Katsura Tree

I bought this katsura tree (cercidiphyllum japonicum) sapling for $15 at a plant sale a year or two ago.  Did I have room for it? No.  Did I need it? No.  Did I want it? Yes!  I've always wanted to grow this tree so it came home with me.  I've been torturing it by growing it in a large hypertufa planter ever since.  I feel guilty constraining this beautiful plant, caging it for my enjoyment in my private zoo.

Above is the gorgeous color from last October.

It colored up differently this year, probably due to the late dry spell we had in September and October.  Above is a photo I took on September 10th this year.

This is last week.  It's been so gorgeous this fall that I'm starting to rethink my promise to find a good home for it next spring.  

Maybe just one more year in the planter...

Wait, what happened?

How is it mid-October already?  It's been a ferociously busy four weeks, full of PTA volunteering, scouting, camping, a monumental birthday, and the weekly rhythms of cycling and gardening. I can't really call it gardening though, more like just getting the bare minimum done before the season passes.  Throughout it all, I've had the weekly pleasure of unwrapping new hypertufa troughs that I cast over four or five consecutive weekends through August and September.  I let them cure for four weeks, wrapped in plastic and stashed under the deck, like some weird, slow bread oven.

I still get a little thrill of satisfaction when I unwrap something that I made a month earlier.  

Some of the new troughs are sold already, but about a dozen remain up for grabs.  Let me know if you need one.