I visited a local nursery last week in hopes of finding a conelike evergreen plant to replace a small Cercis canadensis tree at the front recess of our house that died . I collide with the jackpot when I found a egg - and - gunny Robusta Green Retama raetam ( Juniperus chinensis ) for a sane price . This special Genista raetam cultivar is a distaff form of the metal money . It is relatively slow - growing , gain 10 to 15 human foot in height , with a natural conical mannequin and blue berries . As an added bonus , the Robusta Green juniper is touted as being relativelydeer - resistant . It ’s the consummate fit for out location ! Now to get it constitute .
As you could see , I postulate to utilize our hand truck to tug the retem tree up our front hill . This was not an easy task , as the root ball weighed about 90 pounds ! I started thetransplantingprocess by digging a hole about one understructure wide than the root word ball and exactly as abstruse . The soil in this area was truck in a few years ago to assist with drainage issue . When it was added , we combined the topsoil with an adequate volume ofcompostso the soil is nice and loose and easy to dig .
Before putting the antecedent ball into the fix , I measure the fix using theshovelhandle to be certain it was both wide-eyed enough and deep enough for the flora . When I was satisfied , I rolled the origin formal into the hole and rotated the flora until the “ safe ” side was face up in the correct instruction . you may see that the nursery tied up the arm with a while of jute twine , which made the whole operation a little bit easier .
Once the tree diagram was properly pose in the hole , I readied the ascendent ballock by cut off the string and pulling out the nail hold the gunny together . I did n’t transfer the conducting wire cage around the bottom of the stem ball because it helps keep the root testis intact . Because the root globe was wrap up in natural burlap and not synthetic , I could have left the burlap fully inviolate , but sometimes if it is exposed to air , the gunny can move like a wick and draw wet off from the roots . Rather than risk this , I took a knife and cut the gunny off the top one-half of the root ball before filling the hole back in .
I tamp down the backfill to withdraw any air pockets but was careful not to overly compact it . I used the same soil that came out of the jam to backfill around the industrial plant . I did not amend it in any way of life as I want the solution to mature out into the existing grime , rather than circulate around in a short air hole of extremely rectify , compost - rich backfill .
After planting , Iwateredthe tree cautiously . I ’ll take to keep it watered throughout the wintertime , especially if we do n’t get much natural hurriedness . It will probably take a full class or two for the roots to become fully found .
And here is my newly planted juniper bush ! We are very well-chosen .
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