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Red Cones Emerge on A Weeping Norway Spruce - April 2026

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I planted a pair of small Weeping Norway Spruce trees IB2DWs in the Fall of 2023 and that experience has changed how I think about Fall Planting in general.  I've planted a ton of trees on our property, but these late-season conifers have been some of the most enjoyable to watch grow.  Not just because the Fall Planting allowed them to get established, but because of how they provide structure and four-season interest in a long, linear bed that sits between two driveways (hence the IB2DWs name).   That means that this is their third (full) growing season (2024, 2025 and now 2026).  In each of the first two Springs, we saw some red cones emerge on the trees and that has been a real treat. Here is a post from Spring 2024 showing the red (or purple?) cones .  And, here is a post from early May 2025 (a little under a year ago from today) showing those same red/purple cones.   Back in February, when there was snow-cover on the ground, I posted a phot...
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3 Godzilla Japanese Painted Ferns - Back for First Spring - April 2026

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Last year, I planted three new (to me) ferns from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale: Godzilla Japanese Painted Ferns . Athyrium 'Godzilla'.  They were billed as being as large (when mature) as four-to-six-feet in span.  That's B-I-G.   Last year, mine certainly didn't get *that big*.  But, they seemed to do just fine.  Because, this Spring, all three of them have emerged from dormancy.  See below for a shot of this area.   Hard to identify the fern crowns, right?  Here, below is an annotated version showing the locations: These are 'stumpery adjacent' and if they actually grow to their full-size, will fill in this space.   Maybe more of these as part of the "hosta replacement plan" on the other side of the garden?
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Second Set of Sun King Aralias - Back for First Spring - April 2026

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In 2024, I planted six Sun King Japanese Aralias as part of a 'garden edit' in what I call the 'nook' garden behind the Weeping Nootka Cypress tree.  I was concerned that they didn't survive their first year, because they went dormant early.  But, they came back last Spring - for their first Spring .  Because of that, I bought three more at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale last Spring and planted them on the opposite side of the garden .   And they did well in their first year.  Here's mid-Summer look of that B-R-I-G-H-T foliage contrasting in the shade garden .   This Spring, I'm seeing some good news:  these are coming back (as expected) for their first Spring.  See below for a photo showing the trio of crowns emerging from the mulch on the southside bed: The Morton annual plant sale is coming up in the next few days and I'm thinking that even more of these should be near the top of my shopping list.  
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Getting To Know: Thuja plicata ‘Whipcord’ On Standard - Western Red Cedar - April 2026

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There I was, wandering the parking log aisles of the big box store seasonal nursery where I see the usual suspects:  lots of arborvitae.  Green Giant Thujas.  Some pine trees.  The normal stuff they have every year.   But, if you look hard-enough, you can also find some interesting, far-less-common things that arrive at the beginning of the season.   One of the 'I haven't seen that before' things was on a pallet in the evergreen section.  See it below: What is this thing?  It is a lollipop.  Or...'on standard'.  Something grafted on a trunk.  And, it looks like a mop-head of evergreen needles.  I grabbed the tag and it is labeled as "Thuja Arb Whipcord STD 7 gallon".   A search for [Whipcord Arborvitae] turns up a bunch of listings  Iseli Nursery has this listing page up for the Whipcord Western Red Cedar (on Standard) along with their POS sign.  If they're selling it, that tells me something....
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Garden Club Plugs Arrived - Now What? - April 2026

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Last month, I shared that I made my first (ever) order from Farmer Bailey (Garden Club Plants) for a few sets of plant plugs .   I ordered six sets of eight (8) plugs each - 48 total.  One set of six (6) of each of: Lisianthus Celeb 2 Metallic Blue , Phlox Cherry Caramel , Plectranthus Silver Shield , Gomphrena Audray White , Eucalyptus Silver Dollar and Didiscus Lacy Blue . When you order from Garden Club, you get to select your delivery date.  With this being my first time doing this, I likely made a mistake:  I ordered for delivery too soon. I don't recall (now) if some of the later (late April, early May) dates were already sold out or if I just selected mid-April because I thought that was appropriate, but either way...my plugs arrived in mid-April.  They came in these cute little green plastic 'greenhouses': All 48 plugs look good and had leaf'd out.  The only one of the set that I had grown before was eucalyptus, so I knew what *that* foli...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Potting up Dahlia Tubers - Starting Indoors - April 2026

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Just a few days, I posted a ' musings' post on starting my dahlia tubers and talked about the  when/how/what/where of starting the flower farming season here in the garden.  Last year, I potted up the stored tubers right at the beginning of May and this year, I talked about trying to get it done a little bit earlier.  Today marks a few days shy of two weeks earlier.  That's pretty good, right?   The 10-day forecast shows ZERO days below freezing, but I'm not holding out hope that the last freezing temperature is behind us.  The State Climatologist Office for Illinois has a last/first frost table up on their site that I tend to use more than the Old Farmer's Almanac version.   On the Illinois version, they have a map up showing the "earliest" last Frost date (for us, it was April 9th ).  And the latest (May 28th).  The map showing the median lists April 28th for DuPage County .  And, that's just ten days away.   So,...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' Spring Growth - April 2026

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The groundcover that caused me to 'fall' for groundcover was Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'.  Over the years, I've planted small plugs in various spots all around our garden.  But, the very first place I planted it is the island bed that lies between our driveway and our front stoop.  I've added additional plugs in that bed in subsequent years including last year when I split a six-pack between this bed and the front (sidewalk) island bed.  Some Winters are tougher than others on this groundcover, but it seems that this year we have some good news:  I'm seeing new, curly growth on the Ajuga in the driveway island bed.  below are a couple of photos showing the current state of this bed: And, the other three (of the six-pack I mentioned above) are planted down along the sidewalk in *that* island bed.  These went in the ground in mid-August and that appears to have done the trick in terms of giving them enough time to establish themselves before dormancy. ...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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