Why I Oughta...

A week ago, I posted a 'getting to know' post about Little Lamb Lamb's ear and talked up some of its features as a groundcover.   So, it wasn't hard to 'add to cart' with a couple of small quart-sized plugs when I saw them at a 50% off sale at the Big Box store.  As for finding a home for them, I opted to fill-in a gap at the very front of the Island bed down by the sidewalk that I had previously tried to fill with some Chocolate Chip Ajuga plugs .  Some of those planted earlier this year have made it (so far) and some of them didn't.   The two Little Lamb Lamb's Ears filled the gap.  See below for them on the very front of this bed: I'll see how these do in the early days and then decide if I should bring home a few more to fill in some space and create even more 'living mulch'. I had previously planted 43 groundcover plants for the season (7 sedges, 36 ajuga plugs), so these two get me up to 45 for the season.  

Dahlia cut flower season 1 rolls on with my first (ever) white dahlia bloom.  A first (for me) Tsuki Yori No Shisha (Semi-Cactus) Dahlia white bloom that I cut on long stems.  This is planted IB2DWs, sort-of under the Bald Cypress tree along the driveway.   See below for the flower and a couple of secondary buds that I cut-off when I took this bloom.  (I hate this part of the dahlia cut flower season when I end up sacrificing so many flowers in service of seeking longer stems.) Below shows the two sacrificial buds on either side of the big bloom.  My experience says that dahlias don't *REALLY* open up once they are cut, so those two will stay semi-closed buds.   Tsuki Yori No Shisha (Semi-Cactus) Dahlia Bloom Longfield Gardens has a listing up that includes this description : This stunning semi-cactus dahlia was bred in Japan and introduced in 1953. Its delicately fringed, snowy white petals give the big, 6 to 7" flowers a frilly look that w...

In the pizza oven bed, I have a lone, solitary Alchemilla Mollis 'Thriller' (Lady's Mantle) that I planted near the corner of the timbers of the retaining wall.  You can see it in the photos of this post about adding a new (to me) allium variety to that same bed .    I also bought a different variety (Auslese) a few years back and planted it in a spot that is buried in Ostrich Ferns.  I should go see if I can move that thing..... The reason I bring it up is that I was...well...influenced.   I saw this post from Erin the Impatient Gardener where she fawns over Alchemilla Mollis (Lady's Mantle) in her garden: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) One of my garden rules is to never buy one of anything.  So, I needed to remedy that issue.   Also, #3 and #4 on my 2026 to-do list are these: For #3 (Finish up the edit with grasses), I have made progress....

My Mom recently brought to my attention how I don't have any perennial geraniums in our garden.  That's actually not true as I have one under the dwarf Ginkgo tree by our back stoop.  Brookside Geranium .   But, why my Mom brought it up was when we were talking about groundcover.  And..."living mulch".   Or, more...my desire to buy LESS MULCH each year by filling in the spots in the garden with easy-to-maintain perennials. I was at the Big Box store recently and saw these small geranium plugs for $6.98 and 50% off.  They're New Hampshire Purple Geranium.  And, they're certainly small.  But, for $3.50, I figured I'd give it a shot.   Proven Winners has a listing page up for New Hampshire Purple Geranium .  Hardy Geranium, Bloody Cranesbill.  They say: A profusion of magenta-purple flowers atop compact, spreading mounds of leaves makes this one of the best low-growing cranesbills. Low-growing.  Like that. ...

I brought home some small quarts from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm earlier this month with designs on adding them to some blank spots in the garden.  I was able to successfully stick to my plan of buying things that I already have on-hand and know they work well (in terms of growing conditions) in our garden.  I ended up with ten quarts, five of two different plants.  Today, I'll post the details of one of them:  Autumn Moor Grass.  Seslelaria Autumnalis.   Here are the five quart nursery pots from Northwind Perennial Farm: I started my Autumn Moor Grass journey in the Fall of 2023 when I planted a bunch of them in our front porch bed .  I divided a few of them over the years - something I should do again this Fall. These five are going into the very front of the IB2DWs bed.  Down by the sidewalk.  This is a 'hard to grow' area, but I've been amending the soil with biosolids and have mulched it heavy the past few growing seasons...

The past few days, I've posted photos of the individual blooms that I've been snip'ing off the dahlia plants that are tucked into every available space in our garden.  That has lead to my first-of-the-season piecemeal cut flower arrangement.  On our kitchen counter.  [Countertop Flowers]. Yesterday, I showed a Blue Wish, Saint Martin and a random pink Cactus dahlia .  Day before was Burlesca, Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac and a "Rip City ".   Put those all together and you get a cacophony of color and texture and type.   Below is flower arrangement #1 for the 2026 growing season. With no fillers aside from one small Lacy Blue Didiscus.   Mixed Dahlia Cut Flower Arrangement Have to get to Goodwill to find some jars because bloomin' season is upon us.