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Planting 5 Sicilian Honey Garlic Bulbs - Allium Siculum - October 2025

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#13 on my 2026 to-do list was to do something that I used to do regularly:  plant some Fall bulbs. Here's how I described it when I drafted my list : 13. Plant fall bulbs. For my first few gardening seasons, I was pretty good about planting fall bulbs. Alliums and tulips, mostly. But, I got away from it. Get back to it this Fall. And…Try a bulb lawn in front. Yes…a bulb lawn. Or, at least a patch of bulb lawn as an experiment. When I posted my mid-Summer check-in on my list , I marked this   Incomplete. Since then, I planted 95 crocus corms .  And 14 dwarf daffodil bulbs .  And six bulbs of (gifted) hardneck garlic .   One of the plants that I took note of this season and told myself (self...you should plant more of these) were the Sicilian Honey Garlic (alliums) that I have in a few places in the backyard.  It looks like I planted 15 of these bulbs in 2021 .  And, mostly forgot about them.  Here it is in bloom  in 2023.  I found a...
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20th and 21st Dahlia Arrangement (At Least) of 2026 -

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Below are photos of two arrangements that I made this week after snipping off some dahlia blooms from around the garden beds.  These two mark the 20th and 21st cut flower arrangement of the growing season (that I've documented 1 ).   These feature Ivanetti, Milena Fleur, Messenger To the Moon, Wizard of Oz, Blue Wish, that unknown orange ball one, a couple (Not) Rip City and....(of course) Saint Martin Waterlily dahlias: The one on the left is in a blue glass Ball mason jar.  On the right is in a thrifted vase. The first one of the season was all the way back in July .  (Not) Rip City, Blue Wish, Saint Martin, that bubblegum cactus/semi-cactus one.  The most recent one was from last week that featured Crichton Honey, Brown Sugar, Milena Fleur and...Saint Martin.   You can see the other 20 from this year here at my [ Dahlia arrangement ] tag.   Going "big" with dahlias in 2026 was one of my priorities .  Seems like 20+ arrangements h...
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Disneyland Roses - In Bloom - Early October 2026

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The Disneyland Roses (Floribunda roses) always take a back seat to the dahlias later in the growing season.  The roses come out of the gate strong, but they end of being sort-of forgotten starting in August and everything after.  But, that doesn't mean they don't stop producing blooms.  Here are a couple of photos showing what is probably the last flush of blooms on the thorny stems.   These blooms continue to be really enchanting.  Almost peony-like at times.  They look best when they're a little bit more OPEN like this one below: I fed these throughout the season with a 3-1 systemic granular.  The last time I fed them was in early September.   They'll go to sleep in the next few weeks.   Here, below, is another one that is just opening.  The colors in the Fall are bright.   And, here below, is one that is fully-open.  The yellow center is showing.  This will hold its petals for another week, then drop them...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Late Arriving Cafe Au Lait Dahlia - Still No Blooms - Early October 2026

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Two days ago, I described the Saint Martin Waterlily Dahlia plants as my most productive dahlias of the season .  Today, I'm showing an update on my LEAST productive dahlia:  Cafe au Lait.   I didn't intend to grow Cafe au Lait this year.  Some of the tubers that I ordered from Longfield Gardens weren't viable, so they send a pair of Cafe au Lait tubers as a replacement.   They arrived three weeks after every other dahlia tuber was started (and had produced new growth), so these started behind from the beginning. I planted two.  One in the Pizza Oven West bed.  And one in the sideyard.  The Pizza Oven West dahlia died.  Suddenly.  One of those things. The one in the sideyard started slow.  And, kept growing slowly.  All Summer.   I was knee-high in August.   Now, a the beginning of October, it still hasn't bloomed.  But, it has put on a bunch of foliage in the past few weeks.   Cafe...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Limelight Hydrangea Grown From Cutting - 4 Years Later - October 2026

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Four years ago - in September 2022, I did my first (ever) cutting of an existing Limelight Hydrangea and attempted to grow a new shrub in a nursery container. In mid-September 2022, I cut off a green tip, trimmed back the leaves and stuck it in some compost .   A couple weeks later, it grew some new leaves .   Back then, I was trying to grow a number of things from cuttings and seeds (like Oak trees) .  I would overwinter them by digging them into the ground and mulching them in.  Then, in Spring, I dug out the nursery pots and nurtured them along the season. A year later - in October 2023 - the Limelight cutting was growing upright.  It had two branches and was probably 12" tall .  It was also root-bound in the pint-sized nursery pot, so I up-potted it to a one-gallon nursery pot .   Two years in (October 2024), the cutting (now in that one-gallon nursery pot) flowered for the first time .  But, the plant was also probably not in e...
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Montana Sedges As Ground Cover in Shade - October 2026

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I added seven Montana Sedge plugs along the flagstone path in our backyard that connects the rear yard with the sideyard on the southside of our house.  There were already a handful of Montana Sedges there, so these seven were adding to the existing colony.  I posted a photo of them a month later (in August of 2026) and they all seemed to have handled their transplanting.   Now, 100 days later, in early October, they're doing their Montana Sedge thing:  Glossy green sprays of groundcover.  Here, below, are a couple of photos showing the old and new sedges.  The mature (larger) ones are from previous seasons, but the smaller ones are catching up quickly: You know what this makes me think? More along this very path.  But, also...just more in general?   The first place that comes to mind is the backyard stoops.  Under the Spring Grove Ginko trees.  Also, the island bed.  And, along the boardwalk.  
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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Another (Loose) Mixed Dahlia Arrangement - October 2026

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I planted a pair of Saint Martin Waterlily dahlia tubers this season and they've been (BY FAR) the most prolific dahlia that I've ever grown.  They have thrown off blooms since (at least) July and are still loaded with blooms on the tips of thin, but fairly strong stems.  But, those stems are different than most of the rest of my dahlias.  Most dahlia stems (in my experience) are hallow.  Like straws.  But, Saint Martin stems are far more thin.  And, if they're straw-like, the straw is super small.   These also have smaller and different texture leaves on the flower stems than most of  my other dahlias.  We've had some rain this week, so that means when the dahlia plants are full of blooms (and buds), they tend to get weighed down.  Saint Martin is almost folding in half in parts.   That lead me to cut a bunch of them while they're opened.  I also grabbed some Crichton Honey, Brown Sugar, a lone Blue Wish dahlia blo...
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Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA
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