Why I Oughta...

Earlier this season, I planted three small Inferno Coleus plants in the small bed that sits at the corner of our back patio .  I had grown Inferno in the front yard last year and wanted to grow it again.  Have a look at the photo below - showing the late-Summer view of what started as three small plants.  I wanted to grow more coleus as bedding annuals in the beds , so I'd call this a success.  (#6 on my 2025 to-do list this year .) I'll grow Inferno again next year.  Maybe in multiple spots - as a form of 'repetition' to help improve 'legibility' with some colorful annuals.   Last Fall, I expanded this bed a bit.  I'll look to grow it even more this Fall with my 'lazy bed' method using cardboard, compost and municipal biosolids.  

There is a season for every bloom and with our small drift of Lucky Charm Anemone, that season is "late Summer".  Here it is (below) in very late August when the first blooms are just coming on and opening up.  This will be an explosion of color for the next month - all the way right up until the first frost.  I'm not sure which I like more:  the open blooms or the closed, grey/purple-grey closed ball-like buds before they open up.   

It may be hard to see in the photo below, but the Pagoda Dogwood tree (a native tree) that we have in our backyard had a big 'leap' year in terms of growth.  The past few seasons, I've been doing what I call 'selective pruning' of this tree where I shorten the length of each of the limbs that radiate out from the apical meristem (or trunk).   Our tree seems to want to grow almost bush-like or shrub-like.  A big puff-ball of foliage.  But, I want it to get taller, hence the pruning back of the limbs.  But, I've learned long ago, that you can't stimulate a young, non-mature tree to grow taller by simply pruning back all of the lower limbs.  The tree needs foliage to grow.  That whole 'solar panel effect' - is how the tree collects energy via its leaves.   So, what have I been doing?  Just pruning the tips.  Take the final foot-or-so off the ends.  Leave the rest. And, the tree seems to respond well to that seasonal pruning....

The last time I checked in on our compost bins was back in July when the 'storage' bin was steaming from decomposition of grass clippings and wood chips .  I let the lawn get pretty long, so I had to bag-up a couple of cuts-worth of grass.  That meant that I needed to balance the bin out with some wood chips.  Since then, we've continued to add kitchen waste to the bin and I've been adding garden waste, too.   I also dumped a bunch more grass clippings in recently. How do the bins look? There's been some compaction in all three bins with the middle one seeing the largest voids created.  Take a look below to see the three bins as of late August 2025: Here is April 2025's view of the bins .   You can see the nursery pots that I've stuck on the top of the 'finishing bin' (on the right) have dropped a little bit.  And, that the middle bin has that large void about 1/3rd of the way down.  And, the 'storage bin' (on the left) is actively decom...

The bulk of my flower arrangements have been focused on the flowers + some additional foliage plants.  Zinnias + ferns + artemeisa.  Dahlias + artemesia + polka dot plants.  For the most part, I was dealing with shorter-length stems on the 'stars' (Zinnias and Dahlias) and that meant that I was stripping just a few leaves from the stems and filling out the arrangement with those other foliage elements. But, thanks to my FYP, I've been getting served "here's how to get longer stem" videos and the secret isn't...well...it isn't a secret.  It is just doing something that is hard:  Cutting deep.   Why is cutting deep hard?  Because you're sacrificing some flower blooms.  To get the longer stems, you often take out up-to-three flowers.  Typically that means one full-formed and open that has shot up through the middle of the stem.  Then, two smaller, further-behind ones on either side.   I've always hesitated to sacrifice those ...

The gardens at Muckross House include a traditional walled garden (with espalier) and an arboretum, a lake, the formal lawns and some informal gardens.  One of those features a colony of giant Gunnera.  And...I mean...GIANT.   We were walking back to the bus from the Arboretum and spotted this patch of large, green foliage that almost looks like it is too-big-to-believe.  This is Gunnera. With foliage that is bigger than just about anything you'll ever come across in a garden (Hand for size): It grows tall, too.  KoTBTs for size: While super interesting, it appears that Giant Gunnera is invasive in Ireland - particuarly in the West side of the country .  

A few red and yellow Pooh Collarette dahlia blooms along with a clipping of some green and white Polka Dot Plant in an apt vase/glass (Pooh for President) make this an easy, but interesting arrangement.  More than ten (10) years ago, I posted about this glass that features a political candidate Winnie the Pooh from the fine folks at Sears.  The whole country is "Pooh Country".   This is my only Collarette dahlia, but won't be my last.  This Kelsey Annie Joy Collarette dahlia looks quite nice .  "Add to cart", right? 

Cut flower season continues with Zinnias of all colors and shapes and sizes.  I grew these from seed and grew (what I thought) was three varieties:  Envy, State Fair and Cut and Come Again.  And planted them up in my vertical garden .  These are growing on long stems and look good in a vase. Mixed in, amongst the straight varieties appears to be a variegated one.  Earlier this year, I bought Candy Cane Zinnia seeds , but opted to not grow them (based on what I read).  But, did one of those seeds slip into one of my other seed packages?  I think it might have: Cut flower summer continues.  

There I was, minding my own business as a tourist walking around Dublin when I came across a large municipal sidewalk planter that looked different.  It was tall and round and didn't have flowers in it.  \ Instead, it held a dwarf ginkgo tree.  Full, round-in-habit and leafy.  See below for a couple photos: I have (now) three Spring Grove (dwarf) Ginkgos planted in the ground.  A look at their hardiness rating and it shows they're hardy down to Zone 3 .  The rule-of-thumb is that you can (likely) over-Winter a tree in a container if it is able to go a zone below your actual zone.   We're in 6A.  This is hardy down to Zone 3.   It *might* work. 

We popped in to a few gardens around Ireland earlier this month (including St. Stephens Green that I posted about yesterday ) and saw a climate that seemed to grow a lot like ours.  With a little bit more tropical foliage than we can grow here.  Cape Cod garden vibes with the hydrangeas (especially the blue ones), but the Cape has way more Rhododendrons than Ireland. One of the stops was at Muckross House.  On the property is a walled garden named (naturally) Muckross Gardens .   There's an arboretum, some pruned shrubs, perennials and annual displays.   But, if you walk around the perimiter of the walled garden, you'll find something else:  espalier.  Apple trees trained into fan-shaped espalier held against the warm, stone walls of the garden.  I took a few photos and one of the things that I like about how they've pruned these is that they've seemingly thinned out the foliage in spots to show more branching followed by clusters (or cl...

We came across a really nice installation (and a big one, too) of European Fan cobblestones right at one of the corner entrances to St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. This arch is named Fusiliers' Arch and is more than 100 years old. I've posted a few times about European Fan including Disney Springs  and how I was thinking about it for the pizza oven floor .   This installation of European fan is both wide and deep.  

Dahlia season is just about here.  And, the pace of blooms is picking up.  That is....as long as I can fight off pests.  Mites, earwigs, Japanese Beatles, Budworms.  They're all here and working HARD against me. Year of Cut Flowers continues with this dahlia-centric arrangement.  I tucked in a spray of Ghost Fern and Garden Ghost (Two "ghosts" in our garden), some Lucky Charm Anemone and even a couple of Cascade Hops.

This planter outside of an office building has a nice legibility to it:  annual vinca (Madagascar Vinca) in the front, sort-of spilling over the front ledge of the bed (or garden box), backed by a white-flowering waxy Begonia.  In the corners are Purple Heart Tradescantia (which has a trailing habit).  Behind the begonias (and taller) is a row of Salvia.  And, in the center?  Some tropical-looking cannas.  Nice combination that serves as inspiration for an all-annual island bed.  

I showed-off one of these new (to me) dahlias in a post last week that included some ball dahlias but one collarette dahlia named Pooh.  Of course it is, right?  It is red and yellow and adorable.  It is a collarette dahlia and this is the first (and only) one of those that I'm growing.   First...some photos of Pooh Dahlia with yellow centers and red petals: Swan Island Dahlias describes Pooh :  "A collarette color that is just plain cute! 3 1/2" bright orange blooms outlined in bright yellow, with a yellow collar make this one hard to miss. Very prolific bloomer on a 4 1/2' plant. Incredible garden color and holds well as a cutflower too." I'm at the point where I can agree on the first part (plain cute, hard-to-miss), but waiting on the second part (prolific bloomer and holds well as cut flower).   Based on how this one looks, I'll add a few more collarette tubers to my cart this Fall.  

Back along the fence, behind the (now in-place) pizza oven is a Cascade Hops vine.  I planted this Hops vine in the Summer of 2021 and trellis'd it up a year later .   At that time, this was a pretty-much "full sun" spot, but the vine didn't fruit.  Then, last year, I put up the pizza oven and suddenly this vine is buried behind it.  Mostly in shade. Did that bother it?  It doesn't appear to have.  Why do I think that?  The vine has rambled up and around the oven.  Crawling up and around everything in its way.  And...when I was out in the garden this weekend, I noticed bright green fruits on the vine.  We.Have.Hops. They're amble'ing thru the grasses: I'm going to cut some of them off and see what kind of vase-life they have as I think they might be neat to see in arrangements.  

About a month ago, I posted some details of the Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' that was rebounding in our front beds - in the little island bed in between our driveway and front steps and on the other side of the stairs and along the property line.  I've been trying to utilize more and more groundcover over the past few years - after neglecting it for the first five.  On a recent trip to the Home Depot, I found this six pack of Ajuga plugs in the nursery and brought them home.  It was in flower, so in the first photo below, you can see the pack of plugs and (at the bottom of the photo) the flower stems that I snip'd-off: I put three of the six in the little island bed between the driveway and front steps.  This bed already has some Chocolate Chip, so I was sort-of filling in some of the gaps.  Below are three photos:  first one shows all three new plugs mixed with the existing.  Second one shows two of them (left and right) and the third photo shows the one f...

Another summer arrangement.  But, this one features two new - recently blooming - things:  Lucky Charm Anemone and Pooh Dahlia.  You can look at the photo below and immediately know which one is named Pooh.  It is a collarette dahlia - my first one of those.  Also in here are a few Melina Fleur, Mystery Fox, Wizard of Oz and one Sweet Nathalie dahlias.   

Mid-August is the mid-way point in Summer (even if it feels like way past that for this gardener), so it is a good time to do a check-in on my 2025 to-do list.  Last season, I did one of these 'check-ins' in early September (right around Labor Day) and discovered that I was only able to mark six (6) of my 25 items 'complete' with nine (9) more 'in process'.   Where do we stand this year?  Let's find out: My 2025 to-do list included 25 items (25 for '25): 1. Gravel Path Improvement. In Process.  I did the biggest part of this, but still have the 'gate back' portion left to do.   2. Make the Pizza Oven operational. In Process.  The groundwork and retaining walls are done, but there's still a tarp on it.   3. Expand and plant the Island bed in front. Done.  I've done A LOT up here, but haven't planted everything I was planning-to.  I'd like to get a mass planting of grasses to finish this up for the season. 4. Finish garden e...

Go away for a couple of weeks in August and you hold your breath that nothing catastrophic happens back home.   Drought damage.  Rabbit Damage.  Insect Damage.  We had all three.  Plus two burrows of baby bunnies birthed in our yard (one in front, one in back).  While we were out of town, we saw ZERO rain.  None.  Not a drop.   So that meant that despite my efforts to set up *some* irrigation via timer(s), some things suffered.  I've worked over the past few days scurrying around trying to get everything back watered-in, and only think that I lost a few things while others had mere setbacks.  But, the insects?  That might be a problem.  The dahlias on the southside of our house have been attacked by something.  I'm no expert, but after doing some research I've narrowed it to one of two things:  mites or thrips.  Pretty sure they're mites.  When I examined the plants, the foliage was 'bronzing'...

At one of our stops on a recent trip to Ireland, we stayed near a mixed perennial garden that felt A LOT like our Zone 5b (or 6a) and included plant material that I've come across in some of the garden centers, big box stores and display gardens around the Chicago Suburbs.   In that garden, they used an upright, lime-green foliage shrub in a repetition across a long, linear bed that backs up to a hardscape patio.  The bed was more than one-hundred-feet-long and the gardener planted a series of upright Japanese-Maple-like bright green shrubs about ten-feet-apart.  Mixed in amongst the upright shrubs were hydrangeas and other perennials.  Below are a couple of photos showing these upright, lime-green shrubs in the garden bed: Here, below, is a closer-look at one of them: What are they?  Pretty sure, we're looking at Golden Tower Elderberry. From Wilson Brothers : A striking addition to the landscape, the Golden Tower Elderberry forms a tall, lush column of so...

A few days ago, I posted a couple of photos showing some of the latest cut flower arrangements from our garden .  They featured a variety of dahlias and some other perennials for foliage/accent flowers.  Right now, the Mystery Fox (dark red) and Wizard of Oz (pink) are in bloom.  Wizard of Oz is considered a Pompon Dahlia while Zundert Mystery Fox is a Ball Dahlia .   There's (of course) some Garden Ghost Artemisia and Butterscotch Amsonia/Arkansas Bluestar for foliage.   This arrangement is in a Smuckers jelly jar - not a thrifted vase.   Earlier this month, I also showed how I had stored Sarah Bernhardt peonies in the fridge for eight weeks and brought them back to life .  Here, below, are a couple of photos showing the arrangement of these pink peonies along with a couple other things like Limelight Hydrangeas, Blue Fortune Agastache and a spray of Japanese Ghost Fern. These peonies are in a thrifted vase. #18 on my personal to-do/tas...

In the Spring of 2024, I did work on a number of what I was calling then "garden edits".   One of them was focused on the plantings around the base of the tree swing tree.  I moved out all of the All Gold Hakonechloa Macra grasses and relocated the band of Summer Beauty Alliums back closer to the trunk.  I was set to add a full border of the straight species Hakonechloa Macra grasses , but haven't gotten around to it it.   But...the alliums?  They look good.  Better than good.  Here, below is a photo showing the alliums ringing the Red Oak tree: See that lone Japanese Forest Grass?  Imagine a mass planting of them in-front of the Alliums.  That's what's remaining here.  

The most-recent set of cut flower arrangements include a round-up of what is coming into bloom in late July.  This post is going up in early August, but these vases were built in late July.  The first one features some dark red (almost maroon) Mystery Fox dahlia blooms, Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias , Limelight Hydrangeas, Polka dot plant foligae and some upright stalks of Garden Ghost Artemesia.     The second one includes a couple of Wizard of Oz Ball dahlias , some Pablo Gallery Border Dahlias , a bunch of Disneyland Roses and some (of my current go-to accent pieces) like the white Polka Dot plant foliage and sprigs of the white Garden Ghost Artemesia .   Both are in thrifted vases.  My focus at the Goodwill is on small vases that will fit in a cupholder of the car and are priced at 99 cents.  Like shooting fish in a barrel.