Canopy and Understory Trees

Growing up I always heard people refer to a tree as a canopy tree and never wanted to ask what that meant because I felt dumb to ask.  When I finally figured it out, I felt dumb for not asking!  Let’s take a field trip for a minute and figure out what a canopy is…

Imagine we have gone to Yellowstone Park and we are being guided by a wildlife instructor.  We have past Old Faithful and are headed into the forest to look for birds and interesting little things.  As you enter the forest, you notice that the sun went away.  All you are getting is filtered light through the leaves of the trees that are a hundred feet above you.  At first you are thinking how pretty everything is in the shade.  Then you notice some of the smaller trees that have not gotten over ten to fifteen feet high, and are just gorgeous.  Some are blooming and the others are full of birds and squirrels.  You then realize that you are a little bit cold when the breeze comes through the valley and across your face.  You then say a little prayer thanking God for making such a beautiful site and follow the instructor through the rest of the forest.

What was the point of that story?  It was to give you a visual of what a canopy tree and an understory tree is.  A canopy tree is one that usually gets rather large, at least thirty or more feet.  They usually thrive on full sun light and will compete with any other plant for the sun light and heat.  Canopy trees make great shade trees around your house or yard.

An understory tree is one that usually grows less than thirty feet.  An understory tree thrives on partial sun light, and loves to be nestled on the north side of a canopy tree or building.  Dogwood and Redbud trees are great examples of understory trees.  They will survive in the full sun, but much prefer having part shade to do what they want to do.

Now that you know the difference between a canopy and understory tree, you can go to your local nursery and sound very educated when you say “I would like to have a large canopy tree, maybe something like a Maple or Oak.”

Happy Trees

As all of you know by now, I have been aggressively working on moving my store front from a retail location, to a place where I can grow plants and sell wholesale to the public.  I am really tired and my back hurts! J  I have had a couple of people helping me and we have moved so far about 4,000 plants, countless chemical bottles, hundreds of pots and endless yard art, statuary, and tools.  I cannot wait to stop moving and get back to organizing.  I don’t know where anything is and all my plants are mixed up together.  All I can do with them right now is water.

Today, I am working in between rain showers and will be tearing down eleven greenhouses.  Eight of them should be easy, but three of them scare me!  I will just do the best I can.

Thanks for all of you who have been praying for me and keeping up with my updates.  I haven’t had much time to watch and answer your questions, but I will get back on that starting today and work until I have answered all your questions and comments.  I have been working sun up to sun down since Thursday (except Sunday) trying to get all of this moved out.  I should be able to slow down a little now that the majority is moved.

Happy Update

I am so excited to be writing this blog today.  I want to give you a quick explanation of what is going on with my business.  As most of you know, I have owned a retail garden center in Lebanon, Tn for several years now and the overhead of the location finally caught up to me this year.  I was tired of having to charge full retail price for products when I knew I could do better, but I had to pay for the water and rent at the end of the month.  A couple of days ago I excecuted a very well planned and thought out decision.  I shut down the retail location!!

Now, what does that mean for you?  It means that I am now in a position to be able to sell online any product that you would need for the maintenance or installation of your yard or flower bed.  And I can do this at WHOLESALE prices!!  I am so excited about this.  I found a location to stock the product that has a well for water and is rent free.  I have all the chemicals, pots, yard art, tools, shrubs, perennials, trees, and will have the seasonal flowers.  As I get this lot organized, I will have bulk mulch and rock available for the local people.  For those that are outside of Middle Tenn. I will be glad to ship them to you, and for those that are local, I will deliver or ship whatever it is you want to order.

So, how does all this work exactly is what you are thinking by now.  It is going to be very simple.  At the menu bar at the top of this page is a tab that says “PiggPlants our online store.”  That tab takes you to the online store that I have created.  It is usable, but not completed yet.  I have not had time to update quantities, varieties, and prices yet.  After I get done moving all the product this weekend, I will diligently work to have the online store up to date.  When it is ready, you will be able to search for what you need, pay and order securely and the product will show up in a couple of days on your doorstep.  I am so excited about that.  As we say…’We want to help you play in the dirt’

Happy Shopping

P.S. For those of you who have asked me a plant question, please be patient, I will answer it in a day or two.  This move has done a number on my computer time.

Don't let them do this to you

Some people think this is really gross, but if you will drink a capful of vinegar before going outside, the mosquitos will leave you alone.  The vinegar will seep out of your pores and scare those little guys away.

You won’t stink, I PROMISE

Happy Mosquitos