Why I Oughta...

Today marks me getting pretty close to the final conifer that I planted in my Fall Planting Spring of October 2023.  It features a second (new) Bird's Nest Spruce (3rd overall with one in the back) and is planted in the new part of the Conifer Garden down by the sidewalk.  Same story as the previous one - a dwarf, low-to-the-ground conifer that tolerates sun and - when established - is drought tolerant.  This one is a 1# small shrub, like the others have been.   I planted this in mid-October, but posting it in early November 2023. 

At some point in (I think) 2022, I bought and planted a Japanese Anemone x Hybrid 'Pamina' from Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin and planted it in a spot on the northside of our backyard.  Turns out, I'm pretty certain that it was the WRONG SPOT.  For this plant.  Too much shade.  You can see the sign at the top of this post that calls for "Part Sun".  It goes on to say:   Beautiful, easy to grow plants, flowering late in the season in a burst of bright pink.  Lovely in a partially shaded site.  Divide in Spring.  This plant does great with grasses and interplanted with Stachys 'Hummelo'. "Partially shaded" site is/was my problem, I think.   What do I have to look forward to - if it succeeds?  From Bluestone Pernnials comes these details - including that it is a "RHS Award of Garden Merit Winner : One of the most compact Anemone, the elegant bright rose-pink blossoms of broad overlapping petals surround whorls of b...

A couple of seasons ago (Summer 2021), I planted three Allium Serendipity in the IB2DWs bed after being influenced by Erin the Impatient Gardener .  I've had Allium Summer Beauty in the garden since the beginning and Serendipity felt like a nice improvement - at the time.  I mostly just ignored them.  Until this Summer.   When I noticed that they were, indeed, an improvement over Summer Beauty. Why? They bloomed a little bit later.  And for MUCH LONGER .   Fall is the season for dividing perennials, so I picked up my shovel and got busy. Here's the before - two nice-sized clumps of Allium Serendipity: I took those two and made five total plants.  Why five?  A hedge, of course.  I split one in two - in the hopes that those two larger clumps had a better chance of survival.  If I killed the smaller clumps by dividing them too late, or not watering them in enough, or having them heave this Winter...at least I still had what I star...

I posted the details and a photo of planting a Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea shrub in the front porch beds in mid-October .  When I planted that one, I also...planted a second one:  but in back.  I decided to tuck it in the 'kitchen window curved bed', sort-of by where my bird-feeding pole lives.   That bed has some good foliage and good texture contrasts going on - the Amsonia, Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Astilbes create a nice combination.  This small-size (dare I saw dwarf) fern-like shrub adds a pop of color (yellow/chartreuse) and some lightness of foliage to this spot. The shrub is already showing some buds on the limbs - that I presume are set of next year.  But..you never can tell what kind of stress these nursery plants go through that might alter their normal growth cycle.   I planted this in mid-October, but posting it in early November 2023.  

I added three small Green Velvet Boxwoods to the middle of the pair of recently-espalier'd Dogwood trees along the side of the garage.  The bed has been an afterthought (to date) and features a bunch of random hostas, Ostrich Ferns and a few heucheras.  There were no shrubs.  There wasn't much 'structure' there.  The photo at the top shows the 'after'.  The photo below shows the 'before'. I've moved that big hosta OUT and removed some of the ferns, too.   I planted these in mid-October, but posting it in early November 2023. 

A week back, I shared photos and details of the first of three Baby Blue Spruce trees that have gone in our yard as part of my Fall Planting Sprint.  They were all 7# container-grown trees and are small to start - somewhere shy of 24" tall from tip to rootflare.  I planted the first one in my new Conifer Garden - IB2DWs extended.  And, I matched it with the second one on the other end of that spread.  See below for a look at #2 Baby Blue.  This is planted closer to the Bald Cypress.  And...it is planted 'high' on purpose.   As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

What does my IB2DWs bed lack?  Well...to be fair, it lacks a lot.  But what I'm (mostly) talking about are conifers.  Evergreens.  Remember... Conifers Should Come First .  I've failed at that.  But, I can make up for it, I hope.  My #2 priority was to plant evergreens IB2DWS.  And my #1 was to add more evergreens .  I've started by posting about one of two Baby Blue Spruce trees that I planted in the extended IB2DWs bed.  Today, I'm sharing that I planted a Bird's Nest Spruce in the currently planted IB2DWs bed.  You can see it above - it is to the west of the Cat's Pajamas Nepeta and a few feet set back from the driveway. It was five bucks.  What's not to like about that?  I have a Bird's Nest Spruce in the back that was devoured by rabbits.  I've moved it once and need to move it again.   Here's the container - Bird's Nest Spruce - Picea abies 'Nidiformis' - which NC State calls a 'dwarf needled evergree...

For the past few years, I've been a 'stick to the plan' gardener.  That plan was a layout/design, but it was also a plan in terms of sticking to plants that I know and understand how they'd perform.  It also was VERY limited on flowers.  I've talked about foliage gardening and thanks to our deep shade yard, I've mostly had foliage plants over the years. But, this #FallPlanting season, I felt a little moved to step out of my comfort zone and decided to buy a couple of things at the various end-of-season sales including a number of new (to me) flowering perennials.  The first one that I put in my cart was 'Midnight Masquerade' Penstemom or Beardtongue.  That's the 1# container at the top of this post.   It is a Proven Winner and here's what Walters Garden has to say : This Penstemon will help fill the gap in your lineup for a taller, attractive foliage option. 'Midnight Masquerade' produces a sturdy clump of deep burgundy purple leaves. The...

The #FallPlanting beat goes on with a new (to me) shrub that I planted in the front porch bed - sort-of tucked in between the new (this year) Disneyland Roses and the tiny Green Velvet Boxwoods .   Was this in the plan that I had in mind?  Nope. Then...why would it go here? The answer to that is, of course rooted in Fall nursery sales.  But, a good price wouldn't be enough to get me to make the leap.  Nope. What made this all come together is this specific shrub:  A Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea.  Here, below, is the young shrub planted in its spot in my front porch bed: What's so special about this shrub?  Well...you can tell a lot by just looking at it.  Here's what First Editions says about it : Forming a perfect round ball fern-like leaves cover Matcha Ball® in a fresh shade of green, much like Matcha tea. When the leaves first emerge in very early spring, the leaves and petioles have hints of red and orange-peach that ultimately mature to...

Influenced?  Or inspired?  What do you call it when you come across something on Instagram (or YouTube) that shows you something new, isn't pushing a product but...does...indeed compel you to act - and purchase something.  I'm going to say that I was inspired.  Not influenced.   And that inspiration came from seeing a 'white garden' that was planted up with silver and white perennials and exposed me to something new (to me):  Artemisia.   There are a few varieties that you'll see out at the nursery, but the one that I think might be the biggest (not the best) in the trade is Silver Mound Artemisia.  It is a soft-texture white plant that Walters Garden describes as a 'cushion' .  Here's what they say: Aptly named, 'Silver Mound' has soft, feathery foliage and forms a compact, silky, cushion-like mound. It has many applications in the garden including: edging, rock gardens, pots, or a filler plant for hot, dry areas. It has long been ...

Looking at my 2023 to-do list, there are a number of items that sort-of 'work together'.  Like...evergreens and under the lindens.  #3 (improve the front porch bed) and #17 (keep going with groundcover) are like that:  they work together. This post is the lastest in my 'Fall Planting' series and focuses on groundcover - specifically Ajuga Chocolate Chip .  The past week or so, I bought two small ones from Lowe's and a six-pack from the orange big box store.  Fall Planting in full swing. I tucked the two larger ones in the island bed on the stair-side of the Karl Foerster Grasses.  Below is how they look from the driveway: And below is the view from the stairs; the two groundcover plants are tucked in close and will (hopefully) fill in this area with a sort-of 'living mulch'. The six-pack is like the ones that I planted earlier this year: I put three of the six in that same island bed, but this time on the driveway side: And, I put the other three in a line ...

 Four months ago, I planted five (5) one-gallon Green Velvet boxwoods in our front porch bed in line with the other ones that existed in that same bed .  My plan was to sort-of 'extend' that low mound of evergreen shrubs down past the new Elm tree and wrapping around the corner.  I also (in June) planted a number of Summer Beauty Allium and Sesleria Autumnalis grasses in front of both the old and new boxwoods.   With the heat of Summer behind us, how did they all fare and what do the shrubs and perennials (and...annual French dwarf Marigolds) look like in late September?  I'd say pretty good.  See below for current state of that curved bed: All five Green Velvet Boxwoods are doing well and putting on a tiny bit of height.  The Allium have exploded and are double-or-triple their original (quart) size.  And the stars of the show are those French Marigolds .  I've been telling myself that I need to be a bit more choosy when it comes to Hom...

Last Summer (June 2022), I bought three Little Lime Hydrangea (a dwarf cultivar of Limelight ) and planted them in front of the Belgian Fence of Apple trees.  They were small, but produced a handful of blooms in late July that first growing season . Fast-forward a year and these three flowering shrubs have changed quite a bit.  They're thicker, more full and...FULL of blooms this year.  See below for a photo of their current (mid-August) state: These are a really good solve for this spot - they're at the back of the bed, but with the Belgian Fence behind, I couldn't use a full-height shrub here as they'd obscure the espalier.  So, this dwarf version is perfect.   It also has me thinking about how I could re-use these in other spots that are mid-bed.  Further back on this same northside of the backyard, there are spots.  And, maybe even IB2DWS?

I don't seem to have documented the planting of these two, small Hicks upright Yews, but I wanted to document their current, Summer 2023 status in the [garden diary].  They are planted between the firepit and the side fence.  With the three Peachberry Ice Heucheras planted in front of them. These were planted as 1-gallon evergreen shrubs.  And while they haven't put on a ton of size, they're certainly grown.  See below for a photo showing the two, upright Yews spread apart. With some time, they'll fill in and fill-up to create an evergreen vertical screen.  I don't expect them to grow together, but I will add something-else evergreen in between them down the road. How about the color change on those Heucheras, huh?   

100-or-so days after planting a 5-gallon Climbing Hydrangea ( Hydrangea anomala petiolaris ) back by the firepit, we're seeing some real upwards leader growth.  Or...what I plantsmen call "aerial rootlets".   We have this climbing, flowering vine going up a Hackberry tree and the R O U G H bark sure seems to be helpful in giving those aerial roots something to grab on-to. See below for the current mid-Summer form of our Climbing Hydrangea:  There are a few, sparse blooms on it this year, too.  So, that's kinda nice, right?   I'm hoping that this will wrap around (and not injure) the tree, so that it can be viewed from all angles. This also has me wondering:  where else could I plant one?  I've long talked about espalier'd trees along the garage, but maybe this is a better answer there, too?  Or...what about both? Last year, I saw one of these at 50% off the end-of-year sale at the Growing Place .  I'll have to pop back over there again...

Last year, I let this Maple tree volunteer seedling just go .  It grew up and up and I ended up protecting it via a chicken wire ring during the Winter.    It came back this year and has put on a ton of new growth on the leader.  SO....I figured it was time to try to figure out what variety of Maple/Acer I was dealing with in the garden.  I went out and looked the foliage and then started to look around - and it was a quick Web stroll to figure out that I'm dealing with a Silver Maple.    Below are two photos of the top and bottom of the leaf - and there are two tells here.    At least...I'm about 75% confident that this is, indeed, a Silver Maple. The Chicago Botanic Garden has this listing up for Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) that details those two tells that are visible in the photos above: The silver maple is a North American native and best known for providing us with maple syrup. The leaves have the classic maple leaf shape and becom...

Before we left town in June, I planted a pair of new (to me) Oakleaf Hydrangeas - Snow Queen - along the fence in an attempt to extend/continue that run of Oakleaf Hydranges along that bed .  These are interplanted with some evergreens - Green Giant Thujas.  When I planted these, I followed Ralph Snodsmith's advice and gave these "Five Dollar Holes" along with a heavy dose of municipal biosolids to get them started.    I set up irrigation for the couple of weeks post-planting for these flowering shrubs and I'm very surprised at how much growth they appear to have put on in such a short time.  See below for a photo showing the pair of shrub as they stand now.  Flip back here .  Very different in a short period of time, right?  I'll plan on protecting these with chicken wire this Fall/Winter and hopefully...we'll see some blooms next year.  

I've been all-in on Team Carex thanks to Roy Diblik and his Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin.  He introduced me to sedges (Carex) and talked about how he uses them in his plantings.  Over the years, I've bought a number of different sedges from Northwind including: Bromoides and Little Midge , Albicans and Pensylvanica .   Now, I can add another one to the list:  Carex Montana.  The photo at the top of this post shows three Carex Montana plugs that I bought from Northwind last month and planned on planting by the Linden trees that are espaliered.   Below is the sign from Northwind that includes this description:   You've noticed the rich, soft green, beautiful foliage. Plant this in your shade garden and develop a ground layer of soft textures that will enliven your other plants and reduce weed seeds from germinating. Mix this Carex with other Carext to create a tapestry of colors and textures. Why not?? Haven't you wood chip...

A few weeks ago, I posted back-to-back photos and posts showing how I dug out and transplanted a number of perennials including hostas and alliums to prepare the bed at the feet of the espaliered Greenspire Linden trees for a replanting of evergreen (Boxwood) shrubs.   I opted for Boxwoods underneath these two trees as part of my 2023 to-do list (#1 was evergreens) and this area was my #1 priority .   I originally planned for a full, staggered double hedge of Boxwoods and I bought 13 Boxwoods.  Seven Green Mountain for the back row.  And six Green Velvet for the front row.  The one gallon boxwoods at the orange big box nursery went on sale recently and I bought when the price dropped.   I started by cutting the new (further out) edge of the bed and had to deal with locating the cable line in the ground.  I was careful to not cut that cable, so I mostly dug out by hand with my hori hori.  I then went and measured the spacing for ...