine (Parthenocissus vitacea)



• Solomon’s plume (Maianthemum racemosum)

And pretty foliage:

• oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)

To celebrate the holiday weekend and get some exercise, the Spouse and I went hiking at Morton Arboretum. We don’t get out there very often since it involves a trip on the dreaded tollway. Of course, I didn’t remember to bring an actual camera, but my iPhone is good enough to get the gist of things, like the mass of yellow wildflowers above.

We hiked loops 3 & 4 on the east side of the arboretum. Loop 4 is almost exclusively in woodland, so any interesting plants made us pay attention. We saw the berries above all over the place, and the folks at the visitors center informed us that they were either Jack-in-the-pulpit or green dragon. Since I’ve been dragging my feet on getting any J-i-t-p, this may be the motivation to plant some in the side yard. Another notable berry we saw was Solomon’s plume, but with red berries rather than the bronzy ones seen on my plants.

The hostas are finally blooming now that summer has come to an end. It was cool, and the cloudiest one ever.

Despite all the raccoon harvesting done to it, the pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata) finally bloomed.

The bees have moved on from the Joe Pye weed to the zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis), which is prostrate in the shady side yard.

The early crop of Caroline raspberries was not particularly impressive, but the canes are really starting to produce now.  Even farmer’s market raspberries are not as fragrant and delicious as backyard ones!

Presuming the Dutchman’s pipe remains dead, I really need to find something for the garage trellis.  (I suppose the grape woodbine could – and would – spread over the whole thing, but I’d like a little more variety.)  Unfortunately, there’s just not a huge number of native vines for semi-shade and clay in zone 5 (or that many native vines at all).  Here’s what I’m contemplating now – any other native plant geeks should feel free to pipe up in the comments with their experiences.

• Lonicera prolifera – Yes, it’s the Morton Arboretum shrub of the month, but yellow/grape honeysuckle is really a vine.  It looks like it’s cold-hardy and at least somewhat shade tolerant.  Berries are also a plus, since I like to feed the critters.
• Bignonia capreolata – Crossvine shows up in my go-to native gardening book, but it may not be hardy this far north.  Given the past two winters, I’m not inclined towards anything that’s only marginal in zone 5.  But some big showy flowers would be nice.
• Wisteria macrostachya – Kentucky wisteria is another nice big flower, but it may not be happy in the semi-shade.  But I like any plant that gets called out for its hardiness!
• Use what I already have – My trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is not particularly happy in the deep shade between our garage and the next door neighbor’s garage.  It’s too big to transplant, but maybe I could root a cutting.  (Or I could get a new one – I believe the one I have planted is a cultivar, not the species.)  And then there’s the grape woodbine (Parthenocissus vitacea) which is happy everywhere in the yard, but it’s not showy except in the fall.

Do any readers have a favorite among these vines?  How about a least favorite?

The pond is 4 years old this week. The photos below show how it appeared year 0 through year 4. There’s more prose about the earlier years on the 2007 and 2008 posts:

The Dutchman’s pipe (left two panels on the garage trellis) died this summer after looking very lush and strong in the spring.  I’m not sure whether that was due to all the rain (in heavy clay soil) or whether voles nibbled it to death.  Conversely, the Techny arborvitae behind the bench to the right of the garage is growing steadily each year.  In general, things are a bit less overgrown this year due to both cool weather and my (seemingly) constant pruning.  As for the pond itself, the raccoon pool parties apparently involve water lily and water hyacinth refreshments, so they both cover less of the surface than previous years.

Rudbeckia fulgida…or is it Big Bird?