Why I Oughta...

Earlier this year, I bought a bunch of cut flower plugs from Garden Club and they arrived earlier than I really needed them .  Lesson learned for next year:  Have them delivered later in the Spring.  Of that set of plugs, eight of them are a new (to me) flower:  Didiscus Lacy Blue .  Of the plugs that arrived, these seemed to do the best with my "up-potting" as all eight have navigated the past two months and have put on some new foliage.   After managing them for weeks, I finally got around to planting them after all the threat of frost was gone.  In the second-to-last-week of May (the same day I put in a bunch of Dahlias), I planted these eight small plants.  They went in the south part of the Island Bed.   I spaced them about a foot apart and protected them with a ring of chicken wire to keep the rabbits away from them - until they can put on some mass.  I planted them in a mix of compost, garden soil and municipal biosolid...

I started planting dahlias in May and posted the first seventeen a few days ago.  In that post, I showed the locations and talked about how most of them (14 of the 17) were new to me varieties with just three legacy dahlias (Melina Fleur, Ivanetti and Sweet Nathalie).   Today, I'm showing the next round of dahlias that went in the ground.  These were planted in the second to last week of May - the day after the first seventeen went in. I planted them in three spots:  Pizza Oven West, IB2DWs and the back of the Island Bed.  Here's the updated planting map with the latest 15 tubers in blue. Here is a breakdown of what is planted in each of the three beds: Pizza Oven West 18.  Burlesca 19.  St. Martin 20.  Wizard of Oz 21.  Rip City 22.  Creme de Casis 23.  Melina Fleur Below is a look at these six.  The Melina Fleur is still in the container.  But, all of them are protected by rabbit cages.  For now.   I...

Just yesterday, I posted details and photos of six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' groundcover plugs that I planted along the sidewalk out front and talked about how those got my total up to 30 for the year.  My previous high-planting mark was from that epic Fall planting spring in 2023.  Today, I'm showing photos of six more Ajuga plugs going in - bringing my total this year to 36.  Matching my high. I previously put in six in front of some of the Hakonechloa All Golds in the back. Today, I extended that row with six more.   Here, below is a photo showing the first six and then the empty space in front of the All Golds just beyond: Here, below is another look.  The previously planted six on the left.  The empty space calling out for groundcover to the right: This six pack of healthy plugs from the Good folks at Menards: They went in easy-peasy.  Below are two photos showing the results.  First is a look at the new six followed by a view of all twelve...

Over the past month, I've posted a number of posts about adding groundcover plugs to the garden.  The latest was a post about six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs that I put into the front yard Island Bed at the very edge of the sidewalk.  Those joined three existing ones from 2025.  They weren't the most healthy plugs, but they went in anyway.  That brought my groundcover planting total to 24 total planted for the year.  Today, I added six more Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs to that same Island bed.  Five along the final edge in the front and one 'up the driveway'. This brings the total to thirty groundcover plants added (to date).  #20 on my to-do list is to "Keep Going on Groundcover" .  Thirty in the Spring is a good number.  My previous annual high-planting mark for Groundcover plants was that epic Fall 2023 season when I added 36 .  I'm right there and it is just Spring.   Adding this 'living mulch' down in the Island bed serv...

Dahlia season has begun here.  With the initial planting of seventeen dahlias.  That was day one of planting the tubers that I started out in the garden.  I made this annotated map to show (mostly myself) where everything is planted because I'm growing many new (to me) varieties for the first time and have a much more diverse lineup than in previous seasons.  Note:  this post is going live in early June, but I planted these on May 20th.  Last year, I planted them in the first week of June , so this is almost three weeks earlier.  Here, below is that map.  So far, I've put six in the "Pizza Oven West" bed, seven along the side of the house in the "South Sun Wall" bed and four "Under the Elm".  You can see them numbered in red: Pizza Oven East 1.  Crichton Honey 2.  Cafe Au Lait 3.  Creme de Cognac 4.  Blue Wish 5.  Milena Fleur 6.  Jowie Winnie Here (below) is a photo below of these plantings.  Note that I pu...

Yesterday, I showed photos of the 76 Titan Blue Lavender Halo Vinca annuals that I added to our front porch bed where I hope they'll grow into a carpet of color.  In service of the notion of 'repetition', I opted to plant the same annuals down in the island bed to try to carry that same color further forward and bring those two plantings together visually.   I went with 36 vinca down there.  Below are a few photos showing how the 36 Titan Blue Lavender Vinca are planted in between the Red Wizard Sun Coleus and the existing Ajuga groundcover that abuts the sidewalk.  First up are side-views: And, here below is the curb-view: Last year, I didn't have luck with the flowering annuals in this bed, so I'm hoping that these Titan Vinca will fare better.