Why I Oughta...

Walking out the backdoor, I found a bunch of these fan-shaped Ginkgo leaves laying on the stoop.  They're from the pair of Spring Grove Ginkgo trees (dwarf, Witches broom trees) that sit on either side of our back stoop and flank the entrance.  I originally had a pair of Rhododendrons in these spots - planted in 2018 .  But, moved them out in 2023 doing a 'garden edit '.   I caught this post on Instagram from Erin - the Impatient Gardener - where she posted some photos of her own dwarf Ginkgo - a Gnome Ginkgo - and included some info that...I sort of 'observed', but didn't know what was going on with Ginkgos. Her post, embedded below, includes this line :  "Ginkgo trees develop these scars on all their leaves simultaneously, causing them to drop all at once when triggered by a hard frost." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) "Blink and you'll miss it&quo

In 2021, I planted two 1# small Hicks (upright) yews in the backyard - sort of near the understory garden on the north side.  I planted them somewhat close together with eyes on (eventually) shaping them up into a 'Block I' Illinois topiary .  Earlier that year, I posted about this University of Auburn topiary frame and dreamed of a 'Block I' .  The two Hicks yews were probably 12" tall in Fall of 2021 .  They've now had three (2022, 2023 and 2024) growing seasons and have put on some size.   Here are the two Hicks Yews - below - after those three growing seasons.  They've grown up (a little bit) are are still mostly columnar. It isn't easy to determine their height, so here below, is a shovel stuck in the ground to provide a height comparison.   I CLEARLY still have time to create the 'Block I' frame out of Chicken Wire, so I'm not concerned about that.  I am, however, concerned about the 'fullness' of these.  Are they going to get

Just when everything was going dormant, dropping their foliage and going to bed for the season, I'm seeing a couple of anomalies.  First, was that Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea bloom last week .  Everything else is in decline...but one stem and small pink bloom.  Today, I'm posting a photo of something else:  the Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea in our backyard.  This is planted in the 'kitchen curved' bed on the southside, right near the Butterscotch Amsonia.   This is one of two of these shrubs that have a Japanese-garden-inspired look to their fern-like foliage.  The other one is in the front porch bed.  These never did SUPER great this year after being planted in November of 2023 .    I noticed that these had set some buds this Fall and assumed they went dormant.   But...we haven't had a hard frost...yet.  Normally it arrives in/around mid-October.  But, this year...everything is winding down very slowly. The Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea, however...had a different idea

In October of 2022, I planted a Brown's Yew back by the firepit, in the deep shade of our rear yard .   I bought it at an end-of-the-season sale because it was over-sized for the nursery pot and price.  I've mostly forgotten about it, have failed to deliberately water it and it has hung on through two full growing seasons.   Below is a look at this multi-stemmed evergreen shrub (Brown's Yew) as it stands in our garden in mid-November 2024: Like the Hicks Yews from yesterday, this one has put on some growth over the years - slowly.  Something to think about for 2025 planning - is it time to prune this/shape this a little bit? 

In the Fall of 2021, I made a big decision (or...what seemed like a BIG decision at the time) in our garden.  I opted to dig up some of our Oakleaf Hydrangeas and move them *out* from the fence .  They were planted to allow for their mature size, but tucked in closer to the fence.  After reading and observing our garden - and others online - I decided to invest in putting evergreen shrubs *behind* deciduous, flowering shrubs.  Here's the post from October 2021 where I talk about 'layering' and how most designs call for evergreens *in front of* shrubs like hydrangeas .  That's how it looks in our front yard.  But....this idea turns that concept on its ear - by putting the evergreens BEHIND the shrubs that lose their leaves in Winter.  To do that, I needed to move out the Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  And plant some evergreens.  I opted for Hicks Yews - since this is a pretty much full-shade area.  I planted a five-dollar, one-gallon Hicks Yew in October 2021 .   Today, after thre

In October, I turned my compost over.   That meant pulling out the 'black gold' in the tumbler (that's where I finish the compost each year) and then re-filling the tumbler with more-finished (than the rest) of the compost from the right bin.  Then using a compost fork to pull out and move the stuff from the 'middle bin' to the 'right bin' - where it was properly mixed.  And finally...taking the storage bin - the 'left bin' which is mostly leaves and kitchen scraps and mixing it in the middle bin.  That left the 'storage bin' on the left empty. For like 10 days.   Here's what it looks like today - below.  The left bin (with the 'feed me' sign) is filling up with leaves that have come off our lawn and out of our gardens: There is A LOT of air in this bin, so these leaves will compact/compress to about 1/2 of the bin height.  I'm going to give it a pause for a week-or-so, then come back and fill it back up with even more leaves

The trees and shrubs have been fed for the year.  Dormant fed. This is now year five of having the tree care folks from Davey apply a soil-injected deep-root liquid fertilizer (they call it ArborGreenPro) to all of our trees and shrubs on the property.  Here is the post from last year (2023), when they applied the fertilizer in December .  That was later than most years, as the first couple of guys who arrived didn't have long-enough hoses to reach our far backyard.   Here's the 2022 post from November 9th .  I posted on November 17th in 2021 .  And I posted in late October in 2020 - the first year of treatments .   The dude from Davey uses a long probe, attached to a hose to inject the fertilizer in/around every tree and shrub.  For the larger trees, they inject in a number of sites that line-up to the reach of the canopy of the tree. Does this stuff work?  I don't really know.  Do you???

This is the third in a series of [garden diary] posts showing off some mid-November 2024 blooms.  One of them (the Disneyland Rose) is expected .  It has bloomed this late each of the past few years.  The Dahlias are a nice surprise.  Since I haven't grown them (in the ground) before, this set of late-blooms on the dahlias is a learning lesson for me .   But....this third one....this is the strange one.   See below for one of our Vanilla Strawberry Panicle Hydrangea that sits in front of our front porch that is FULL of brown, past-their-prime blooms.  And...one, random, out-of-season, small pink bloom.   The shrub is a mix of contrasts:  seemingly over with blooming and showing those dead flower heads while dropping leaves.  Along with this one, shooting-tall limb that has a green top and this pink flower. What does this mean for these shrubs?  Healthy?  Just out of sync?  A weird seasonal anomaly?  Who knows.  

Yesterday, I posted a photo of our Disneyland Roses showing off their last round of bloom s for the year and talked about how nice it is to have some of these colorful flowers this late in the season.  I suppose...it sort-of makes up for the fact that Spring seems to last FOREVER around here and the flowers don't begin to pop-off until August.  2024 has been the season of the dahlia in our garden and it seems that I 've called for 'a lid' on the dahlia season for weeks now .  The plants have been producing fewer blooms each week - starting in October and I assumed they were drawing to a close.   I wanted to extend the season as best I could, so in mid-October, when we were facing a hard frost on a couple of nights, I protected the dahlias with some frost covers .  It appeared to work - and they kept on blooming.   But, starting in November (when the weather turned cooler), I stopped watering the dahlias and began to think about my plan for trying to save the tubers.  In

In terms of flowers, I'd like to say that this growing season has been a fantastic, rewarding one.  But...if I'm honest....I've seen a lot of new things with the dahlias.  But....This season has *really* been a mixed bag when I include our Disneyland Roses.   I had six Disneyland Roses at the end of 2023.  This year, I had just three - as the three bareroot ones that I planted in front didn't come back .  And the three that I DID have did NOT do well .  Between pests (sawfly larvae), fungus (rust) and drought, these things barely hung on in 2024.   The watering problem is something I attempted to fix later this season - as these kept dropping their leaves.  Starting in late August/Early September, when I was focused on the dahlias, I watered these three in every morning and they seemed to rebound just a little bit.  They still look sparse.   But....the good news - I'm seeing a couple of November blooms.  See below for one of them: I might have five-or-six blooms on

In Fall 2021, I planted two small (2 gallon nursery container) Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs in a pair of locations that were part of our overall, master garden plan.  The plan calls for these Arrowwood Viburnum in a number of locations, but I've only planted two.  (Note for next year, I suppose...) That means they've had three full growing seasons (2022, 2023 and now 2024) to grow up and out.  These are at the very back of the border, so while I'd like to say that I've cared for them...that's just not true:  these have mostly been neglected.  After the first few Winters - where rabbits were eating these, I've watered them (on occasion) and mostly forgot about them.   Despite that, they've grown up and out.  In Fall 2021, they were about 12" tall from the ground/mulch.  Today, they're both over the top of the lower fence (4' tall fence).  Below is a look at the pair of Arrowwood Viburnum - which....are still....surprisingly...green i

Martha Stewart hit me right between the eyes this morning with this quote about happiness.  She says that you can be happy for a year - if you get married.  And you can be happy for a decade - if you get a dog.  But...if you wanna be happy for the rest of your life - plant a garden.  See below. I'm adding this to the handful of pieces of garden advice/garden musings/garden quotes that I've collected here on my blog - including: It is better to plant a fifty-cent tree in a five dollar hole than a five dollar tree in a fifty-cent hole , Conifers should come first , never buy just one of anything , Audrey Hepburn's line/quote - "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow" and... the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best? Today .  Martha's take on happiness fits right in there with these. I first came across this on TikTok in a promo for her Netflix documentary, but....on  Instagram  is where I found this (nicely laid-out four-panel) Marth

Last month, I posted a couple of photos and details of our new Skylands Spruce tree ( ) in our front yard island bed .  This is a tree that I've looked at for years and finally found one (a small one) that I put in our garden.   I've noted tree buds forming (and setting) on various trees in the Fall/Winter over the years, but the past few years, I've begun to observe conifers a little more closely.   Here's one that is in the middle - the Dawn Redwood - which is a deciduous conifer tree - a conifer that drops its needles.    This post looks at the buds of the Dawn Redwood .   This past August, I posted a photo of the 'buds' being set on the Weeping Norway Spruces that I planted last Fall IB2DWs and how I observed them last season turn into new sets of needles.   I'm learning more and more about the health of conifers and the types of signals they send throughout the growing season - and during dormancy.  This post from the Colorado State Forest Service ans

Planted in Spring of 2021 , our Weeping Nootka Falsecypress tree is now closing out its fourth full growing season in our backyard.  This was one of the larger 'nursery pot' trees that we've put in, so judging the growth and maturation isn't as easy as it is on some other smaller trees. Has this grown?  Certainly.  Is it 'plain to the eye'?  That's a little harder to confirm.   The answer is 'yes'.  And when I go back and look at the planting post here and then flip back to this photo, I can see it.  This has not only grown taller.  The limbs have lengthened and the whole thing has put on...well...girth.   Below is a photo showing the current size and shape of this conifer tree.  I still love this tree as much as I did when we planted it.  But, this post isn't just about documenting the size and growth of the tree.  It is also to document what is happening on the 'tips' of the falsecypress tree branches:  buds being set.  See below for a

The Fall Colors series of posts continues today with a look at the Dawn Redwood tree in our backyard. Yesterday, I posted a look at the red foliage on some of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas in our backyard and talked about how I don't have a ton of 'red' Fall colors .    Earlier, I posted a look at the contrast between the small Saragoga Ginkgo tree and Little Henry Sweetspire by our front stairs .   And before that, I posted a photo of the Butterscotch Amsonia in our 'kitchen curved' bed that was as bright as it has EVER been in the Fall.  This post shows (at the top) a photo of the orange needles on our Dawn Redwood tree.  This tree went in the ground in 2018 as a three-to-four-foot-tall container-grown tree .  It has grown up and sprawled out.  I'd call this a more 'informal' shape right now.  The leader is leaning over and not shooting up very fast.   This tree has given this small little orange 'show' each Fall - and I've tried to document it o

Recently, I posted a photo of the Butterscotch Amsonia that I described as 'electric' in its Fall colors and talked about how we have some oranges and yellows, but very few reds in our "Fall Show".  Besides the Acer Palmatums, the few red-colored foliage plants we have include some Oakleaf Hydrangea.  See below for a look at a couple of them turning red.  These are Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangea that went in the ground in 2022 .    There's also an Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea back there, too.  I lost one of those closer to the house this past Winter that I need to replace, so I might look into transplanting this one back up in the 'kitchen curved' bed.  

One of my kids has started to fly a small, consumer-grade drone around our yard and garden.  They're just getting the hang of the thing - and starting to take a few risks by flying it higher and further away from where they're standing.  And...it has been going well.  We're getting some interesting photos of our garden and yard and even some from our our neighborhood.  They were out flying the drone recently and started to snap a few photos in our front yard.  Everything was going (and looking) good - here's some photos from the drone flight out the front of our house: And then.....this happened: That's static.  The drone got stuck in a large tree in our front yard.  About thirty feet up in the air.  Oh, no.   Once I figured out where it was located, I grabbed a few footballs to try to knock it down.  After about 25 minutes and dozens of tosses (and some stuck footballs), I was able to get the drone down.  And...all the footballs. But...we had one incident:  one of

Last week, I talked about being a "Fall Gardener" and shared a photo of the Butterscotch Amsonia that was/is popping off in our backyard right now.  The front yard has a different early November - Fall Show - star:  this combination of Saratoga Ginkgo and Little Henry Sweetspire.  You can see them contrasting each other below - with the Little Henry popping off in Fall red and the Saratoga Ginkgo's strap-y leaves turning a bright yellow.  The Saratoga Ginkgo is sort-of 'tucked in' amongst the Little Henry, but it is starting to put on some height (finally) after being planted in May of 2022 .  This is the 3rd full growing season for this tree and it (now) requires to be formally staked - something I should do this Winter.   I posted a similar photo exactly one-year-ago showing this combo .  The leader growth on the Saratoga Ginkgo is noticeable when you look back.  The Little Henry Sweetspire is FAR MORE red this year, too.   In front of the Little Henry are the t

I've found myself drawn to a creator on TikTok named "Artful Roger" who combines his love of gardening with his other interests (like building miniature things, vintage Christmas and interior design).  I'm much more likely to 'swipe' up/past the miniatures/interior/tablescape design videos, but I never skip one of his garden TikToks.  And...as I've shown...I'm a sucker for Vintage Christmas.   In a series of videos, he posted about how he created what he calls a "Micropond" in his backyard.  Here's one of the videos showing the completed project - linked here - and embedded below: @endtable Here are the pond details. #micropond #gardenpond #waterfeature #gardenwaterfeature #artfulrodger #gardeningbasics ♬ Happy - Calming Tune The photo at the top of this post is a screenshot from that very TikTok.  There's a lot to like about this.  Boulders that he found on-site.  The use of mixed materials like the driftwood.  Pea grave

With the growing season winding down, I'm turning my attention to a couple of things:  chronicling the lessons learned from this past season AND thinking about what I could do NEXT season.  This post is to put down a marker for next year - with something I've come across via YouTube:  Edging.   I've posted some photos/inspiration of edging over the years including this metal edging from Luxembourg Gardens in Paris , this metal vs. brick edging view in 2019  and this boulder edge at a nursery .   Moxie Gardens is a YouTube Channel of a gardener/landscaper who lives in Kansas (I think) and has built a personality-heavy backyard garden with LOTS of unique touches.  One of them is his use of various types of edging.  Here's a video - and screenshot below - that shows how he used 4x6 posts cut-up to different heights to create a curved edging around his patio.  Here's the 275 second mark with this view: Screenshot v ia Moxie Gardens video And, here's another look

I've long proclaimed myself to be a foliage gardener.  That's partially because I'm a shade gardener and partially because flowering plants have always been a little bit outside of my comfort zone.  But, I'm starting to think that I'm also *another* kind of gardener:  a Fall Gardener.  Or at least a late Summer + Fall Gardener.   The September and October Dahlia blooms this year have taught me to love that part of the growing season.  And now....as things are going dormant in our yard and garden, I'm struck by some things that are happening in Fall.   What are those things?  Here's one - below.  The EYE-SEARING gold that is coming from our Butterscotch Amsonias in our backyard that are contrasted by the dark green foliage of some Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  This color is borderline shocking.  It is a little hard to see, but if you look closely, there are a couple of other things worth noting in this photo.  First....the small Emperor 1 Japanese Maple (Acer Pa