Why I Oughta...

While the calendar is now showing January 2023 and my focus in the yard and garden is on the year ahead, I still need to do a full and complete rundown of how I did out there in 2022.  I've done this a number of times over the years - posting an early draft in the Winter, a full list in the early Spring, typically a late-Summer/early Fall check-in and then...finally a 'season scorecard' at the end of the year.   This post is going to focus on those 'Season Scorecards'.   Here's my 2019 'Season Scorecard '.  12/17. 70% complete. Here's my 2020 'Season Scorecard' .   22 of 25 complete . 88%. Here's my 2021 'Season Scorecard '.   17.5 completes. 2 semi-completes. 5.5 not-completes. 70%. This is the final 'Season Scorecard' for 2022.    I completed an Early-Fall check-in on the list in September and at that time, I found: 6 in green . 24% complete. 12 in orange.  48% mixed or incomplete. 7 in red.   28% not started and no pro

I've told this story before:  All the way back in 2018, we had some Lemon Coral Sedum in one of our patio containers .  One way or another, it managed to migrate from the container to the little, square bed next to our back stoop.   And, in a surprise to me, it managed to overwinter in that spot underneath a bed of snow.  I've since left it there and it has spread out each subsequent year.  I had not - up until that point - really thought much about groundcover.  But, then I saw this bed planted out front of the entrance of the Morton Arboretum in 2020 .  That inspired me to plant a mass of Lemon Coral Sedum up front in our front porch beds in 2021 .  It turned out really nice and created a carpet. With the success of the volunteer sedum in our backyard, I thought that I could replicate that growth and split up the front porch sedum and transplanted it in various spots - including IB2Dws and behind the large, Norway Maple in front.  All the while, the volunteer kept just sti

Starting with this post from early March and carried through as #1 on my 2022 priority list was the discussion of shrubs and how I needed to focus on adding them to add depth, structure and the notion of layering to our garden.  Then last week, over the course of a few 'shrub exploration' posts, I tried to organize my thinking via some specific garden bed sections - including the lilac area , a north-side mixed shrub section by the trampoline , the fire pit area and the spot that *could* be the home of a fire pit-area path extension . Across all of those garden bed 'slices', I was able to create a shrub list that included nine upright evergreens in three different colonies of three each.  Three in the north-side mixed area that would front the transplanted lilas, three in the (current) lilac area that would serve as back layer to a trio of Tardiva Hydrangeas and finally three that would either back three Little Lime Hydrangeas (or perhaps three + 1 to frame the event

As the calendar is showing late March, we're now STARING down the real beginning of gardening and yard care season here in USDA Growing Zone 5b.  And, like a lot of amateur gardeners and landscape caretakers, I often find myself adrift - drawn to things in garden centers that I don't have in my plans, pulled to focus on projects that steal time and end up planting things in places that don't make sense for the long haul.  However, I *do* have a landscape plan that was drawn by a professional.  I have of gardening rules don't buy just ONE of anything  and dig a $5 hole for a 50 cent plant .  (That makes me think that I *should* write a post that outlines my adopted gardening rules that I've collected over tim).  And, I have list of projects that I'd like to tackle.   Using those tools and direction SHOULD make the growing season go smoothly.  But, everybody - including me - needs to be held accountable.   That's why, over the past three growing seasons, I'