Hi Bonnie! I'm glad they got a good home! Yes I think it'd be good to put a couple of inches of mulch around the bases. It's advised to keep the mulch off of the trunks of the trees, but those giving that advice aren't dealing with our winds! I'd put mulch down soon, it's been dry enough that they'd appreciate a drink and the mulch to keep moisture in the root zone. More importantly, I think is to avoid sunscald on the south/west sides of the trunks. The winter sun heats up that side of the tree during the day, then the night cold can cause the tissue in the bark to rupture, basically. I wrap my deciduous trees around Thanksgiving with the tree wrap in the link below. I take it off around Easter. I do this the first 2 - 3 years, until the trunks reach some size and are more used to our intense winter sun. It'll be tricky since the trunks are tiny. Another option, which I do for conifers that can't be wrapped is to cover the tree with an upside down tomato cage. I secure it with 3 landscape pins pushed into the soil. Then I wrap the tomato cage in burlap. I get a lot of mail order conifers from the Pacific Northwest that have never seen anything like our sun and altitude. I lost a lot of them till someone on the conifer forum suggested they would benefit from screening the first couple of years. You didn't realize I was giving you a project, did you?! I'm taking some time off around Thanksgiving and would be glad to come over for a tree wrapping visit. I have a lot of tree wrap, so no need to buy any. I'm very high tech, so I use duct tape to secure the wrap, lol! Barb Here is a link that might be useful: Tree Wrap

I am a nut about lists. A couple of years ago I had surgery and the medication they put me on after made me very anxious. I started sitting up at night making lists. I mean 20-30 lists a night. I even made a list for a dead president...go figure. I told my doctor about it and he took me off that medication. He said he didn't want me to have to start a 12 step list program. It only lasted a few days but it was wierd.

Okay, I'm starting in the far left back of this bed (known in my journal as Hosta Point, I'm so original), will work back to front, left to right. Hyacinthina hasn't been moved since I got here, though it's been taking some sun damage ever summer. It's actually in a small bed separated by stones from the other two linked beds: Krossa Regal was given to me in 2009 as a large division from my older next door neighbor: Winter Snow came home with me from Hallson Gardens last May: Komodo Dragon also came from Hallsons in 2011: Raspberry Sorbet was in a fall 2013 Bridgewood Gardens order. It's tucked behind Ivory Coast, and I can't wait for the pretty flowers next month: Ivory Coast came from Cory's in Ohio in 2012, slow for me but ever so pretty: Vulcan came from Eckert's Nursery in 2011, just moved to this spot Friday hoping the color will develop with a little more light:

Of the 18 roses "too close together" last year, only 11 are still living. Today, I dug up: 4 dead roses 3 roses that had been overtaken by the Dr. Huey rootstock The remaining 11 roses are now far apart. I contacted my city's Public Works Department. They have FREE recycled green waste but they couldn't vouch for the quality of the ingredients. I live in a condo so I can't have a truckload of mulch delivered to my garden. It would have to be dumped in a driveway 200 feet away then I'd have to transport it to my garden. Bagged mulch -- although more expensive than bulk mulch -- is much easier to handle.