Why I Oughta...

Back in 2023, I planted a pair of John Creech Sedums as groundcover in the small, corner bed by our front walk .  I found them at the end-of-the-season sale at TGP and threw them in without thinking too much about them.   Today, both of those originals are doing well and providing that 'living mulch' layer in a really great way.   So, when I saw this same Sedum at the low price of $2 per small container, I grabbed a pair of them and figured I'd find a home for the groundcover.   The sellers of this plant bill these as 'trail blazers' - and something that can handle a little foot traffic. I'm not so sure about that, but that's what the label (see below) claims: With the new, large pizza oven bed in the back being MOSTLY bare, I decided to put these in along the thin border that abuts the timber retaining wall.  See below for the planting of two sedums: This area gets mid-day sun, so I'll keep an eye on it.  What I'd love to see is to have this...

With the month coming to an end, there are a number of things that happened this month that I didn't get around to posting about in my garden diary.  Here, below are a series of photos showing some of the things that are moving, growing, blooming and....showing-off in our garden. The dahlias that I planted earlier this month - and pinched back - are showing some good growth.  Below is one of the Pooh dahlias that is showing top-growth at the pinch-site: I applied a coat of Neem Oil to the Disneyland Roses.  Combination fungicide + pest control: These weird Allium are in bloom. It is called Sicilian Honey Garlic Allium. This Island Breeze hosta is doing just fine in the shade garden.  Planted in 2023 and mostly forgotten about.  It deserves a better, more-high-profile spot in the garden.  I should transplant it this Fall.   So, too, are the Forbidden Fruit Hostas that I planted in the Fall of 2022 .  They're stars, but buried under more comm...

Having done a similar post last year and in 2022, I thought it was a good time to revisit the "State of the Original IB2DWs bed".  That's the original bed in between two driveways.  Here is the post and photos from 2022 .  And, here is the post and photos from last year .  Looking back at 2022 - three years ago - a lot has changed.  Everything was immature, but 'bones' were there.  The All Gold Hakonechloa grasses, the Karl Foerster Grasses in back and a couple of Serendipity Alliums.  All were present. But by 2024, they were joined by other things . Including the (gasp!) Creeping Jenny Groundcover. And other perennials including Cat's Pajamas Nepeta, some Elijah Blue Fescue clumps, a red sedums, a couple of Agastache Blue Fortune , a Prairie Dropseed, some Peonies, a couple of conifers, some boxwoods, a Cardoon and a couple of trees. The Cardoon ran for two years and hasn't come back. But, I've also added a few things.  Including a trio of L...

I saw this sign at Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm on the benches for a Lavender that is named Lavandula x Intermedia 'Phenomenal'.  Or...Phenomenal Lavender.  The description says:  "This is what all of us have been waiting for.  This lavendar will live through our heat and humidity, our cold winters.  It can grow everywhere."  Sounded like it was worth a shot, right?  Lavender is hard-to-grow and (from what I've read) likes to grow in hard-to-grow conditions.  Full Sun.  Low organic material.  Good drainage.   I have just the place.  My 'hard to grow' area down by the sidewalk.  It gets full sun and has some gravel in the soil.  And, is right next to the sidewalk, so it gets hot.   I bought a quart that had a small Lavender plant in it and got busy planting it down IB2DWs, down by the sidewalk:

More bedding annuals.  This time, in the front of the Island Bed in our front yard.  Which...is no longer an island bed as it touches the sidewalk and driveway on two sides.  I have been planning on filling it up with some Seslaria and/or some other perennials.  But, those plans haven't come together.  So, I figured I should fill it with some annuals.  Get a little bit of pop of color up there. For part of the front of the bed, I saw these Supertunias in dark purple.  Called "Royal Velvet": Proven Winners says : "Supertunia petunias are vigorous with slightly mounded habits that function as both fillers and spillers in containers. They are also excellent landscape plants, best suited to be placed near the front of beds. They have medium to large sized flowers." That's exactly where I am putting them.  I ended up buying ten (10) pint-sized plants and spaced them out along the sidewalk: When I bought these ten, I thought they might cover the whol...

In 2023, I planted two Shredded Umbrella Plants in amongst some epimedium in the understory garden on the north side .  They're foliage plants that have a pretty unique leaf to them and I've admired them ever since they went in the ground.  This is now their third growing season and for the first time...they flowered.  See below for the current state of these unique foliage plants: I figured that in service of 'repetition' in the garden, why not add a few more.  The last time I was up at Northwind Perennial Farm, I picked up three more Shredded Umbrella plants and decided to put them in opposite the current batch - along the southside.   Here, below, are the three nursery container plants pre-planting:  I opted to put them in amongst the Autumn Ferns, in-front-of the water bubbler in the wine barrel.  With a couple of carex in the back, this is becoming a Roy Diblik-inspired cluster of perennials.   These little pop of foliage are someth...

I'm a sucker for silver foliage.  And, the best bang-for-my-buck comes via a flat of Dusty Miller annuals from the big box nursery.  Eight plants for four bucks.  I put all eight in the corner bed of the back patio.  These are in the 'lazy bed extension' that I created last Fall.  (note to self:  expand this bed even more this Fall.) I can use these in cut flower arrangements later this Summer and early Fall.  They did really well out in the front porch bed a few years ago, so here's hoping they'll like this spot, too. 

  I've used coleus in a few spots in the garden as bedding annuals.  And, over the years, I've planted coleus as part of a mixed container.  But, this year, I'm trying something new (to me):  Using Coleus as a monoculture in a container on our back stoop.   I found this Flame Thrower Habanero Coleus at Menards and bought two quart-sized containers.   I've grown to really like the Inferno Coleus and have used it for a few years in a row.  This Flame Thrower Habanero coleus has a different leaf-shape, but is close in color.  From Ball Seed : Compact-to-medium coleus is perfect for quarts and mixed containers. Bold foliage colors in a compact habit make this striking coleus ideal for small pots and mixed containers. Its uniquely colored and shaped leaves add texture in the garden and containers. Features fiery orange leaves with a touch of purple at the center and edges. Container is where these are headed.  Below is a look at the...

Peonies are here.  And they don't last long.  With four-or-five peony plants coupled with some travel, the timing of bloom season isn't great this year.  We're getting more peony blooms than ever, but they're all going to waste.  Or...at least they *were* going to be going to waste.  That was...until I came across this person who "Flower Farms" on Tiktok - her handle is Hidden Springs Flowers .  She's a good follow on TikTok, but one video - in particular - taught me something I didn't know:  You can 'extends' peony season by cutting them at the 'marshmallow stage' and sticking them in the fridge.    Here, below are some of the cut peonies where I removed their bottom leaves: Below is the TikTok that she posted that details the process: @hiddenspringsflowers Replying to @user1379406190063 how to store peonies for weeks in a cooler. Make sure to grab them at marshmallow stage before they’ve opened or this won’t work. 🌸 #flowerfarm #...

We have a number of Allium Summer Beauty scattered around the garden.  They were the first clumping ornamental onion that I used in the garden and, I think one of the best.  They just grow.  Over the years, I've added others - like Serendipity Allium.   When I was up at Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm, I came across a new (to me) allium:  Medusa.  Here's the sign they have up below: Twisting leaves with all the purple blooms of other allium.  Sounds interesting.  Here, below, is a closer look at the foliage on the Medusa Allium.  I bought five of them in quart-sized containers: I decided to fill a part of the front yard Island bed - along the driveway - with a colony or drift of these five Medusa Allium.  You can see them set up in their spots below: We'll see how these perform compared to my (current) favorite allium:  Serendipity.  

As I wandered around the tables at Northwind Perennial Farm, I was stopped-in-my-tracks by this silver foliage plant.  It was new (to me) and named "Garden Ghost" Artimisa.   Here's how they look in their nursery pots below: Here's a closer look at the sign below that highlights it's short height (just a foot tall) and color (silver): I tucked the three plants into the back corner of the Island Bed - behind the Medusa Allium (more on them tomorrow).

Earlier this month, I started trays of three different varieties of Zinnias:  State Fair, Cut-and-Come-Again and Envy.  I tucked a couple of seeds into each cell and hoped for the best.  I've kept these seedlings in the screened porch for their first few nights, then moved them outside to get full sun.  And...hopefully...to avoid becoming too leggy.  As Zinnias do, the seeds germinated.  And, germinated in big numbers.  Almost every cell has multiple seedlings that I'll need to thin out.  They're just putting on their first set of real leaves, so I'll wait a little bit longer before pulling out and thinning them. Here's how the trays look this week:  My plan is to fill up the Greenstalk tower with one Zinnia plant per pocket.  And, I'll tuck a few into the landscape, too.  Looks like I have seven full trays of eight plants each; giving me 56 Zinnias.  

Last year, as part of a 'garden edit', I moved some of the Bresshingham Blue hostas back off the front of the border to the back of the bed near the fence.  When I moved them , they were average-sized.  But today?  They're much, much larger.  One year difference and...what a difference.  Below is a photo showing three of them - they're a nice blue-tone color with large, almost corrugated foliage.   Bressingham Blue Hostas In the bottom left of the photo, there's a smaller hosta present.  That sort-of shows us the comparison in size.  Guess these just needed to be deeper in the bed to be happy.  

Just like yesterday's post showing our Indiana Street Iris in bloom, this post uses photos that are about a month old.  Below are some shots showing the Pagoda Dogwood tree (a native dogwood) in bloom.  These are from late May of this year and it was in peak-bloom around May 25, 2025.  We planted this as a tiny tree back in 2021 .  It has grown up and out since then and is now about head-high in terms of height.  It was covered in white blooms this Spring: The past two seasons, I've lightly pruned this tree - to help shorten some of the lower limbs and to help push it taller into more of a tree-form shape.  I'm planning on doing that again this year now that the blooms have passed.