Garden Edits - Drawn to mass planting - 2024 To-Do - April 2024

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2024 is shaping up to the year of garden edits.  A lot less additions in our backyard garden, but some edits to shift towards things meet some criteria:  

1.  Work in our yard.
2.  Are appealing (to me).
3.  Have some four-season appeal.

That means that changing out things that don't meet those critieria (hostas) and replace them with things that do - both plants that I have on-hand and ones that I need to bring home.

My time in this garden is too short to spend time or effort on plants that I don't love. 

The edits that I'm thinking about right now focus on mass plantings and repetition.   There's a garden in our neighborhood that I walk past and admire often.  It has a large property with simple, repetitive-planted beds that have hostas, groundcover and a couple of other perennials.  There's A LOT of beds, but they MOSTLY ALL planted in the same pattern - groundcover in front, hostas behind and a third perennial in the rear.  It is simple.  And repetitive.  And looks really nice.  

I've been planting colonies or drifts or clusters of plants in my yard over the years, but I've mostly kept those drifts to threes (or so) of the plants.  I'm interested in making edits to have singular plants in greater numbers in a couple of spots - and have that repetition created.

There are four places that I'm focused on 2024 garden edits:

1.  Tree swing tree.  Currently, it is planted in a hodge-podge.  Allium in front, Seslaria behind, Hostas and grasses in different places.    Below is what it looked like when I started to carve out the edge of the bed.  What do I want here?  Move the Summer Beauty Allium to the second row and front the whole thing with a bunch of Hakonechloa Macra (green ones) Japanese Forest Grasses.  With the Pizza Oven build cutting the bed to the right of these, I'd relocate the All Gold Grasses.   Lastly, a large stand of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses would help hide the decaying tulip foliage.   Hackonechloa Macra Grasses + Summer Beauty Allium + Karl Foerster Grasses.  All three work well for us.


2.  Kitchen Curved Bed.   This is a tale of two halves.  Part of it has Ajuga Chocolate Chip in front, Fanal Astilbe behind.  Tuck in a little Carex Bromoides and we have a nice package.  The other part...blank.  Both Ajuga and Astilbes are divide-able and with a few little moves, I could extend this across the rest of the curve.    Ajuga + Astilbe + Carex Bromoides.  All work well for us. 

Fanal Astilbes and Ajuga Groundcover

3.  IB2DWs - With Conifers.  I keep coming back to this photo below that shows a mass of Blue Fescue grasses.  I divided the grasses that I have, but could add even more.  And some Angelina Sedum.  Blue Fescue + Angelina Sedum + Karl Foerster Grasses + conifers.  

Mass Planting Blue Fescue Grasses

4.  Hosta Replacement Project (southside).  In front of the stumpery, along the south bed border is where I'd like to move all seven All Gold Hakonechloa grasses to the front of the border.    There are already three over there (all divisions that aren't doing awesome in their first Spring) - see below.  There are seven located near the pizza oven site that - when moved - would make a colony of ten.  Autumn Ferns as backing.  Hakonechloa Macra All Grass + Autumn Ferns.


What is becoming clear is that I have a few plants that I'm drawn to:

  • Japanese Forest Grasses
  • Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses
  • Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'
  • Fanal Astible
  • Summer Beauty (and Serendipity) Ornamental Allium
  • Blue Fescue Ornamental Grasses
  • Angelina Sedum
  • Carex (Montana and Bromoides)
  • Autumn Ferns
What am I done with/over?
  • Heucheras/coral bells
  • Hostas
  • Ostrich Ferns

What other edits do I need to make?  At least one tree.  Maybe more.  A re-examination of the Japanese Maples is certainly in store - including the Emperor 1s. 


Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

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