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Tort Pen Step Nine: Let There Be Trees!!

Nanci

Nanci

Alien Lover
And shade, whew!! I've been looking for the perfect tree since before the first 4x4's were laid. Finally I found not one, but two! I'd wanted a Weeping Mulberry, but the nursery sold out while I was broke. Today, as I was lamenting the fact, the girl said she thought there was one up front. And there was!! There was also a Chinese Fringe Tree, which is fast growing but stays small- maybe 15-20 feet, as does the Mulberry. (There are Live Oaks and Magnolias just outside the pen which will some day be very big.)

On the left, Mulberry, on the right, Fringe.
 

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Another view: the Northwest corner. Got the hibiscus planted, too.
 

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Back of Koko's burrow: (New petunias, a lemon grass on the right, and a crape myrtle I've had laying around for a couple years, planted.)
 

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Back of Buttercup's burrow. She tried to dig her own right where that purple shrubby thing is. She got new petunias and a new white fountain grass, on the left.
 

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Some little flowers by the pond. Notice the new stones, hopefully too big for Koko to eat!!
 

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One last view. Oh, and under all that, today I buried the main irrigation hose along all four sides. Now I just have to run out little 1/4 inch feeder hoses with sprinklers to each tree/plant.

Thanks for looking!

Nanci
 

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Damm!!!!!!!!!!
Your a work horse!
Do you every get tired???
You need to come up here and help me in my yard.
Your doing a fanatics job Nanci! I would say keep it up, but I think you could use a break now. :grin01:
 
Thanks Lenny! Now tomorrow, my other day off, I'm working OT, which will about pay for the two trees...

BTW, I guess the torts are moved in. They spent last night out there, and are out there tonight. They are so dug into their burrows I feel they are perfectly safe. Though security measures are still planned...

Nanci
 
Thank you, Joanna! I actually went to school for landscape technology while I was waiting to get into horseshoeing school. I love it. Can you imagine how nice this will look as the plantings mature??

Nanci
 
I almost didn't recognize the burrows under all of that! It looks awesome Nanci! Congrats on finding the trees too, they definitely compliment the rest of the plants and the layout.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everything has grown out in about 3-4 months too - just to see the difference, though I'm sure it will look just as good, if not better then it does now!

Jenn
 
:cheers: this is shaping up so well, I can imagine you sitting on the viewing bench and enjoying your torts and toad enjoying their new home!
 
You should see the hibiscus today! It has four five-inch blooms! Must be happy. It's the pink thing in the corner. Temps today are air: 91F, grass in sun: 117F, grass in shade and pool: 95F, burrows: a chilly 79F!! House: 87F :eek1:

I can just feel Koko way back in his burrow. Butters has extended hers so far I can't reach her.

Nanci
 
Oooh! Last night, I was sitting on the patio, and a cardinal flew up, landed on the tortoise bench, and started singing! _And_ Buttercup has a black cricket living in her burrow with her- just like in nature!

I put in some decorations, too. I had an old cow skull I was hoping some wrens would nest in, but it broke into three pieces, so I put one mandible on Butter's burrow entrance and the other mandible and the rest of the skull by the pool. It looks so cool!

Nanci
 
Cool! Sounds like the torts are happy and that they've even got new neighbors already! We fully expect picture of all future boarders that take up residence the tort pen or just come for a visit!


Jenn
 
Wooooooooo hooooooooooooo!! Just signed up for eight hours OT Saturday and eight on Sunday!! More funds for Fort Tort!! No days off, and will never be home when the torts are actually out, though...Gotta get the more 4x4's and the electric fence, though!

Nanci
 
I saw both torts yesterday afternoon in between rain showers. We got four inches of rain Wednesday- they were probably checking to see if I'd built the ark yet...They are turning black from the earth in their burrows!

I'm going to Home Depot after work to order the eight 4x4's I need to make the walls taller.

Nanci
 
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