There doesn't seem to be a bigger booster of Sedges in the gardening world than Roy Diblik from Northwind Perennial Farm. He's actually where I've 'gotten to know' anything about sedges. From his YouTube videos. He posted a short video where he named his '3 favorite Carex' (embeded below), where he detailed what he likes about all three - bromoides, muehlenbergii & muskingumensis.
Well...that means I have to try ALL of them, right? I'm starting with one of them:
. Below is the sign from Roy's nursery.
The description on the sign reads: Too nice, a good looking soft foliage grass-like plant that adds contrast to all types of shade plantings. What's not to like?
He talks about combining these sedges into a pattern. Run a group of Bromoides with islands of 'Little Midge'. And fields of Pensylvanica with islands of Carex muskingumensis.
I decided to start out with four small Bromoides. Here, below is one of them - this is the same photo from the top of the post.
One of the big differences between the Pennsylvanica and Bromoides is dry vs moist soil. I'm trying them in different spots and going to see how they react. I decided to use these Carex Bromoides in a little nook in front of the Fanal Astilbes in the south beds in the backyard. I'll keep the watered and see how they do. See below for the drift of four Carex Bromoides.
Is this 'enough' for the year? I don't think so. Six plantings of ground cover for the year. I'd say I would get an 'incomplete' as of now. 10 more sedges? Then we're talking.
But, where do they need to go? A few places:
1. Out front under the Norway Maple.
2. Around the Firepit area.
3. In the way back where nothing is growing.
4. Under the Frans Fontaine Hornbeams.
That last one feels like a good excuse to buy 10 more. So does the firepit area.
First the Hornbeams. It is low-lying, so more 'wet' than dry. A mix of Bromoides with some 'Little Midge' mixed in feels right.
Firepit is more dry. That's Pennsylvanica and Muskingumensis. Ten or so 'plugs' would go a long way back there, too.
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe. The Tribune reporter called it "prized". We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd. I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs. And they were dirt cheap. The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces. We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage
Late February and Early March is usually the time when I start to get a little garden-stir-crazy and begin to get back out to examine the winter damage and build up my hopes for the coming growing season. It is when the tree and shrub buds begin to swell and we can start to see what is going to pop. It is also a sloppy, wet and muddy time of year. Or, a frozen-solid, snow-covered time of year. This past week, it was a mix of both. We had some warming temperatures with snow melting and some rains which made the ground soggy and saturated. They say you're supposed to stay out of your garden beds during the wet season of Spring to keep the ground from compacting too much, so I've mostly tooled around the lawn this week. It is a good time to document in the [tree diary] and [garden diary] the state of some of the buds that are beef'ing up and getting ready to put on a show. I'll start where I have typically started before: with our Saucer Magnolia. Below, you can
(that title is - as they say - tongue in cheek.) Nat and I stopped by a Lowe's this weekend to look for a new fridge for the basement and we came across a HUGE Christmas section. They had more inflatables than Menards by a large measure. And look at what I found? A pretty good selection of what looks like Lemax Christmas Village buildings. But they're not Lemax? They're something called "Carole Towne Collection". But turning the box over unveils some details. They are indeed Lemax Village buildings. Just sold by Lowes. What does this mean for Mantleburg? Not sure just yet.
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