Why I Oughta...

We have a single, lone white Begonia that is in an outdoor container on our front porch.  I'm actually not sure where it came from, but we've had it for a couple of years.  Yes, years.  This one has been overwintered indoors in our dining room and cared-for by Natalie along with her other house plants.   I usually take photos of plants that I buy (along with the container and/or plant label), but a quick search through Google Photos for [white begonia] turns up nothing.  So, I have no intel on what this might be. But, that doesn't mean it isn't a lovely flower.  Especially right now.  In late October.  It is full of delicate, white ruffled blooms with yellow centers.  Here, below, are a couple of photos.  First one shows the full plant.  Second one is a close-up of the bloom: I'll bring this inside this week and begin to transition it towards living indoors.  First, with a stop in the screened porch, then into the dining r...

A few years back, after researching Japanese Maples , I ended up buying my first Emperor 1 Japanese Maple.  Emperor 1 is similar to Bloodgood Japanese Maple in looks (dark leaf), but it seems it might be a bit more cold tolerant, so it works well in our Zone 6a/5b border garden. I bought the Emperor 1 and planted it back by the firepit .  That was 2021.  2024 was one of those 17-year cicada years here in the suburbs of Chicago.  That means that we were SWARMED by them.  I did the best I could to try to protect some things with tulle, but they're aggressive and ended up killing off that Emperor 1 .  It was pretty good sized at the time.  Before it was lost, I came across a second one.  Smaller.  From a Big Box nursery.  In May of 2023, I planted it in the front edge of the [kitchen curved] bed in our backyard .  It was a bit taller than knee-high, but not quite up to my waist. By August that first year (August 2023), the tree had put...

A couple of days ago, I posted some photos of the first few Sweet Nathalie dahlia blooms that have (finally) opened up on my lone (single) Sweet Nathalie decorative dahlia plant.  I talked about how it was *very* late arriving, but I wasn't quite sure why it was so far behind.  Not enough light?  Perhaps.  It is tucked in amongst some grasses and hydrangeas and didn't get the best access to the full, open sky. But, I also have another late-arriving dahlia.  And, this one is even FURTHER behind Sweet Nathalie.  And, it doesn't suffer from the same light conditions.  Rather, this one is situated in a good spot.  Just a few feet from other, well-grown dahlias (aside from the spider mite damage...).  But, it has a different issue:  a late start.   That dahlia is the one that started the whole dahlia craze (at least, I think it did?):  Cafe au Lait.   I wrote a post in late May about how a couple of my tubers weren't...

Frost is how the gardening season ends.  It brings with it death.  And dormancy.  Another season in the books.  In some ways, it also brings relief.  Things slow down.  Stop growing.  And, I can shift into a 'closing up' mindset.   But, I can't do that until we get a frost.  The furthest that the forecast looks out on Weather dot com is between now and Thursday, November 5th. That's two weeks out.  And, here, below is what it looks like: What is notable?   The lows.   Look at them.  The lowest LOW listed between now and November 5th is 43 degrees.  That's 11 degrees ABOVE freezing.   Now, I recognize that weather forecasts aren't set in stone, but let's (for now) operate under the assumption that this is close to accurate.  We won't see a frost for at least two weeks. Note:  Parts of Northern Illinois had some frost earlier in October.  Here's a Tweet from the National Weather S...

When you walk into the Home Depot and are hit in the face by the strong smell of cinnamon-scented pinecones, you know it is Amaryllis bulb season.  Home Depot usually carries a few kinds of Christmas flowers (Amaryllis) and bulbs:  Waxed bulbs (That grow on their own), kits (a bulb and a little pot and some planting medium) and individual bulbs.  I've shied away from the kits (due to performance over the years) and have mostly bought all of our Amaryllis bulbs from Wannemakers.  But, the bulbs this year at Home Depot were worth a look. I've posted about the Amaryllis bulbs at Home Depot before.  Here is the post from 2025 when they carried nine (9) types of Amaryllis bulbs and some Paperwhites.  Notably...the Amaryllis bulbs in 2025 were $9.98 each.  I bought three Blossom Peacock bulbs and put them together in a cache pot .   This year?  The one Home Depot we went to recently is carrying just five (5) types of Amaryllis.  And, the...

Five years ago this month, I planted a very small caliper (with a trunk 'injury') Ginkgo tree in our backyard along the southside about half-way back.  The tree went in the ground in October 2021 .  The trunk was basically cracked wide-open ( look at the photos in this post ), but I wrapped it up, supported it with a bamboo pole and hoped for the best.   In the five years since (growing seasons: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and now 2026), the tree has survived.  And, put on some growth.  When it went in the ground, it was about waist-high.  Here, below, is what it looks like in the garden today: That's a little hard to read in terms of where the tree starts/stops.  So, here, below, is an annotated version showing the tip of the tree: I took out the tape measure and the apical meristem (leader) now reaches 96".  So, this is an eight-foot-tall Ginkgo tree.  And, the trunk has thickened-up and is no longer pencil-thin.  I've NOT pruned this ...