Spring Tree, Shrub and Forb Planting!

On Saturday we planted a bunch of trees, shrubs and forbs that we purchased from the Franklin County, OH Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). Most counties of all states across the whole country have SWCD's - visit them to find out what conservation programs and events they have going on.

We employed our favorite auger, Big Bertha, to bore holes for the trees:

White pine, Ohio Buckeye, etc....

We used water from our cistern (that was nearing full from recent rains) to make sure our trees got a good initial drink.

Good friend, Tim Gerardot, gave us a submersible pump as a house-warming gift (now, that's a house warming gift!) and that baby really cranks the water out:

Watering a White Pine (Pinus strobus Pinaceae). Sure, they are not native to this particular piece of property but they do o.k., are not invasive and provide good cover for migrating and nesting birds.

We put a few stones around each tree to a) make it easy to re-locate them and b) improve water infiltration.

We have another 30 trees to pick up soon from the Morrow County SWCD but  here's what we've planted so far (just the beginning, of course!). Our focus is providing food and shelter for critters and beauty for people:

Forbs:
2 Virginia Bluebells
1 Butterflyweed
1 Cardinal Flower
1 False Sunflower
1 Blue Flag Iris
1 Cardinal Flower
1 New England Aster
1 Purple Coneflower
1 Royal Catchfly
1 Showy Sunflower
1 White False Indigo
1 Wild Quinine

Shrubs:
5 Spicebush
2 Elderberry
2 Highbush Cranberry
2 Washington Hawthorn
2 Pagoda Dogwood
2 Serviceberry
2 Hazelnut
2 Pawpaw

Trees:
2 Pecan
2 Butternut
2 Persimmon
2 Sugar Maple
2 American Beech
2 Kentucky Coffeetree
2 White Pine
2 Witch Hazel
5 Shingle Oak
5 Paper Birch
5 Redbud
1 Ohio Buckeye