The Cottonwood tree from which I took the cuttings.

Supposedly Cottonwoods are one of the easiest trees to grow cuttings from and since the Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is among my favorite of trees native to Missouri I thought it sounded like a fun experiment. The farm is home to numerous cottonwood trees, but most of them are confined to one isolated patch of woods and I think it would be nice to have a few of them around the yard.

The cuttings after I planted them in the ground.

I did some quick research on how to grow cuttings, but I’m still not overly confident they will survive. I did some experimenting, some of the cuttings I left a few leaves and twigs in place, and some I cut into a straight stick.

So we’ll see how it goes. If it works, awesome! If not, I’m not out anything because it was kind of fun to try!

Amidst the rubble there are a few noteworthy survivors. This aspen (pictured at top), the only one still alive out of the 14 Aspens I planted is not only alive but rather healthy. I have determined it must just be a freak of nature.

Also alive and well are the Loblolly and Shortleaf (yay!) Pines. Not only are they not dead, but they don’t even appear stressed. Interesting how the native pine is the only one unharmed by this particularly brutal summer. I am not sure whether the tree pictured is a Shortleaf or Loblolly…they are nearly identical.

It is also encouraging that most of the CRP trees seemed to be doing well, but again, those are all natives so big surprise.

In spite of this hefty setback, I will continue to plant trees of all varieties in mass quantities about the farm and I imagine I will continue to try to get trees of more northerly persuasion to grow here as well.

First, I have completed my trifecta of the poplar genus. This includes Quaking Aspen, Bigtooth Aspen, and the Cottonwood. I like these trees because the smooth grey-white bark reminds me of the mountains. Plus, the heart shaped leaves make a nice sound in the wind. The photo is a grove of native cottonwoods I found in the woods behind the house. Being native, they do quite well here. I can’t say the same for the Quaking Aspens; only 1 of the original 13 looks healthy after suffering 3 Missouri summers. Two others are clinging to life, and the rest are dead.

Another tree I am experimenting with is Black Locust. Mainly because they supposedly make nice firewood in a relatively short amount of time, but I also hear the flowers smell really nice. The botanical name is is Robina Pseudoacacia. I would imagine the species portion of the name comes from the fact that its leaves resemble that of an Acacia tree.

I made the holes and she would select a tree and put it in the hole. Other than a preference for White Pine I couldn’t figure out what her criteria was for selecting the trees but there must have been one because occasionally she would put one back and get a different one. I was also fairly impressed that she always put them at the proper depth with the roots down, even though I never actually told her that’s how it’s done.

Much to my delight she enjoyed the process and actually did a pretty good job! I think she’s well on her way to becoming a tree nerd.

Take for example Maples. No one ever associates Maples with flowers. Here is a Norway Maple in my front yard. At a glance it appears that the tree is simply pushing out this year’s set of leaves. Closer inspection reveals that it’s actually the maple’s bouquet of flowers, it’s offering to would-be pollinators. I have no idea what those pollinators are, but I’m sure it’s some kind of insect.

And here we have a Norway Spruce. Apparently someone of Norwegian descent must have lived here decades ago and attempted to recreate their homeland. I assume these are the starts of flowers, but I could be wrong. Spruces and Firs often have red, purple or bluish colored flowers and I believe most conifers tend to rely solely on the wind for pollination as they produce exorbitant amounts of pollen.

In addition to replacing dead trees, I also more densely populated existing groupings. The closer the trees are, the sooner their branches will begin to touch, and the faster they will grow height, rather than width. Pines (the vast majority of what I plant) require loads of sunlight, so when their needles started getting shaded by another tree, they start racing upwards to avoid being shaded to death.

I like planting the trees and imagining what they will look like in 5, 10, 20 years down the road. I also like the idea of someday stepping out my back door and smelling the pine scent in the air. I get my love of trees from my mom, however I get my specific love of Pine trees from my dad.

So here are my new specimens and why I chose them:

• Jeffrey Pine: Bark smells like vanilla. Yum.
• Grand Fir: Looks cool.
• Dawn Redwood: One of the oldest known tree species, can be found in fossils.
• Concolor Fir: Found some of these growing in the Mark Twain Natl Forest…Looks cool.
• Douglas-Fir: Gets really tall, looks cool.
• Deodar Cedar: Unique and looks cool.

So, basically I just picked out ones that I think look cool. I’m sure to most people these trees all look exactly the same, but thanks to my geek skillz I was able to easily identify each one once I got them out of the boxes. I’m sure it seems like a waste of time and money to a lot of people, but I enjoy the process of planting them and watching them grow over the years. And eventually I’ll enjoy the way they change the look and feel of the property!

1. Red Thai and Orange Thai – Although technically two different types, I will group them since they are both ‘thai’ and both extremely hot. They are small, especially the orange ones, sometimes less than 1″ long but that’s really all it takes. These are good for those who want to try something over the top hot, but are intimidated by larger peppers.
2. Scotch Bonnet – This funny looking pepper is only funny until you eat it. A type of Habanero, there are only 2 known hotter species than this… the related Red Savina, and the Naga Jalokia (aka Ghost Pepper). I grow these only for novelty…they are way too hot for most normal applications, but it’s fun to take them to work and watch the other guys prove their manhood by trying to eat them.
3. Fish Peppers – I ordered these seeds just because they looked cool. All these came from the same plant. Some are striped, some are albino. Even the plant was weird looking. The catalog rated these as “very hot” but I find them to be quite mild compared to the previous two, which were both rated “extreme”.
4. Poblano – This is one of my favorite types to cook with because they have nice flavor and sometimes dye everything green. These are the largest peppers I grew this year, generally 5-6″, but if you want spice…these have barely more kick than a bell pepper.
5. Volcano – I don’t know anything about these. The seeds came free with my order and I haven’t tried one yet. So I don’t know what it tastes like or how hot they are. I assume it to be a middle of the road variety.

1. Plant some raspberries.
2. Wait until you have so many berries you don’t know what to do with them.
3. Call mom to ask how canning works and hope she offers to basically do it for you.

Now that all that is settled, here are the steps of actually making the jam.

First, you need to rinse off the berries. I didn’t use any pesticides or anything like that, so it’s mainly leaves, dirts, and bugs that need to come off. For the record, rinsing these guys is kind of difficult and I’m not sure how effective my method was.

Put the berries in a pot and heat and smash them until you create a boiling pot of raspberry juice.

Add the same amount of sugar as you have raspberries. Continue boiling for about 5 minutes until it forms a gel like substance.

This is what it should look like when it’s done. You can either eat it now or freeze it. But if you want to store the jam in your cabinet for decades, then continue on to the next step.

Pour the jam into mason jars of whatever size you want. Make sure the lips are nice and clean, screw on a new canning lid, and drop the jars into boiling water for several minutes using this weird scissor-lift tool.

While the jars are boiling, lick the spatula thing.

Take the jars out of the boiling water and place them on the counter. Eventually the tops will make a ‘pop’ sound and you know it’s sealed. If they don’t seal then you’re pretty much screwed.

Now you have delicious raspberry jam that will last you throughout the winter months!

Dawn Redwood

The third redwood, which you’ve probably never heard of is the lesser known Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), one of the oldest known tree species. This species is interesting because it had been identified only in fossils and was thought to be extinct until a grove of them was discovered in China in the middle part of the 20th century. So this is one of only a handful of tree species I know of which were around when dinosaurs roamed the planet.

The scientific name suggests to me that scientists don’t think this redwood is quite as cool as it’s record setting cousins. That, or they think it’s just too weird… which may be somewhat true. In many ways I actually think the Dawn Redwood is more similar to a Bald Cypress (also a distant relative). I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Dawn Redwood but they are the only redwood that will grow in Missouri so I should probably plant a few.