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Showing posts with the label boxwoods

3 Green Velvet Boxwoods Planted - Dogwood Espalier - November 2023

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I added three small Green Velvet Boxwoods to the middle of the pair of recently-espalier'd Dogwood trees along the side of the garage.  The bed has been an afterthought (to date) and features a bunch of random hostas, Ostrich Ferns and a few heucheras.  There were no shrubs.  There wasn't much 'structure' there.  The photo at the top shows the 'after'.  The photo below shows the 'before'. I've moved that big hosta OUT and removed some of the ferns, too.   I planted these in mid-October, but posting it in early November 2023. 

Green Gem Boxwoods - Two Seasons of Growth - October 2023

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Planted in late October 2021 , the set of three Green Gem Boxwoods planted in the backyard beds have continued to put on some size and seem to have established themselves enough to basically go on auto-pilot from here-on-out.  They were small one gallon plants from the Orange box store that were on the 50% off sale - coming in under $5 a piece.  They're smaller-scale boxwoods and were planted to provide some evergreen structure to a place that is mid-border that is mostly shade. What do they look like today?  Below is a photo showing the three of them that have filled out and grown quite a bit of mass in their two years: Compared to just February of this year, they've put on a bunch of growth this season .  Also, a reminder....that these didn't bronze much over last Winter - and is something that I can watch this year. The Summer Beauty alliums have begun to encroach on them at the top of the photo and the center of the planting is ripe for something to be tucked right in

Pruning Boxwoods and Yews - July 2023

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Adding evergreens was #1 on my 2023 list and I've put in a series of Boxwoods in the front and back.  And those were added to the existing stands of Boxwoods around the garden.  Most of them are small, but a few of them have grown in size and have a number of seasons growing.  I also had a run with Hicks Yews the past few seasons, where I added quite a few of them around the backyard - starting all the way back in 2019 .   I've TOTALLY left them unpruned to date.  Why?  Pruning evergreen shrubs and boxwoods in particular is an art.  Something that I have little experience with as a gardener.  I've *mostly* left my Boxwoods grow wild and shaggy - allowing them to put on some size.   But...  pruning shrubs as a 'seasonal project' on my 2023 to-do list .  So, it was time to take a look at some of the evergreen shrubs. #22 on my 2022 to-do list was to 'upgrade my garden tools '.  I did that a little bit by adding a Dutch push/pull hoe .  I also did that by gett

Two Green Mountain Boxwoods Planted - Firepit - July 2023

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After the mass boxwood planting under the Linden trees earlier this Summer , I ended up with two very small (1#) Green Mountain Boxwoods that were leftover from the project.  When I started with that mass planting, I was using a mix of Green Mountain and Green Velvet.  After some hemming-and-hawing, I ended up planting only Green Velvet - mostly due to their smaller mature size. So, these two Green Mountain boxwoods have been siting around and I was able to get to planting them in the border around the fire pit in back.  See below for their location. A few notes on these - in relation to my task list for the growing season: 1.  #1 on my 2023 to-do list was to focus on evergreens .  Add two more to the planting list.  I planted five new evergreens in front .   A columnar Scotch Pine in back .  And now 13 more ( 11 + 2) Boxwoods.  That's 18 evergreen shrubs and one tree - 19 in total.  Pretty good. 2.  #15 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'upgrade the fire pit area' .  These tw

Carex Montana From Northwind Planted - July 2023

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I've been all-in on Team Carex thanks to Roy Diblik and his Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin.  He introduced me to sedges (Carex) and talked about how he uses them in his plantings.  Over the years, I've bought a number of different sedges from Northwind including: Bromoides and Little Midge , Albicans and Pensylvanica .   Now, I can add another one to the list:  Carex Montana.  The photo at the top of this post shows three Carex Montana plugs that I bought from Northwind last month and planned on planting by the Linden trees that are espaliered.   Below is the sign from Northwind that includes this description:   You've noticed the rich, soft green, beautiful foliage. Plant this in your shade garden and develop a ground layer of soft textures that will enliven your other plants and reduce weed seeds from germinating. Mix this Carex with other Carext to create a tapestry of colors and textures. Why not?? Haven't you wood chipped long enough??? Shots fired at

11 Green Velvet Boxwoods Planted Under Espaliered Linden Trees - June 2023

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A few weeks ago, I posted back-to-back photos and posts showing how I dug out and transplanted a number of perennials including hostas and alliums to prepare the bed at the feet of the espaliered Greenspire Linden trees for a replanting of evergreen (Boxwood) shrubs.   I opted for Boxwoods underneath these two trees as part of my 2023 to-do list (#1 was evergreens) and this area was my #1 priority .   I originally planned for a full, staggered double hedge of Boxwoods and I bought 13 Boxwoods.  Seven Green Mountain for the back row.  And six Green Velvet for the front row.  The one gallon boxwoods at the orange big box nursery went on sale recently and I bought when the price dropped.   I started by cutting the new (further out) edge of the bed and had to deal with locating the cable line in the ground.  I was careful to not cut that cable, so I mostly dug out by hand with my hori hori.  I then went and measured the spacing for the 13 boxwoods.  In order to try to not disturb the r

Green Velvet Boxwoods Added - Front Porch Bed - May 2023

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Last week, I shared my Front Porch Bed plan that included a mix of evergreen shrubs, grasses, roses, bulbs and some perennials and talked about how I was hoping that the combination of soil improvement AND the removal of the Norway Maple will allow for some vigorous growth of the new (and existing) plant material.  This post is showing the area to the 'left' (or south) of the Triumph Elm.  I have five existing Green Velvet boxwoods on the other side of the tree.  So, I opted to carry on that planting with four Green Velvet boxwoods on the other side of the Elm to sort of 'match' the bed.  Below, you can see the small, one-gallon Boxwoods planted in the bed.  With the tulip foliage still around, the boxwoods are hard to see.  Below is an annotated version of the photo.  Green Velvet Boxwoods in the green circles below.  Disneyland Roses in the orange circles: From my planning post, I listed the plant material required. Here's where it stands after these Boxwoods:

2023 Priority - Front Porch Bed - March 2023

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Listed at number 3 on my 2023 to-do list , figuring out the newly configured front porch bed is a pretty significant planting priority for me, but one that I've done the least posting about in the garden diary.  That lack of posting on a 'plan' for the bed, doesn't mean that I haven't been busy working the bed already by moving some things around, adding some things and thinking a lot about what we want up there. The season started with some vertical mulching of biosolids to try to improve the soil overall - that was after some topdressing of biosolids last Fall around the hydrangeas.   Then, just recently, I did three things:  first... I dug-up and transplanted the Green Velvet Boxwood that was left orphaned once we planted the Triumph Elm tree.   I moved around three Karl Foerster Grasses (see below for placement) and then just this past week, I planted three bareroot Disneyland Roses in the bed where the old Norway Maple tree was situated.    The other thing t

Transplanted Boxwood From Front To Back - May 2023

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When we planted the new Triumph Elm tree last Fall , I had to relocate one of the original boxwoods that were planted in that bed.  As a temporary measure, I had the guys who planted the Elm dig up the boxwood and just put it further back in the bed.  If you look at the photos here and here , you can see the lone boxwood that was moved out from the front line to the back of the bed.   As part of the shaping-up of the front porch bed, it was time to move that boxwood out of there and find it a new home.  With it being mature and larger than anything I can buy at the store, I decided to plant it as a stand alone in the back beds vs....say...the IB2DWs area (where I want to plant boxwoods this year).   Here, below, is a photo showing the front porch bed.  On the right is the Triumph Elm that was planted last Fall.  On the left is the dug-up and moved Boxwood in question.    It is a big, heavy clump, so I dug it out and used my wheelbarrow to load it up for the backyard. I opted for a mid

Boxwood Varieties At Home Depot - Early Spring - March 2023

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Last week, I came across the initial delivery of some common trees in nursery containers at the orange big box store .  These trees were the first real sign of Spring in terms of plant material that arrived, but I knew that more was on the way.  This past week, I wandered out to the parking-lot nursery and saw a few boxwoods in various sizes.  Knowing that I want to add A LOT of boxwoods to a few spots this year, I figured I'd see what they have on hand. First up is Green Gem.  I have a trio of these in the back .  They also have a variety of Green Mountain boxwoods in 3, 2, and 1 gallon sizes.  I have one of these.  At least... I thought I had one of these .  But, it bronzed up pretty good, so I'm not sure if it was mislabeled.  This year, they have a larger one - 3 gallon. The third variety that they had (on-hand) is Green Mound.  That's new (to me).  See below for the one gallon nursery container for $10.98. Green Mound stays pretty small - two-to-three feet all and wid

Gladiator Alliums Emerge - First Season - March 2023

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Last Fall, I didn't plant as many Fall bulbs as I have planted in previous seasons.  But, I did plant some:  12 Gladiator Allium bulbs were added to the front porch bed.  Right in front of the existing boxwoods in the front porch bed .  In terms of layers, this means that we're looking at (from back to front currently):  porch, hydrangea, boxwood, mid-size allium bulbs. These get anywhere from 36" to 60" tall (depending on the info source).   I planted all twelve of these in mid-October.  And, just like some of the other Allium bulbs - including these Christophii which are showing early foliage emergence this year - these Gladiators are starting to peek through for the first time.   Looking back at this post showing where I planted the Gladiators , it appears that I dug six holes and tucked two bulbs in per hole.   Here are a few photos showing the tips peeking through the mulch this week (below):  Right now, I don't count twelve plants, but I *am* seeing that p

More (Mass) Layered Boxwoods - Priority Area #2 - IB2DWs Extended - February 2023

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Yesterday, I posted an inspiration photo of a mass planting of sculpted boxwoods planted in a three-tiered system and talked about how I could use them under the pair of Lindens in our backyard.   I haven't really done a mass (greater than 10) planting of shrubs, but I've been nosing back through the archives of Deb Silver's Dirt Simple blog for inspiration and notice that she's a big believer (and user) of mass plantings of evergreen shrubs.  Like in this post where she features A LOT of boxwoods in various beds and talks this way about their use : A restricted palette of plants, and a massed planting can be both both classical and contemporary in feeling. I really like that idea of using a mass planting with a limited number of plants and colors to be both classical and contemporary at the same time.   I've failed to put my desired garden style into words overall - I'm not a cottage gardener.  I'm not a Japanese Gardener.  I'm not a minimal gardener.