Why I Oughta...

Earlier this year, I ordered a bunch of plugs from Farmer Bailey/Garden Club and I've documented my (learning) journey with them along the way.  From ordering them to having them arrive too early (Self-inflicted) to potting-them-up to keeping them (some of them) alive to planting them in.   Part of my 2026 to-do list was to 'experiment with other cut flowers' and these plugs were a bit part of of my answer to that challenge.   Amongst the plugs were an eight-pack of Phlox Cherry Caramel .   These faired the worst of all of my selections with four of the eight making it to planting-time and the other four withered while they were in the small pots.  I planted the four in different spots:  two in the pizza oven bed, one in the front island bed and one IB2DWs down by the sidewalk. They're all on different growing schedules with some already growing larger than others.  One of them has even bloomed.  I'm posting this in early July, bu...

A reader posted a comment on my pos t from May about the troubles the Arctic Jade Korean Maple was having and how it wasn't leaf'ing out .  They asked, not about the Arctic Jade, but about my first Korean Maple:  The Northern Glow.   My journey with Korean Maples started back in Summer 2024 when I first posted  this "Getting to Know" post about the tree after seeing it at The Growing Place in Naperville.  I planted it in July 2024 in the Island Bed in the middle of the Summer.   That is tough on any plant, but I think harder on ornamental maples that naturally want to be in part sun/dappled shade/full shade.  I ended up erecting a shade-cloth structure to help get the tree through July and August without getting scorched that first Summer.  Here, below, is a photo from August 2024 showing the size of the tree and the shade cloth that I had set up: Here is a post from late August that shows the state of the Island Bed .  (It was t...

About a month ago, I posted about how I planted a small four-pack of Nicotiana Saratoga in the front of the sideyard cut flower bed.  They were plugs.  Tiny.  Look back here to see them barely visible in the photos .   The plugs went in the ground in mid-May.  Now, two months later, they're thick, full and loaded with blooms.  See below for an updated photo of these four small annuals: #10 on my 2026 to-do list was to 'keep going with annuals' . These are a big "garden win" for me in 2026. Something I should look to replicate in future seasons.  Instead of just four, I could have planted 16 of these in front of the dahlias all along this bed.   Here, below, is a before/after animation: Note to future Jake:  Plant these in more spots next year.  They are staying short and compact.  

This post is going up in early July, but I seem to have forgotten to post about this planting earlier this growing season.  I actually planted these in late May, so this is six weeks late.  Better late than never (for the Garden Diary), right? I planted up the front border of the Pizza Oven bed that was marked as one of my "Garden Edits" from a few seasons back and was the basis of my #3 Priority Project post earlier this year .  At that time, I called for twelve (12) Hakonechloa Macra grasses to fill the front border and filling in spaces in front of and behind the tree swing tree.   Over Memorial Day weekend, I bought ten one-gallon containers of the straight variety Macra grasses from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm.  And, I lined them up along the front edge from the one legacy grass stretching (almost) all the way to the front corner of the pizza oven. See below for a couple photos of the grasses spaced out in their nursery pots: Here, below, is ...

In a series of posts ( starting in January ) and then via an individual " priority projec t" post and my 2026 to-do list , I've talked myself into the idea of replacing my Oakleaf Hydrangeas in the garden.  It was, in fact, my #1 task on the list.  NUMBER ONE.   But, something changed.  I wrote about the 'surprise blooms' on these shrubs in Late June .   And, now I'm reconsidering.  I might have, well....been.... wrong. Why am I reconsidering?  Aside from those blooms.  I'm also seeing tons of foliage growth.  Even on some of the shrubs that I thought were dead from rabbits.  Here, below, is one of the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas that I thought was dead.  It is tucked in behind the peonies in the [Kitchen Curved] bed.   But, when I look closer, I see a few shoots coming out of the ground, too.  See below for two of them: This tells me that not only are the shrubs full of energy and growth.  But...also...th...

 Last month, I posted a couple of photos of doing some of the brick veneer on the pizza oven .  #5 on my 2026 to-do list is to 'finish up the oven' - which means finishing up the...well....finishes.  The exterior.  On the enclosure, that means brick veneer.   I started the veneer late last year before the temperatures dropped .  Didn't get far.  But, due to the temperature tolerances of the veneer mortar, I had to wait out the Spring .   With this being the first-time doing this type of work, I'm learning as I go.  I started on the back of the oven and moved around to the front.  Veneer isn't cheap, but there are higher-quality bricks and lower-quality ones.  My thought is that I could use the more-expensive veneer on the sides of the oven that people will see.  And, the cheaper stuff on the back.  Against the fence.   I ordered a bunch of boxes of the 'cheaper' veneer and over the past few weeks got to...