Why I Oughta...

Over the past few years, I have posted a few 'getting to know' posts about Korean Maples starting with Summer 2024 when I posted the first:  Northern Glow Korean Maple . Last year, I posted one about the Arctic Jade Korean Maple and then last Fall, I wrote this 'getting to know' post about North Wind Korean Maple .   Today, I came across a fourth Korean Maple:  Alpenglow Korean Maple from the Jack Frost Collection at Iseli Nursery.  This is Acer x pseudosieboldianum. I saw this at The Growing Place in Naperville where they have this point-of-sale sign where they label it 'new 2026'.   Here's how Iseli describes Alpenglow : Alpenglow® is a red-leafed, upright hybrid maple that is hardy down to –30F. In spring, merlot leaves dance on arching branches; translucent veins help them catch the light and glow. The deep red mellows to a burnished bronze in summer and finally turns to blazing orange and red in fall. A refined oval habit and sturdy branching mak...

Now in their fifth growing season, the pair of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum that were planted as two-gallon container-grown shrubs have (finally) become significant in their coverage.  Persisting despite rabbit pressure (thanks to some chicken-wire cages), this pair of upright-habit shrubs sit behind the tree-swing Oak tree in the backyard.  They were prescribed in this spot by our plan and I've really grown to appreciate them and their utility.   Here they are in their current state below - showing the upright nature and how they received their (arrow-wood) name: I'm (still) trying to replace some of the Oakwood Hydrangeas with something more rabbit-proof like the tree-form Doublefile Viburnums.  But, one of the interesting differences between the Arrowwood and Doublefile is the bloom-time:  Doublefiles bloomed weeks ago.  Arrowwood is still forming buds.  

Back in 2023, I (finally) was fed-up with the pair of rhododendrons that were planted on either side of our back stoop and dug them up and transplanted them back into the far-reaches of the garden and replaced them with some dwarf Spring Grove Ginkgo trees.  I've never looked back and have been very happy with that change.   The rhododendrons were planted in the shadow of the Dawn Redwood and (honestly...) mostly forgotten.   Part of my frustration with these shrubs were the lack of blooms and the leggy-nature of the form.   Imagine my surprise when I was in the backyard and caught some purple blooms out of the corner of my eye.  There, under the canopy of the Dawn Redwood was one of the rhododendrons with ten-or-so purple blooms.  Here is a look at the shrub:  Pretty, pretty, pretty nice, right? 

Last week, my set of tubers from Bonny Blooms arrived (finally) and I quickly got to work planting them up in one-gallon nursery containers.  I ordered seven total dahlia tubers from Bonny Blooms in November 2025.   This was the first time I have ordered from Bonny Blooms and selected four different dahlia varieties:  Bell's Palermo (1 tuber), Peaches-N-Cream (2 tubers), Crichton Honey (2 tubers) and Brown Sugar (2 tubers).  These all were dahlias that I came across in year-end videos on Dahlia-Tok that growers/flower farmers have raved about in terms of how they look and how prolific bloomers they were in their own fields .   I was getting a little impatient because my order from Bonny Blooms had not arrived, so I went to their site where on the homepage they have a little 'chat' widget in the bottom corner .  Based on some advice on a dahlia-growing Facebook group, I pasted my order number in that chat window and inquired about shipping.  A day-...

In mid-April, I began unwrapping, dividing and potting-up my dahlia tubers .  And, I ended up with more than 90 one-gallon nursery pots of tubers.  Were all of them viable?  I wasn't sure.  But, today, I am feeling a higher-degree of confidence in what the viability-rate looks like.  By early May, many of them were sprouting, but some still lagged behind and didn't get started.  I tried to get a good division that included a body, a neck and some portion of the crown.  Turns out, I didn't get it perfect, but did pretty well. I recently moved the tubers up out of the basement window wells to the screened porch.  Below is a look at the layout showing more than 80 viable dahlias.  #6 on my 2026 to-do list was to "Go even Bigger on Dahlias" .  I'd say that I can cross that one off my list: Some are barely moving like this one below with a tiny bit of green foliage tipping through the potting mix: While others are more than a foot tall like t...

Transplanted from my sister's neighbor Wes on Indiana Street in 2021 , this purple iris has grown quite a bit over the years.  This is planted on the southside of our front porch in a low area that gets some good water (when it rains).  They bloom every May it seems as this post from 2025 shows a similar bloom-season.   Below is a look at the current state of this perennial.  I think this might be something I can consider dividing this season.  A quick Google search indicates that post-bloom time later this Summer is the right time to divide them.  Early enough to give them time to get established before dormancy.