NEO Native Trees

In 2021, my wife and I were having lunch beneath a big beautiful tree at a county fair. A passerby noticed us admiring the tree, and kindly informed us that it was a bald cypress and was one of the only conifers to lose its needles each year. Less than a year later, we decided to plant one in our backyard. The original bald cypress that inspired us to plant one in our backyard. 2022 I planted this 6-foot tall / 2-inch diameter ball and burlap bald cypress on 9/18/22. I watered daily (about 3 gallons) with a water bag for the first two weeks, then transitioned to watering every two to three days for the rest of the autumn.  Our bald cypress, planted on 9/18/22 at about 6' tall and 2" in diameter. Since we have deer in our backyard on a daily basis, I put up some fencing shortly after planting. However, while I've seen some nipped branches, they mostly ignore it. 10/19/22: Showing its russet autumn colors about one month after planting (and the makeshift fence to protect fro...

The Eastern Redbud was the first tree we had planted on our property, right in the middle of the front yard. It was planted on 5/13/22 and has done very well in its first year.  Our Eastern Redbud tree the day after it was planted (5/14/22). Top half starting to leaf out and bottom half still showing those beautiful buds. We chose this tree because it's native and can tolerate our clay soil, it seems less common than other front yard ornamentals such as dogwoods and magnolias, and it adds some really nice late winter / early spring color with its purplish-pink buds. At 10' - 12' tall with a 3" diameter trunk, it was also well developed so it could provide immediate interest to our otherwise bare front yard (we were re-doing the landscaping at the time). Location : As the only tree in our east-facing front yard, it definitely receives a full share of sun. While many sources say it prefers full sun, I think it could probably benefit from a little less especially since it...