Amy is exactly right Jenn, I'm not at home so I can't read the tag but I think I remember the tree being able to reach 40 ft but very slowly, I figured by the time it gets that high, I'll already be dead. There are dwarf varieties as well, one I think I remember being called a "Fat Boy" or something like that, it reaches only 15 ft if I remember right. I think a blue spruce would look perfect on ur property!

We have some kind of pine-like tree (technically we have 2 but the one in the back yard is hideous) but I don't know it's exact species. It is a nice size around 15ft or so. I can't decorate it for Christmas or anything as it is out of my reach now but for some reason it just doesn't live up to the hubby's expectations. Not sure why. It's fairly soft if you have to brush up against it but it's just not that pretty silvery blue. It's just plain 'ol green.

TwisterII wrote:

Christmas decor. We can keep these gardening threads going all year round. My husband keeps wanting to plant a Blue spruce in our yard. I keep telling we don't have space. lol. How big might that Colorado spruce get?

Iphone pics but heres what it looked like this past Christmas...when the tree is big enough, I actually have a decorating plan, LOL...Ive always liked that Christmas scene of a Forest Friends Christmas, where like, theres a clearing in the forest, and forest animals are gathered around a tree and theyre all decorating/gathered around it admiring it...I wanna re-create something like that!




The tree you have, is a pine, with like needles, or more Juniper-like?

@Jennifer, I just realized the very first page of this gardening scrapbook is pretty detailed as to how it looks as a whole and then different plantings for the front yard and front courtyard, I don't know what more to add as it's difficult to take pics of some areas as a whole, so I'll just skip to the backyard cuz it was more bits and pieces. I took pics yesterday so I'll upload them later on tonite.

So this is a pic of the patio area just a bit over 2 years ago when I had just finished all of the flagstone...


And this is how it looks as of today (pics taken yesterday)...with pics I'll just be scanning to my right


Im cheating with the next pic...it was taken a lil while ago, I figured the grass is atleast a little greener than it is now AND my puppies are in it, haha

Now Im sitting by my firepit looking across to the other side of the yard

now Im sitting at the patio table looking across the yard

On the other side of the yard now, around the end corner of the house is my small side yard with part of my vegetable garden...

close-up


then to the left (at the corner of the house) is my bench planter area


and then at the end of the yard, this sitting area...


Only thing I havnt taken pics of yet is my larger side yard on the patio side...gotta get rid of some junk first, LOL

What I have is a pine, like a christmas tree. Very bushy but with longer needles than a Juniper has. I have two Junipers in the backyard and they have the shorter cluster needles and they are in the 6ft tall range. I went out and looked at the pine again last night and it's probably closer to 25ft or more. I thought it was shorter but it's way taller than the Explorer I park near it. We have another of it in the backyard but it looks totally different. Not sure if the old owners ran it over a couple times with the lawn mower when it was little or what. It looks like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree grew to about 10ft tall and developed a big butt. Hard to believe they are the same species.

I love all the color in your Christmas decor. I haven't braved into the color sector just yet. Still only putting up white lights everywhere. I would like to branch wrap my big trees in red but without help I think that's just going to be too much for me to handle.

Aw, I like the Charlie Brown trees, seriously!!! I prefer trees that aren't straight, I like twisted branches and stuff like that...kinda like the wind shaped it. Pines are actually my favorite type of tree too, I used to have a Black Mountain Pine in my backyard where I have the cedar now, it just never looked healthy though, and I did the iron fertilizing and everything but it was always a yellowish color.

Thank you!!! I usually decorate much better but this last Christmas I just wasn't into it, and then the getting stuff out only to find it doesn't work anymore, ugh...the white lit deer you see has a mate but only half of it would light, I messed with it for hours and then just said £*#& it! Maybe this coming Christmas I'll be more into it, haha.

I've always liked just the white lights...there's a certain peacefulness and elegance to it, probly why hotels and restaurants and stuff use it year-round. I like colors though too, just gives it a certain "warmth".

I so love your place Jimmy. Your own piece of paradise smack dab in a huge city.

Thank you so much Renee! I do love it here, 80% of the time I'm home is spent outside, LOL...seriously!!! I'm out back til like 11pm or so most nights!

Artic_Wind wrote:

Thank you so much Renee! I do love it here, 80% of the time I'm home is spent outside, LOL...seriously!!! I'm out back til like 11pm or so most nights!

Curious. Do you guys have misquitos out your way? Around dusk its either head for the house, put on the DEET or get eaten My gardening tool kit has 99% DEET in the end pocket!

I would love your place to - it is a wonderful spot!

If we do Amy, I don't see them...pretty sure they're out there, just not enough to take notice, however...I think we have bats!!!! No lie!!! When I'm outside at night there's something that flies around like a drunk bird! I think it's a bat but not sure. For me, summer sucks when the ants come out, they're pretty much all over the place with their lil trails. I leave the ones outside alone, but if they come in, I assassinate them

Thank you Amy! I really do appreciate where I am.

We have bats, too. I find them fascinating to watch the way the dart and swoop at dusk. The only thing I don't like is they used to sleep inside the umbrellas on the tables by the pool - I'd reach my hand in there to open the umbrella and one very startled bat and one very startled old lady would jump...Bats here carry rabies and any contact with a bat is subject ot shots...But they do eat the misquitos!

Do bats generally just bite people or animals? The one here, I'll be sitting on that lil sitting area in the corner of the yard above the canyon, and it'll just fly right next to me so when I look all I see is a dark little bird like figure but like I said, it flies kinda like its a bird who is intoxicated, haha. I'm on my iPad so maybe the light from it attracts it to come near me, I don't know. I just thought they liked cold/damp, and here it's not either of those, haha.

And LOL, if I would have a bat coming out of an umbrella, I'd be jumping too!

They bite both.  The big thing is if a bat is found in a room with a sleeping person or a baby. THe bite is so small it cannot be seen - several years ago (or more) a young girl in the Albany area died from rabies.  The parents remembered finding a bat in her room but didn't think any thing of it.  Which is why the NY protocol for rabies prophylaxis says "any contact" and in the room of a sleeping person or a baby...

The bats come out at dusk because that's when insects are really active.  And flying insects are their primary diet. Probably, the light from your ipad attracts insects?

Oh wow, I think I'll go back to sitting under the patio at night then, haha. It is at dusk when I see it.

We have gnats at certain times of the year, in fact we aren't allowed to do any work in our canyons til about October because of a gnatcatcher that can't be disturbed, but I don't really see any around me but that doesn't mean anything. There's plenty for them to eat around a canyon I'm sure

Look what I got at Costco! only $12! it grows both red and green grapes. I bought it intending to put it on my little side yard where I have my garden, but not only is there no room there at the moment (garden is doing awesome!!! I'll have to take pics tomorrow, theres almost no more walkway, haha) but I also remembered once I got it home how dangerous grapes are for dogs and with Mishka... Ive decided to find a place for it in my front courtyard, maybe to grow along the fence or something, anyways...I hope I get some grapes from it!

Cool, Jimmy - Red Flame is one of my favorite grapes, right behind Canadice!

Grapes take about 5 years to bare fruit. Depending on how old your vine is, may take awhile. It will make a great vine while you wait, though.

How is Miss I'll Eat Anything this morning?

Wow, 5 years! They better be some good grapes then, haha. This one has the two different vines in one pot, which I thought was kinda cool...I have an avocado tree in that front courtyard so I thought I might put this near it with the fence acting somewhat like a trellis.

Lol, Mishka is her old self, when I read your link about vomiting and diahreeah (ugh, why didn't autospell work on that word) I wasn't looking forward to the latter but it didn't happen and all is good thank you for asking Amy!

Just a couple updated pics of my vegetable garden...its doing pretty awesome! probly shouldnt have planted my pumpkin plant here, LOL, but its cool...you know who stole my watermelon plant so I wont be seeing any of those this year...anyways, my garden likes it here

Tomatoes! I'm so jealous. I have tall leggy plants and still no fruit. I do however have watermelon and so far they have taken quite well to the trellis system.

Aww, don't say that Jenn, you'll have tomatoes soon enough...your plants will probly be stronger for having to endured so much!  I however, will never have watermelons this year, lol...it's gone lil Mishka slithered under, then over, then around (when I caught her, I called her to come to me and that's how I watched her come out, LOLOL) the barricade I had up (specifically for her!) she looked like one of those people, like in military training, that have to do all those obstacle things, haha and she got my watermelon and an onion plant. Can't wait to see how your watermelon do on the trellis!

Last year my vegetable garden was pitiful, I had the tomatoes in big oversized pots and they got super tall with hardly no leaves, and ONE tomatoe (no lie) and I had 5 plants! So I'm pretty proud of my tomatoes this year, LOL

Your last year tomatoes sound like my this years tomatoes. Very tall and not a ton of leaves. I have a couple blooms on my latest plants but my originals still haven't bloomed. My corn is tasseling though. Dad still doesn't think I can grow corn in a pot but it seems to be doing okay thus far.

Sounds like you need to turn her into an agility dog. She already does everything they train for it. Though it might look kinda odd when everyone else is leading their dogs with treats and you're out there lugging a potted hydrangea around as her motivation.

TwisterII wrote:

Though it might look kinda odd when everyone else is leading their dogs with treats and you're out there lugging a potted hydrangea around as her motivation.

Almost spit out my coffee with that image!

I'm going to brag a bit...my early girl tomatoes have 6 or so golf-ball tomatoes. Earliest ever for me. And probably the most ever, too. And my brandywines have a flock of thumbnail sized babies. Still waiting for the cherry tomatoes. Blossoms but no joy yet. Blossoms on the eggplants, too.

But, like Jenn, things mostly seem to be very slow. All the rain and clouds are definitely...putting a damper on things and reducing my already limited sun. We shall see...

I never thought of agility for Mishka, she'd probly do awesome too! Just to give you a little visual...there is in my pic a small table and chairs right before the garden starts, between that and behind it, I placed 2 chaise lounges (those lounges you lay on next to the pool) what she does is get on her belly and shimmies under the chair and table, then she gets up and goes around the end of one of the chaise lounges and then jumps the other one...all to eat plants!!! you made me LOL with the carrying of the hydrangea instead of treats...I'm fortunate though, she is just as treat motivated (Kohdi is not and man is that irritating when I can't bribe him to do what I want, LOL) also, last years tomatoes...they looked horrible, on top of being tall and almost leafless, they had an ugly color, they weren't green, more of a bronze color, they just were not healthy and I tried to make them healthier too.

@Amy, that's so cool!!!

I have tomatoes on every plant, the one in the pic with tomatoes is my Celebrity, they have the fastest maturation date too. My cherry tomatoes I've already been harvesting but I didn't plant them, they're volunteers so they were out a lot sooner than the rest. I'm hoping I don't need to put up any kind of barrier to keep things like squirrels out, I'll know soon enough when they start to ripen. Next year I'm only having tomatoes here, they already block all the sun to my onions and my pumpkin is spreading all over the place, I should have known better but I just wanted things in the ground as soon as possible .