Why I Oughta...

This Winter, we've been adding our kitchen waste to the carbon storage (mostly leaves) compost bin out back and have been sort of hand-turning it in to the top layer.  I add some kitchen waste, then add a thin layer of leaves on top.  And repeat.  I also started to add a little bit of biosolids to that same storage bin, too.   As the weather warms up, I'll get out there and turn the bin, but for now, I'm just thinking about how to add some amendments that might help speed-up the leaf bin a little bit. To that end, I was at the SBUX in Westmont last week and saw the big bag of used grounds on the counter that they were offering.  I grabbed a bag and brought it home.  Below are some photos of this ' Grounds for Your Garden ' package: I dumped the bag of grounds on the top of the bin and stir'd it in.  Below is how the grounds look straight out of the bag. In that photo, you can see some of the ornamental grasses that I cleaned up and put in the top of the bin. 

Last year, we planted a pair of heart-leaf brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla) from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin and planted them in the understory garden of our backyard.  This is the little section that my middle child has been planting with various low and mid-height perennials.   These managed to avoid the rabbits last Fall and then went dormant.  They've sprung up this year - a bit behind the other cultivars like Jack of Diamonds  and Queen of Hearts - and have their small flowers putting on a little Spring show.   Here, below, are both of them showing up for their first Spring: This one below is interplanted with tulips:

The Wild Onion continues to be a problem.  The clumps of these bulbs are in our lawn and in our beds.  I've worked at them for years - including cultural and herbicide treatments over the years.  I've removed them, sprayed them and attempted to treat the soil to make them less happy.  This Spring, I've lime'd the backyard , sprayed the tips with Tenacity and pulled them out by hand.  This past week, I went into the understory garden bed and used my Hori Hori to pull up a bunch of these jerks.  Below is the orange trug filled up with the bulbs.  What's different in the beds vs the lawn is that it is a bit easier to get the bulbs out without taking more dirt/soil/earth.  I pry up the bulbs, cut the clump and pull from the bottom.   If you have Wild Onions like we do, be SURE TO NOT COMPOST THEM.  These go right in the trash - not the compost pile.   Here's a couple of other Spring 2023 posts on these awful things. 

Our hedge of Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees is waking up for Spring and has begun to leaf-out all over the trees.  The last time that I looked at these trees was earlier this (late) Winter, when all of the trees were still clinging to some of their previous-season's leaves (something called foliar marcescence).   The screening that comes from planting these Frans Fontaine Hornbeams along the property line is starting to come into focus this growing season as the small leaves are opening from their buds.  Below, is a photo showing the current (mid/late April) state in our yard in Northern Illinois (Zone 5b).  And, here below, is a look at the leaf from the Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam (Fastigata).  They are curled and ribbed with a hob-like flower/fruit on the trees It won't be long until they fill-in for the year - check this post to see what these trees look like mid-Summer (July 2022) where they're screening our neighbor's yard. These trees were planted

There comes a time in the Spring when the allure of the big box nursery becomes too strong.  Normally...I can rely on my 'plan' and walk away without buying things that don't have a home.  But, when I came face-to-face with this pallet of (what I'll call) unique evergreen trees (or...at the *very least*...these are unique for big box stores), I was smitten.  There were like five different conifers - each with some unique characteristic.  Upright, golden, columnar, weeping.  Just...*chef's kiss*. They were all priced the same, but the one that I was most drawn-to was this one below: A closer look at the tag reveals what it is (photo below):  Pinus sylvestris - Scotch Pine Columnar. "Columnar".  You have my attention. A little look around the Web reveals the true name for this tree:  Pinus sylvestris 'Fastigiata'.  Utah State has one in their arboretum .  They describe it like this:  "This Scotch Pine is a tall and narrow pine. Like other Scotc

Last year, I started to think about a climbing hydrangea in our garden.   I came across one in two of the places I turn to when I want to get educated:  Hinsdale Nursery and Erin the Impatient Gardener .  I was sketching out what I wanted to do with the firepit area and included (in my thinking) one that could climb up a Hackberry tree back there.   Last fall, I found one at The Growing Place - the tag read: Hydrangea anomala petiolaris .  I've had vines like these on my mind for a few years, but haven't pulled the trigger.  Until this Spring.  Nat's Mom - who has gifted us a bunch of plants including all of our Disneyland Roses - gifted us a climbing hydrangea.   I knew it would go back by the firepit.   #15 on 2023 to-do list was to 'upgrade the firepit area' - so this goes towards helping there.  Here are a few photos showing the vine below. When it arrived, it was just starting to come out of dormancy.   I planted it and it *immediately* took off and leaf'

Five and a half years.  That's how long the three posts have been installed in our backyard as a training device for the pair of Greenspire Linden trees that have been pruned in an horizontal cordon espalier.  This past weekend, I disconnected all of the wire and pulled the three posts down.  I put the posts in the ground in September of 2017 - look how NEW everything looks here .   Over the years, I've worked these trees to be a four-level espalier and it had matured (enough) to no-longer require the heavy-hand of a post and wire system.  See below for the pre-removal state:  And....below...are the trees with the posts and wires removed.  Feels VERY DIFFERENT over there (to me, at least) now. The top row of the cordon is thick and strong and vibrant.  Each layer down gets thinner, but the bottom layer has finally reached the fully-mature length.  I'll work to keep that bottom row horizontal with a bamboo pole.   #9 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'keep working the espalie

As a sort-of tip of my cap to the plantsman Roy Diblik, I've started to document some of my own self-guided education with new plants and trees that I've come across in a tiny series of posts all called " getting to know ".  The most recent one of these was Primrose a couple of weeks ago.  Before that, I've tried to learn about everything from Pineapple Lily to the Thai Giant to the Siberian Larch .   The latest entry in this series is a Ginkgo 1 tree that is new (to me).   I came across it in the place that I've found other, surprisingly unique species: at the Home Depot on Butterfield.  The nursery manager seems like they take the biggest risks with inventory of any of the Home Depots around us.  They have - on occasion - things you won't find at the other stores.   So, what was this unique species?  I'd describe it as odd.  It is also small.  And sitting on a pallet next to a couple of contorted Harry Lauder Walkingstick trees.  See below for th

Nothing like a deadline to get you to fill your containers, right?  We were hosting a little Easter party earlier this month and that meant that Nat wanted our front porch container full of something.  What's that something this time of year?  Normally...pansies.   Like these:  When I was at the orange big box store, I also saw something more interesting:  ranunculus.  In a spectrum of colors including orange, red, yellow and pink.   I was, naturally, drawn to the orange ones.  Here's how things ended up:  12 pansy plugs in purple (let's call it blue, ok??) and six five-dollar ranunculus interplanted.   Last Summer, I went with pink and green .  

One of the things that I've had on my last few annual 'to do lists' in the garden is to keep up with various seasonal tasks like feeding, treating, pruning, etc.  Basically....good garden and tree maintenance.  This year, it came in at #16 on the list and included items like feeding the roses ( which I did last week for the first time this season ) and dividing perennials, protecting everything from winter and rabbits and... treating trees.  For the past few years, I've had the fine folks at Davey do an annual deep-root feeding treatment of everything in the yard (in the fall) and I've complemented that application with one of my own on a few select trees.   Start back in 2020, I noticed that our Greenspire Lindens were being covered in Yellow Jackets and upon inspection, it appeared that the trees were inhabited by aphids - which in turn created honeydew - which was what the Yellow Jackets were after.  In order to get rid of the Yellow Jackets, I had to get rid

The best 'show' yet has taken place this past weekend on our Saucer Magnolia tree with pink and white blooms all over the tree that was planted in 2017.  It was REALLY SHOWY this year and it doesn't appear that we lost hardly any flower buds at all this Winter - which....was super mild cold-wise.   The tree - in the photo below - really put on some mass the past few growing seasons and now stands out in the front yard and even obscures some of the house from the sidewalk as you walk by in Spring.  This will leaf-out soon, but for a few days (from April 13 --> April 17), this thing was P E A K.  Also...that dark green lawn looks pretty great this time of year, too.  

Here comes planting season. The first of the new perennials has just gone in:  the three primrose that we bought at Wannemaker's early season sale .  These are Primula belarina 'Blue Champion' and I interplanted them with the Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I transplanted late last growing season (I moved them closer to the front of the border in order to allow space for other things in the middle of the bed that are taller .) and they have reemerged this Spring.   This area is more Sunny this time of year, but becomes more shade as the trees take on their seasonal leaves.   My hope is they'll be watered in (enough) to get established this year and as the Lungwort grows up, it will protect these Primrose a little bit.  

A few days ago, I posted a couple of photos showing off some new (to me) Spring Ephemerals that my neighbor dug up and shared over the fence:  Virginia Bluebells .  But, she also shared another small clump of other Spring Ephemeral native flowers:  Bloodroot.   Bloodroot - or Sanguinaria canadensis - is new to me, but has a pretty unique habit:  It emerges in Spring, opens up during the day and then curls up at night.  This post by the Wisconsin Extension details them .  They say : The flowers open up in sun but close at night or on very cloudy days (when their bee and fly pollinators are not active). The flowers are ephemeral, with the petals falling within a day or two of pollination. The phot at the top and the one below - are from early in the morning when these have NOT opened yet.  Both the petals of the flower AND the foliage curl up.  That's kinda neat, isn't it? I planted the two little flowers (and their rhizomes) next to the Virigina Bluebells - thinking that they

Another day, another post in the garden diary to note the spring foliage emergence.  This time...it is one of the Ligularia that are planted in our backyard - in a shady spot mixed in amongst hostas.  I don't seem to have posted about planting these, but I'm pretty sure that I planted three of them - from Roy Diblik's nursery in Wisconsin.  They seem to struggle, so I'm not sure if they'll be back or not and if they'll thrive.  At least one of them is going to give it a go this Spring - see below:  My experience with these is that they're pretty sensitive to water, so I'll try to stay on them.  And...maybe even give them another shot up front in the new bed. 

What's that you see?  It is a native, ephemeral named Virginia Bluebells.  Two clumps of them to be specific.  Where did they come from?  Our generous neighbor who has them in her garden.  I was talking with her over the fence - admiring them - and she said:  why don't you take some??  How nice, right?    I've posted about these a few times over the years - first...with a post in Fall 2021 from Erin the Impatient Gardener who talks about how great these natives are in her garden.  And then...I spotted them showing up 'under the fence' from our neighbor's garden last Spring .   Our neighbor has these growing just beyond the fence in a bed that includes a groundcover of Vinca and a bunch of natives - including these Bluebells.  This piece from U of Wisconsin Extension Office of Horticulture is a good overview including a note that these are increasingly 'rare' and that they don't transplant well.   I decided to plant them close to where they have bee

They say that roses are 'heavy eaters'.  That means that - if you have them in your garden - you should feed them every 30 days or so.  And that's what I've attempted to do over the past few growing seasons.  #16 on my 2023 to-do list is to continue with the seasonal projects - including feeding.   I'm trying to get to know these floribunda roses a bit more this season; starting with a hard prune a few weeks back .  I had a little bit of leftover Rose Food from last year, so I split the bag three-ways and sprinkled the granules at the base of the three roses on the side of the house.   If you look closely at the photo below, you can also see (in addition to the rose fertilizer granules) some signs of new, green(ish-red) growth from the canes of the floribunda rose. Here, below, is the brand (Vigoro) that I had on hand.   If the garden diary is any guide, it seems that I have seen a flush of blooms about 30 days after feeding.  With this being the first stage, I'

 You can't swing a dead cat and not hit someone on the Web saying :  "oh...no, no, no.  Don't worry....rabbits hate allium.  They won't eat them.  Go ahead...plant them." For those people:  I have news.  They eat allium.  Gnaw them right off the top.  Don't believe me?  Have a look below at some of our allium foliage that has emerged this Spring in our backyard.  Those tips weren't taken off with a tool.  Well...a tool that isn't a pair of rabbit teeth: I'm going to go on offense this Summer with the rabbits.  I've done the cages during Winter.   But, now is go-time to get them to find other places to visit.  

When I was just starting to garden, one of the first things that I was able to document in my garden diary was the annual emergence of peonies.  Nat's Mom planted them for us in our house.  And, those red tips were one of my earliest lessons in the garden.  I've documented the Peonies being 'back' almost every year. Here's the 'back' post from 2021 .   And 2023 is no different.  Below are a few photos of the early, red growth from these tuber-based flowers that are planted near our kitchen windows.   I moved most of our peonies HERE because it is just about the *most* sunny spot in our yard.  Besides next to the patio (hey!  That gives me an idea).   I'm not CERTAIN how many are here - at one point there were four including a white one .  These photos are from a week ago (April 6) and I see two so far:

Pink flowers are on their way via our front yard Saucer Magnolia tree (multi-trunk) and it appears that 2023 will be another year of pink blooms this Spring.  Many of the buds have broken and are showing curl'd-up pink flowers on their tips.  A couple of photos below show the current state of this tree in mid-April 2023 in Zone 5b - Northern Illinois.  This tree was planted in 2017 , so this make it the seventh growing season (six full, one partial) and it was planted as a six-or-so-foot tree in Summer 2017.  Here are the buds that have opened: I'm reading these blooms as an affect of what I'll call a 'normal winter'.  Either it didn't get TOO cold, or it didn't get TOO COLD, TOO LATE - to kill the flower buds. This appears to be on a similar schedule to last year - when it was in 'full bloom' in/around April 22nd .   The history of this Saucer Magnolia includes one year of no blooms - 2019.  Summer 2017 : Planted as a small, multi-trunk tree. Early