Why I Oughta...

#19 on my 2026 annual to-do list in the garden is to "upgrade the stumpery" in the backyard .  Those 'upgrades' are both in terms of plantings, but also what I'll (loosely) call 'place-making'.   I first came across the idea of a stumpery in late 2023 when I discovered that King Charles has a world-class stumpery .  I started building my stumpery in the backyard by throwing a few stumps that I had on-hand in the area underneath the secondary Northern Red Oak tree in the backyard along the southside. Last year, I planted a pair of Autumn Ferns and three Godzilla Ferns in the Stumpery and called it a day back there.     This year, I have opted to upgrade the Stumpery via some plantings including (at first) seven Autumn Ferns (quart-sized) that I planted behind the All Gold grasses .  I also planted six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs to the front of that same bed .  And, just this past week I posted about eight more Autumn Ferns that I planted ...

This is a [garden diary] update on the kitchen curved bed - in particular the Anemone Lucky Charm that has been growing the past few years in between the peonies and the Astilbes/Matcha Ball Fern Leaf Spirea.   Back in May, I planted a dwarf Blue Spruce Globosa (On Standard) in the bed and I've REALLY LOVED how that has turned out.  It has added color, texture and some shape and really pops in the spot it was planted.  It is early in the season, but if I was declaring winners/losers for the year, this would be one of my biggest "Garden Wins" of 2026.   But, this post isn't about the conifer.  It is about the groundcover flowering perennial that was disturbed when I planted the tree/shrub.   Below are a couple of photos:  First is the current state of the Lucky Charm Anemone followed by the previously-posted 'at the time of planting' comparison collage.  The Anemone has grown in quite a bit, but is currently NOT growing inside the p...

I was surprised to come across a half-pallet of Climbing Hydrangeas at the Menards garden center earlier this Spring. Hydrangea anomala petiolaris .  I've planted a few of these over the years including one back by the firepit that didn't make it (I didn't water it) and another one last year on the dying River Birch tree .  I bought two of them.  Because...well...they were priced pretty good and they were good-sized plants that had a bamboo tripod supporting the growth:  After sitting on one of these climbing hydrangeas for more than a month, I finally decided to plant it IB2DWs.  I was, at first, planning on planting it along the driveway wall - a big blank wall - but reconsidered due to the possible siding damage from the aerial roots.  We have mature Mulberry Tree that lives IB2DWs, down by the sidewalk that sits *right* on the property line between us and our neighbor to the north.  It has a massive trunk.  Below is a photo showing the trunk....

I had plans to replace my Oakleaf Hydrangeas because the (dang) rabbits have been eating them down to nubs in the Winter.  So, imagine my surprise when I came across these hydrangea flowers emerging on the tips of the shrubs that have appeared over the top of some of our amsonia foliage in the [kitchen curved] bed.  See below for a couple of photos showing these flowers: I looked for some treeform Viburnum (Doublefile) earlier this Spring, but didn't see any, so I never replaced these Oakleaf Hydrangeas. #1 on my 2026 to-do list was to replace those very shrubs, so this is going to be a fail. Unless....I go about dealing with the rabbits in a different way: keeping them OUT of the garden with a fence. I've posted about these blooms coming-and-going over the years.  Here is a post in 2023 when I was surprised (like this year) when they arrived .  And, here is a post from 2021 when they bloomed and I fell in love with them .  They also turn a deep red in the F...

Back in May, I planted seven quart-sized Autumn Ferns in the Stumpery , behind the row of All Gold Hakonechloa grasses on the southside of our garden.  Over the years, I've come to love Autumn Ferns and they're (maybe??) my favorite plant in the garden .   Two items on my 2026 to-do list are relevant to this post and I'll include them both below: 19. Upgrade the Stumpery. Better stumps. Better plants. Better wattle fence ?  Plus toss in continued Hosta replacement, too. The thing that I need to add here are even more Autumn Ferns. See #15. I have some Autumn Ferns and LOVE them. More is better. 15. Stay focused by using the concept of Repetition vs. new. I had this same one in my 2025 list . This is a reminder to future Jake who is staring at the tables at the nursery this Summer. Stop. Focus. More of what we have, not wandering diversity. See #1, #3, #8. That means: Sun Kings, Autumn Ferns, Ajuga, Sedums, Carex, Autumn Moor Grasses, Hakonecholas, Astilbes, Nepet...

#3 and #4 on my Summer to-do list for 2026 focused on adding plants to the Pizza Oven Bed that I created last year.  That meant finishing up a garden edit and adding some Hakonechloa Macra grasses to the front of the border.  And, adding some flowering perennials amongst the three existing Wichita Blue Spruce trees in the middle of the bed.  Here is the post showing the blue junipers without much planted around them (in Winter) .  And, here is a post showing the original inspiration for the blue juniper + stachys inspiration .   When I came across this sign for Stachys 'Summer Crush' at Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm, I thought these would work well in this spot: The description reads: 'Summer Crush' has a summer dispaly of wand-like inflorescenses with pink and white bi-color flowers that stand above dense, green foliage.   I ended up buying only three of these because I've been using up the space in front of the blue Junipers with dahlias...

I have a pair of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum flowering shrubs that I planted in Fall of 2021 along the north fenceline in the backyard.  These are in the understory of the Tree Swing Oak Tree and home (now) to a pretty large (and...expanding) naturalized drift of Ostrich Ferns.  The Arrowwood Viburnums were spec'd as part of our landscape plan that called for them to be repeated in a number of spots.  I only planted two of these, but looking back at the posts, I probably should try to find some more of these and plant them around the back of the property.   They were IMMEDIATELY attacked by the (dang) rabbits, so I started to protect them with some chicken wire cages .  Those cages remain today.   These have bloomed the past few Summers, but I seem to have only documented them last June in a roundup post .   Last month (May 2026), I noted that these shrubs had shot up and have (after five years) have some vertical-ness to them ....

Back in the Summer of 2023, I began to discover (and plant) sedges.  One of them that has performed pretty well in the shade of our fence and Linden espalier has been Montana Sedge.  I planted three of them at first .  In the Fall of 2024, I divided some of them to add even more small groundcover plants along the fence .  On a recent trip to Northwind Perennial Farm, I came home with seven more plugs of Carex Montana: I planned on putting them in/around the existing colony of Carex Montana in the backyard. I previously planted 36 groundcover plants - all Ajuga.  These seven Montana Sedges gets me to 43 groundcover plants - a new high-planting mark.  Here, below, is a look at the area showing the small White Polka Dot annuals on the right.  In the middle, you can see the three existing Carex Montana right up against the flagstone path. These are small (right now), but they'll spread out a bit.  I opted to put one on the left side of the flagstone p...

I have Allium Summer Beauty and Allium Serendipity in the garden as clumping alliums.  I also have some random (now random) allium bulbs in Christophii and Gladiator, too.  So, when I saw a tray of plugs of a new (to me) Allium at Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin, I stopped and read the sign.   Here it is - below.  Allium cernuum.  "Nodding Onion". I grabbed two plugs and found a home for them in the pizza oven bed - tucked in between the Chartreuse on the Loose Nepeta and Lady's Mantle. Planting up the pizza oven bed was on my to-do list for this year and while these two allium are small, they're part of the puzzle.

The past few seasons, I've been making cut flower arrangements in jars and vases for the countertop in our kitchen and to give them out to family and friends.  But, over the past few years, I've been reading a little bit about the concept of Ikebana - which is Japanese flower arranging.  This page on KonMari has an overview of Ikebana that includes this top-line description : Ikebana is the centuries-old Japanese art of arranging flowers. The practice, which roughly translates to “making flowers come alive,” uses carefully selected blossoms, greenery and other flora to convey a specific feeling or emotion to an observer – just as a painting or sculpture might. KonMari is Marie Kondo .  The decluttering person.   Architectural Digest has this "Ikebana 101" post that lays out some of the history and practice.  In it, they highlight one particular school's approach to Ikebana that uses three types of stems:  subject, object and secondary.  In low bo...

The compost tumbler works.  Even when it doesn't get tumbled too often.  I know because I just opened up my tumbler and took a look.  What did I see?  Light and fluffy BLACK GOLD.  And, a (surprisingly) full tumbler.  Here, below, is a look at the compost that's been made over the past year-plus.   I failed to turn my compost at the end of last season, so I'm pretty sure this tumbler has been filled since Fall 2024.  That means it had a full year to age.  I typically use this to 'finish' the compost that has been run through my three-bin system.   I'll empty out this organic material and then begin the process of turning-over the three bins.  Starting with emptying the third mixed bin and loading up the tumbler.  Then, I'll move the middle bin over to the finishing bin.  And, I'll give the holding bin a proper mix as I move the material over to the middle bin.   While I have them open, I should attach m...

While most of my priority to-do items on my annual list involve horticulture, a few of them are different type of projects.  #5 is to "Finish the Pizza Oven".  Finishing it means the finish materials:  exterior cladding with brick veneer, trim around the roof and covering the roof.   Late last year, I began to play around with brick veneer. I started along the backside (just to get the hang of the materials) before Winter arrived .  But, one of the things I've been watching is the temperature tolerances of the veneer mortar.  I wrote about the temperature requirements earlier this Spring .  With the temps (finally) rising, we're in the window to work on the veneer. After getting the hang of the material on the back and one of the sides (Note:  I didn't complete either, just did a couple of rows.), I have moved to the front.  I'm using two types of brick veneer - one is about half the price of the other, but I prefer (surprise, surprise)...

I have planted up a number of various sizes and a couple of types of eucalyptus in a couple of settings to try to grow as cut-flower accent plants.  First up is Silver Dollar Eucalyptus.  I bought three pint-sized plants from the nursery on the IL/Wisconsin stateline back on Memorial Day weekend.  I have put them in three different spots to see how they do:  First is in the raised bed on our patio with our tomatoes.  This is in mushroom compost: The other two pint-sized eucalyptus went in the ground.  First up is adjacent to the pizza oven bed.  This gets some good sun and I planted it with municipal biosolids: The last one (of these three) is in the corner patio bed.  This went in with the native soil/loam. I also previously bought six Silver Dollar plugs from Garden Club. Those arrived back in early April and I up-potted them into small pots.  As soon as I could (with the last frost), I moved them outside and put six in one of the Greensta...