Why I Oughta...

I'm a postcard guy.  Sending postcards to people is something that I find joy in doing when we are traveling.  I send them to my Mom, Nat's Grampy, my friend Matt and others.  They're harder and harder to come by these days as people just don't send postcards like they used to - from travel destinations or ordinary places.   I've been thinking about creating my OWN postcards to send.  I try to send hand-written notes to people from time-to-time, but those are on my own personalized correspondence cards.  A post card, from a place, is different.  I've long wanted to send postcards from Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.  But, alas, they don't exist.  I've also thought about Downers Grove ones.  And, University of Illinois ones.   That lead me to Ebay.  Where, you can find vintage postcards from all of those places:  Twin Lakes, Downers Grove and the University of Illinois.   Fumbling around on Ebay recently, I came ...

The dahlias are going wild.  Warmer days and cooler nights right now.  Before...the inevitable frost that is on the horizon.  (Hopefully not too soon, though).   This week, I documented my 20-something arrangement of the season .  This post shows another one.   Including: Great Silence, Milena Fleur, Ivanetti, Blue Wish, Saint Martin, Crichton Honey, Wizard of Oz dahlias.  And, a single spray of Silver Dollar Eucalyptus peeking out the top.  Here it is on a couple of sides of the jar on our counter: Here, below, is how they looked as I cut them.  The lighting in the mornings makes the colors pop. Wizard of Oz (the pale pink one on the bottom right) changes a bit as the season goes on in terms of petal-holding.  Earlier in the Summer, every Wizard of Oz that I'd cut would drop petals almost immediately.  Now? They stay on much longer.  Wonder what is driving that behavior?  I really like Wizard of Oz, but if it is...

If you head to Menards these days, you'll see some Halloween stuff up (inflatables, their Spooky Village buildings and the other Halloween house decor), but you'll also see a big section of the Menards Enchanted Forest Christmas set-up out and ready to be shopped. Before I get into the post, let me credential-ize myself.   I've covered Menards Christmas setup (Enchanted Forest) and when it shows up over the years.  Via, what people call "Christmas Creep" - when a store sets up Christmas early.  Here is my post from 2025 when it was up in September . Here is early October 2015 , when the Menards Christmas Enchanted Forest (and blowmolds) were up. Here is September 2016 , when the Menards Christmas Enchanted Forest was up. Here is September 2017 , when the Menards Christmas Enchanted Forest was up. Here is October 1, 2019 , when the Menards Christmas Enchanted Forest was up. I've also p osted about the various Christmas Village buildings that Menards sells, incl...

One of the new (to me) dahlias that I grew this year was Great Silence Decorative Dahlia.  I grew them from tubers that I bought from Longfield Gardens.  After starting them indoors in nursery pots, I planted them out in two different spots :  IB2DWs (down closer to the sidewalk) and in the back of the Island Bed in the front yard.   Those locations seem to have determined the success of the plants.  With the Great Silence in the Island Bed doing much better, being more productive and all-around happier.  But, before I show the photos of the plants, let's look at the blooms.   Here, below, is a photo of a Great Silence Decorative Dahlia (on the left) next to my first dahlia love:  Milena Fleur (on the right).   They're similar.  But, different. Great Silence Decorative Dahlia on the left.  Milena Fleur Formal Decorative Dahlia on the right. Great Silence has a loose-r, less-focused center and more broadly-exposed pet...

#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...

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...