Planting trees
 

So let's hear about the trees you have planted. :D Shade? Fruit bearing? Decorative?

How are they doing?

My wife says I have an obsession with them and probably do.

Now that we are in our last home here at the lake, I am having fun with it. Here is my list.

14 Colorado Blue Spruce
1 Loblolly pine
2 plum
2 peach
1 pear
1 cherry
1 Brown turkey fig
1 Chicago fig

What you got?

I forgot to include the 20 poplar trees that are to be a curtain between us and a hated neighbor.

Globe willow

"Best time to plant a tree is 20 yrs ago, 2nd best time is today"

one of my all time faves

That is a good one, thanks!

I hate cedar trees and the guy from the extension service says they are not native to this area. They are everywhere though. I have taken down a lot of cedars.

I am a tree and plant lover as well. You can do a lot with things here in the desert. We re-did our backyard when we moved in with a variety of plant/tress. I love doing landscape stuff. Only so much room for trees on smaller Phoenix lots so lots of flowering plants and palms too.

1 lime tree
1 orange tree
1 lemon tree
Various hibiscus plants
Mediterranean palm tree
Pygmy palm tree
Green cloud sage
Fire sticks
fish hook and barrel cactus
Agave plants

I think my next project this fall is to plant some grape vines along our pool fence and work on getting them to trellis across the entire fence for some coverage over it's ugly white color.

Have your citrus trees provided any usable citrus yet? How old are they?

I have a friend in Az that is growing some cactus that has very short lived blossoms.

The deer love to clean all the leaves off of our hibiscus plants. I am going to have to move them inside the fence.

This year I have planted 4 6' oaks, 2 pine, 4 ornamentals, 4 Apple, 3 peach, 2 cherry, 2 plumb, 2 pear...4 blackberry and 4 blueberry at my place. Planted several more for family members as well.


I have an existing orchard and have a fruit grinder and press...I make cider in the fall and the past 3 years have hosted preschool classes and kindergarteners for a cider making demo. Wife usually has some kind of hen party and wants to make it for them too. A lot of work but it's also kind of fulfilling to do it.

I always plant or transplant trees for Mother's Day. I had planted 19 fruit trees a year ago in November but I think the roots froze in shipping and they all died. Pisses me off to waste that much effort.

I live in a desert. Trees are hard to get going. Red cedars are used in windbreaks a lot. Because they're the roughest toughest meanest sons of bitches around. And we still have to baby them and water them and love them.

I've planted a pissassload of cedars. I planted a bunch of lilacs. Planted a shiload of Sandhills plums. Tried to get some peach and pear trees going. At my last house we planted a shamrock linden. That was a hell of a tree.

If you're wanting fruit, plant some Sandhill plums. They are glorious.

As for the cedars, see if you can get some grazon. Cut them off hit them with Grazon. Talk to NRCS and see if you can get some.

They smell good but the MDC consider them a noxious weed. I dont plant many but I have killed a lot running centerline roads and highways for clearing. I have gone to war with Black locust, Honey locust, Osage Orange, Hackberry and Hickory.

I miss Southern Missouri in the spring as the dogwoods bloom and the smell of sassafras when cut its strong smell of root beer.

In the last two years since we moved from our last house to the new, in no particular order...

-3 Prairie Gold Aspen
-1 Horstman Blue Atlas Cedar
-5 Heritage River Birch
-5 Swedish Columnar Aspen
-4 Flame Amur Maples
-4 Green Giant Arborvitae
-3 Arnold Columnar Tulip Trees
-3 Karl Fuchs Deodar Cedar
-3 Pendula Alaskan Cedars

It's what I do.

We have a lot of rock & clay. Digging holes is a bitch.

We've had trouble getting a few to live. In one spot we've planted 3 trees & all have died.

Any suggestions?


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Would love to see some picture if you guys have some time to snap some!

Cotton Burr Compost...lots of it.

Depends what you are trying to plant.

When you dig your hole, dig it as wide as you can...at least twice the size of the container/BB size you are putting it. Then back-fill with a mixture of your excavated soil and cotton burr compost. Obviously if you can substitute the excavated soil with a pulverizes soil of sorts, the better.

People around here dig their holes not large enough. And with our clay soil, they essentially are forming a clay pot to put their trees in and end up over-watering and drowning them.

Go wide...get high quality backfill.

Wow. Are you getting them when they are pretty small? Are you buying them from a nursery or are you getting some help from the extension?

Thanks! When we first bought the place, little cedars were cropping up everywhere. I put a stop to that, but you are sure welcome to come and get some in the wild areas. :D I will double check on the kind of plum trees I planted. The one that has been in the ground for two years is doing exceptional.



It was beautiful this spring for sure. We are blessed with a bounty of huge oak trees. When the leaves are off, they are something to amaze.


I will take a picture of the pick that I doubled over trying to dig holes for our azaleas. I buy pretty much everything small, as the holes are hard to dig when the majority of the ground is rock.


Great advise, but I have never heard of cotton burr compost. The tag on all of the trees I planted said to dig the hole double, and that is extremely difficult


Lewdog, I will take some pictures and post them.

quit planting trees in that spot?

Hibiscus down there? Mine are even frost sensitive here for a few weeks in the winter and need covering to make it through. Even had one die one winter.

Mine bloom from February to November....continuous. Love them.

I'll get some pictures. :D

Take some pictures and show them to a local reputable nursery. They'll be glad to help.

Sometimes they'll actually come out and plant it for you if you buy one of their trees.

A hated neighbor? All the way to the retirement destination and you have a hated neighbor?

That sucks Ed.

Things have changed and it is more difficult for me to post pictures than it used to be, not sure why. This the brown turkey fig that my SIL sent me last year, it was about 6 inches tall and came UPS. It reached 6 ft. last summer, but is much bushier this year.

http://i65.tinypic.com/6gx9xt.jpg

I love me some lilac trees. Those give off an incredible scent for several weeks. Just love em.

Yes sir, I made the mistake of trying to be peacemaker in a feud. Had wonderful neighbors everywhere we have lived.

This old bastard retired in 97, but is no longer relevant down here, things have changed.

Dad warned me to stay out of it, but it was too late.

The worst part, we are on a shared well together.

I had marked 32 cedar trees with a red x to be removed, all on my property. Some were on my side of the neighbors dam from an old farm pond.

He had his lawyer write me a letter that the extension service said the dam would deteriorate when the roots rotted once cut down. I would be liable for the dam and damage.

My lawyer said I am in the right, but it will cost me about $10,000 for the due process.

I have tried and tried to get along with this old asshole, but finally threw him off my property.

Ed, that is so ****ed. Country people...salt of the earth and all that...

I agree

Dad used to have them line the whole side of his circle drive. They were beautiful. I had planted a volunteer off of his in Illinois which did really well, then brought a volunteer off it down here but it didn't make it.

I do have a couple of volunteer burning bushes off of the ones up there that have succeeded down here. :D

I also planted 13 volunteer maple trees from up there, only one has survived, but it is really doing well and I have moved it twice.

I agree, I guess he really bullied the previous owners of this place. It is not a nice thing to say, but we are looking forward to father time solving the problem.

I could make his life absolutely miserable if I wanted to spend the money to do it, but we just try and avoid them. Most of our neighbors feel the same way.

It is kind of odd here as nobody, and I mean nobody is native to the area. These people are retired from Lincoln, Nebraska.

Eleven of the 20 poplar trees survived our three week vacation shortly after they were planted and will grow tall pretty darn fast. :D

Looking forward to seeing your pictures!

Yep. One of our neighbors has done real well with them, leaving them out all winter.

Last year I planted one and it flourished, beautiful. Then the deer literally cleaned it of any leaves in the fall.

So, this spring I planted two, and the deer cleaned them night before last. I am hoping they pull out of it with the few leaves that are left. I put gallon jugs with water and moth balls vented near them hoping it will keep the deer away.

Here is a picture of four of the fruit trees, plum, apple, peach and pear. The pear and peach are loaded right now with fruit. The plums have all fallen off prematurely.
http://i67.tinypic.com/e9x20p.jpg

Alright, here I go. We had nothing in this back yard but grass and a pool when we moved in. Not one plant.

Hedgehog Cactus. Blooms once a year for about 7-14 days.
http://i.imgur.com/qfDXsVu.jpg?1

Fishhook barrel cactus. Blooms once a year for 3-4 weeks. Got this cactus from a construction site in the desert where it had to be re-moved. I was given it in a cardboard box. Forgot about it for a week in the heat of the summer. Planted it anyway even though I thought it might have died. It's thriving.
http://i.imgur.com/nYsgfu2.jpg?1

Hemi Ed, here's the lime tree. It's 4-5 years old I think. Was planted 1.5 years ago. During the first year, I took most fruit off so the tree didn't have the stress and instead focused on growing/expanding. I have eaten about a dozen limes off this tree since we got it. This year, as you can see, I am letting more set on the tree.

http://i.imgur.com/yKrAI9t.jpg?1

Very small dwarf Meyer Lemon tree next to Agave. Bought at Home Depot for $28. Supposed to get max 8-10' tall but produce prolific lemons all year once more mature with a fairly large canopy.

http://i.imgur.com/6a0r97j.jpg?1

Golden barrel cactus along with a firestick in the back. The firestick is a succulent that actually turns more red/orange once temperatures drop in the winter here. Adds some nice landscape color when other things aren't blooming.

http://i.imgur.com/gTZFosm.jpg?1

Corner pool section. Red/Pink Hibiscus, about 5' tall. Pygmy palms with a Mediterranean palm in the middle. Small Sago palm in front of that. Two purple lantan flowers for spreading ground cover.

http://i.imgur.com/CJ9FwXM.jpg?1

http://i.imgur.com/OcdJCPa.jpg?1

Variegated Agave. This plant was so small. It grew massive within the past 1.5 years.

http://i.imgur.com/XhaAzkI.jpg?1

Green Cloud Sage. Likes to blooms frequently, more frequently during Monsoon season with the increased humidity.

http://i.imgur.com/eJ6n2A9.jpg?1

How cold are your winters? I get frost damage, even with covering, on our hibiscus. I wait until it's warmer and then remove the damaged parts. They come back nicely but many people here don't cover theirs and lose them during the winters here. Anything under 35 at night and they don't do so well.

Fruit trees are awesome. I am finding that lime trees here are pretty sensitive and need quite a bit of baby sitting/work. Mine has had some leaf curling recently that I can't figure out. Love the variety of fruit trees you have. Do you have the deer and birds eating them constantly?

Wow, gorgeous! You have done a tremendous job! Thanks for sharing those!

Maybe I should do like you and remove the fruit from our young trees?

If your tree is under stress or you'd rather it grow taller, removing the fruit is a good idea. A stressed tree doesn't produce good fruit anyway and a tree producing fruit puts most of it's energy into setting fruit and not growing.

Nice looking place, lew. I would love to not have to spend 5-6 hours per week mowing grass.

I had some of those pest issues last year, couldn't find a single spray that would touch a black beatle that was feasting on all of the fruit tree leaves. I ended up smashing them with my fingers, only thing I could come up with. The leaves were full of holes.

It got as low as 9 this winter, but we really only had two cold weeks. Maybe I should pot them and bring them in for the winter, but so far the winter hasn't been the issue.

Deer are the main problem, they cleaned some of the rose bushes on a regular basis last year so I moved them on the inside of the fence in the back yard. They haven't bothered the roses along the front of the house for some reason.

Deer killed a beautiful peach tree this winter, ate the bark all the way around it.

The guy from the extension service told me to hang fishing line down off of a few of the branches. He said when they touched it, it would spook them and they would run off. So far it has worked, I guess. I don't see how that would work on the Hibiscus though.

I also have a gross method, saving urine in a gallon jug and pouring it around the base of the trees. :D

Our blueberry bush is on it's second year and now has some blueberries on it. I imagine the birds will remove them for us.

I do not miss it from living up north!

We had a small patch of grass in this yard but we removed it and put a paver patio there. I don't want to mow a single blade of grass! :D

Have you tried painting the trunk with white paint? We do that here to avoid sunburn but we used to do it in Montana as a deterrent from the deer eating the bark.

I hate you and your warm weather and your "I only have to plant these once" luck in your back yard...:cuss:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...7372c18f54.jpghere is the pick after using it to plant azaleas last year.

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We will be building in 2017 and already have eliminated any non native plants from out landscape and plan to go very simple and low maintainence. I have started a "nursery" at the farm and moved successfully so far a number of young oak trees as well as some Ninebark and arrowmatic sumac. Wife has been a collector of DayLillies forever so that will be one concession to non natives.

You can see the Colorado blue spruce trees and the maplehttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...8ba88f8928.jpg

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Lew,
Does living in paradise ever get old?

I love Blue Spruce trees. Gorgeous trees. My parents just planted one in northern Arizona.

Those Blue Spruce trees are the 5 in a line in the picture?

LMAO

It's going to be 110 degrees this coming weekend. It's not paradise for everyone but we sure like it. We don't own much land this way, which most midwestern/northern people like to do. But it's functional and allows us to be outside all year round doing something in the backyard. It's nice to have an area that you can entertain outside all year round with friends/family too.

Yes, then there are nine more down in front of the circle. Missouri sent out an email last week about a disease that is infecting some non natives and I think one may have it. I need to go dig that email up and read it more closely.

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The 19 that died came from a major nursery in Missouri. They were all 2-3' trees. They shipped late and that week it got really cold. I planted them the night I got them...in a freezing wind and snow. The next week was warm.

I've planted a lot of trees. I have had trees die but never in mass.

The ones I got this year came from a box store and were much larger. Most probably 6'. It was a little later in the spring so they were mostly half price too. I don't count on fruit for 2-3 yEars so I don't care. They all look great this year. All of the trees planted last year lived except those fruit trees.


For years I have mixed in some compost from the cattle lot pile and it's been very successful. I used to mix a 5 gallon bucket of fresh cow shit and water and soup it and dump some on surface after planting, but I burned a few pines doing that.

I have never heard that. What kind of paint?

Oh and after the Royals game I went out and removed all the fruit, kind of a difficult thing to do but I have taken your word for and was wondering anyway. The peach trees were loaded and the pear tree had the prettiest little pears you have ever seen.

You are thinking well into the future with the oak trees, good for you!

Wife thinks I am crazy wanting to get some horse shit from the neighbors. :D I had a similar experience ordering from one of the magazine nurseries. When we found out when they were going to ship, we tried to cancel but that is impossible.

You own mater?

Any old white latex based paint works fine.

We did it in Montana on our Canadian red cherry trees. Deer never touched them. I do it on all fruit trees here to avoid sunburn.

You could just place a white plastic wrap around the trunk too.

Two beautiful looking properties Ed and Lew. The stark differences between the desert and the lush greenery of Southern Mo. It's a wonder anything grows in the rock and clay of Ozarks and Sandy soil of Airidzona.

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So that's why they do that. Working out West I'd seen this was always curious what it was for.

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Oh and I hate lilac bushes always got the piss stung out of me trying to feed a surveyors chain through a fence line full of lilac.

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The yellow striped agave is beautiful, a living work of art

I was thinking the same thing

Love those cacti. I think those are beautiful.

Lewdog we have a Planeteer that could paint some bad ass murals of sports figures on the wall.

Yep! Did it to my old 50 Dodge for my grandkids, nieces and nephews. They got quite a kick out of it. :D

Lew's place is truly a show stopper for sure. Beautiful!

We live in stone county and it is aptly named.

I learned that the tap roots of the trees run along the surface due to the rocks and if you run over them with heavy equipment it can destroy the trees. When I transplanted the maple after it had been planted for three years, sure enough the tap root was about 8 feet long running across the surface so I just dug a similar ditch and placed it in it. It has done well, weird.

I am sure those old Cedars have rooted out seeking water towards the pond but I seriously doubt that is what is holding that soil Dam in place. As long its got grass thats doing more than those roots. Id call the local Soil Conservation District there and get there advice its free. Also before I commenced cutting I would be sure of the line. Have a surveyor determine and mark the line every 50 feet. Sadly Missouri Statutes make it now where a complete boundary survey must be performed and not just a property line surveyed. There is a reason Dams and levees have the trees removed from them and they are cleaned and grubbed all the time. Buffalo or Brome grass is normally used to stabilize the soil on dams in this area.

I been plantin a lot of wood.




Jeez, you guys are slipping.

That is all good information, thanks. I had the man from the extension service come out and look at it, and he said he stuck by his opinion. He ended up taking pictures, as he knew he may be called to a court some day.

He was a very nice man, seemed knowledgeable and I learned a few other things from him.

I agree on the survey, even though there are metal stakes in the ground. I plan on doing it this fall as I don't want to mess with any of it now since it is all so grown over again.

My lawyer said if I were to remove a tree that isn't mine, it could get real expensive. Now this same old man cut his neighbors trees down across the street from him and told them he thought it looked better. He also removed the trees on his side of the pond as the old satellite property pictures shows them being there.

The real issue is that he just wants to stop me from doing what I want to do. Even his wife said "you always want things your way." Crazy me, wanting my property the way I want it!

This old fart is well connected in the Shriner and Church circles, so I am not sure how much of that I am running into. The first lawyer I talked to had a conflict, and told me so.


Thanks for the help!

The place where our subdivision was built used to be citrus fields. In certain spots the soil is sandy. In other spots, it more clay like. It makes watering a tricky scenario. Where the lime tree is planted is clay. I take rebar and jam it a few feet into the ground around the tree so that water, nutrients and oxygen can penetrate down to the 2-3 depth needed for strong roots. I just added some gypsum to the soil to help loosen it and hope it helps.






That variegated agave Americana (yellow striped) does some unique things. It's my favorite plant and I love it's looks. It produces off shoots constantly throughout the year. I can cut these out of the ground, dry for 4-7 days and replant or pot and start a whole new plant. I've potted one that is doing ok and have plans to take another off shoot and plant it in the front yard. I dried one out and sent it to our friends in Washington state who potted it for their house. They do well potted indoors, in well lit window areas. If potted they can be outside all summer and just moved in doors when temps in winter go below freezing.

They are also called century plants. In the wild, they are rumored to bloom every century and then die. With our landscaping and watering, they will bloom within 10-20 years sending off a 20+ foot high stalk and flower. After which, the entire plant dies.


If anyone is interested, I'd gladly send you one if you'd like to grow one.

I know, I've thought about it!

We want to paint the wall or stucco it. Problem was my neighbor's sprinkler has been leaking through and staining the wall in the 2 years we've owned the house. I wasn't going to spend all that money to do the wall and have it crack/peel. He has assured me he's fixed it, after I talked with him multiple times, but I want to wait to see if it lasts all summer. Other option is planting a few more taller plants that can essentially hide the wall's appearance.

None. I did destroy a tangerine and a grapefruit tree though. Does that count?

someone probably told him he could be ****ing up the dam when he cut his side.

[QUOTE=HemiEd;12252512]That is all good information, thanks. I had the man from the extension service come out and look at it, and he said he stuck by his opinion. He ended up taking pictures, as he knew he may be called to a court some day.

He was a very nice man, seemed knowledgeable and I learned a few other things from him.

I agree on the survey, even though there are metal stakes in the ground. I plan on doing it this fall as I don't want to mess with any of it now since it is all so grown over again.

My lawyer said if I were to remove a tree that isn't mine, it could get real expensive. Now this same old man cut his neighbors trees down across the street from him and told them he thought it looked better. He also removed the trees on his side of the pond as the old satellite property pictures shows them being there.

The real issue is that he just wants to stop me from doing what I want to do. Even his wife said "you always want things your way." Crazy me, wanting my property the way I want it!

This old fart is well connected in the Shriner and Church circles, so I am not sure how much of that I am running into. The first lawyer I talked to had a conflict, and told me so.


Thanks for the help![/QUOTE

**** people. Seriously.

I don't know what all goes into damn management. Is it an Army Corps of engineers dam or a local one?

REF thread Pro vs Con living the the Country:)

There is evidence that you have done it at least once!:D

It is a little cattle pond dam. Maybe 60 feet across. The pond leaks down fairly rapidly and keeps our place pretty wet in areas below it.

In the spring, the frogs will drive you crazy with their noise.

I understand Tablerock was flooded/made in 1954 and the evidence I have found on our place would indicate this was cow pasture at one time. I have removed a lot of barbed wire, some is grown into trees as are some old fence posts.

Chinese pistache ftw! Drought tolerant, fast growers, and they are pretty in the fall.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, don't skimp on your hole. If in doubt, go extra big and get good quality fill dirt. If you can't dig an adequate hole yourself, don't skimp. Get someone out with jackhammer and auger attachments. Also, planting in the winter is the best because the tree isn't shocked because it's already dormant.

Virtually everything west of the Mississippi was cow pasture at one point, but it sounds to me like this dude is looking for someone to pay for renovations to his pond. You might try and be neighborly and see if you can plant some other kind of tree on the sidehills and in a couple years take out the cedars. Since he started the lawyering, you probably better have him sign something that indemnifies you after the tree planting, but if you can get a tree you like there, and keep his dumbass happy, it would be money better spent than a damned lawyer. And if the pond is leaking down some, there should be water available for the trees you plant.

You will regret those populars Hemi. Yes they grow fast and yes they provide a big quick curtain BUT they don't live long, maybe 15yrs and their root system ruins your yard. I made that mistake. Maybe you get lucky and I hope you do but anybody I have ever talked to that had populars cusses them to no end like I still do. Good luck.

I've found that when planting pretty young trees and shrubs, when I used this stuff called Myke, it really made a difference when compared to the ones I didn't use it on. the local green house guy put me on to it and it seems to really work.

We've put out a couple cherry trees, a peach tree, numerous shrubs, Japanese red maple, transplanted pecans, Russian olives, and a bunch of others.

No, he really isn't looking for renovations, they just don't want change. They were horribly upset when I built a 30x50 boat house that changed their view and really mad when one of the other neighbors built his.

I have turned the other cheek so many times with these assholes I am done with them.

Also, it is so thick, inbred and overgrown on the dam there is no room to plant anything. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to clean it up along with the ability to see the huge sycamore that is on our property but pretty much blocked out.


This variety is supposed to live longer, but even at 15, it will serve our purpose greatly. I will be 81 and he should be dead!:D
I planted them in an area that will not matter about the yard. It is about a 40 long by 6 foot wide area I left along the property line when I had the retaining walls poured for our parking area.


Thanks, I will check into some of that Myke. A Japanese red Maple is in my cross hairs next, this fall. Sam.s had some really large ones last week for only $54 but I think it is a little late.
Our second SIL has a pecan ranch down in Texas and sent me a dozen seedlings, but they just didn't like this soil I guess. They died right away.
I am intrigued by your Russian olives. Pictures?

It has just been my experience that the terms lined out in the "or else." Part of the letter is usually what the dickhead wants.

If you get Russian Olives make sure they don't have spikes. We've ruined several mower tires and cut ourselves to shit trying to get them mowed up.

Have any of you tried splicing different fruit trees together? My ex mil in Philly spliced an apple and a pear tree together. It grew fine. Had apples on one side and pears on the other. The apples tasted pretty much like apples but the pears tasted like a pear/apple mix.

My SIL has grafted Pecan trees to end up with huge pecans that have a very thin paper type shell.

Someone else the other day was telling me about a fruit tree with several kinds of grafts that allowed them to grow a variety in a small space. Sounded very interesting.

HemiEd, how the trees doing?

I picked some beautiful limes off the tree today. My first usable ones since we planted it 2 years ago. After this tree almost died this spring, it's been looking great, growing new shoots and very dark green leaves.

http://i.imgur.com/yfMivfg.jpg

Pass one of those Margaritas my way.

I've still got a couple that need to come down, then will probably plant something next year. One giant ass mimosa tree that is the bane of my existence. Also have some shrubbery out front I'm gonna tear out and replace with rosemary bushes.

Most are doing well, but the Japanese beetles were ruthless to the two Plum trees and I think they may have killed the apple tree. That would be three apple tree failures so just maybe they aren't a good idea down here.

The peach and pear trees are thriving the best. So I will probably stick with those when I replace the apple tree.

The limes look great! That would be really cool to have citrus growing!

I have kind gotten in touch with my feminine side lately and canned salsa last weekend and tomatoes this morning. :D


I feel for you on the Mimosa tree, they suck IMO. Always a mess!

So taking the fruit off didn't hurt them?

I did that to my lime tree and it is really thriving now and did great through the heat of the summer here.

That is great, and I truly appreciate the advice.

Our trees are doing pretty well thanks! I fought the japanese beetles all summer, they were raping the plum trees, rose bushess and cherry tree.

I have been getting two to three ripe figs a day off of my largest fig tree. It has gone crazy and I have two others that are getting pretty large their first year.

I had no idea fresh figs could be so tasty! I cut them up and mix them with vanilla yogurt, very good.

I lost the apple tree and two of the Colorado Blue Spruce. Second apple that died, so I am done with them. Replaced the apple with a Pear tree and put in three large Austrian pines and two pretty good sized Crepe Myrtle trees. :D

You'll find A LOT of that in this area. I've learned in the six years I've been here that hardly anyone is native. The people that grow up here move to big cities and are replaced by people who are retiring from Big cities.