Why I Oughta...

Prioritizing is important for a gardener like me.  Without a task list, I end up spinning around and not getting things done that I wanted to/planned to/thought about.  Instead, I flutter about with the latest thing that I come across and when I look back at the season, I end up disappointed.  That's where this whole 'to-do list' thing came from:  prioritizing the many needs.  Like most growing seasons, I was optimistic. And went out of the gate hard with a big goal and started with 25 items on my 2023 to-do list - published in early April 2023 . Historical look at my previous lists: 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%. Here's my 2022 'Season Scorecard. ' 17 completes. 3 'mixed'. 5 not-completes. 68%. I did a September check-in on the lis

Conifers Should Come First.  Or, if not first, one should attempt to make up for lost time when you can.  This is the second dwarf conifer tree and third dwarf conifer overall that I've planted in the past week.  All of which are IB2DWs.   Like the Baby Blue Spruce trees that I bought at 50% off, I bought a pair of Weeping Norway Spruce trees.  This post is about the one that is going in our established IB2DWs bed. Below are a few photos showing the pre-planting details: This came as a ball-and-burlap tree from the orange big box store.  I've had these before, but I've always removed as much of the burlap as possible.  This time, I'm going the opposite way.  All I did was cut and remove the twine, but left the burlap in place.  I'm *pretty sure* that these might be air layered trees as whenever I remove the burlap form them, the root system is pretty sparse.   I stuck this tree right in front of the All Gold grasses about half-way back in the bed.  I'm planning

Gardening advice is literally a cottage industry.  YouTube creators.  Bloggers.  Botanical Gardens.  Everybody has advice and recommendations.  And, I take A LOT of them - as I'm a total novice and learn a little bit more everyday in the garden.  I've covered some of this advice, but I came across something recently that stopped me in my tracks.   From Fine Gardening - Lisa O'Donnell in a piece titled "Conifers Should Come First" - says this:  Instead of adding them as an afterthought...let evergreens drive the design .   I *totally* feel seen. I started on the wrong foot. Did I start with conifers? Nope. I've added some over the years.   I planted a number of conifers that didn't survive - from a Japanese White Pine , Weeping Cedar , dwarf Alberta Spruce and a small Fraser Fir .  All planted.  All dead.  One early bright (conifer) spot is the Canadian Hemlocks .  They're still (some of them) around.  Same with the three Gold Cone Junipers .  And,

Earlier this Summer, I posted a photo (with pride, mind you) of our container-planted Firesticks succulent plant that we've had for five years and talked about how it does well outdoors during the warmer months her in Zone 5b.   Well...a trip to Long Beach California quickly put me in my place with this massive, planted-in-mass Firesticks Cactus display outside of the Hilton Hotel near downtown.   It is flanking their circular driveway and spread across to raised beds.  Photos below: What's not to like about that?  Ombre-coloring from dark green at the bottom that transitions to yellow in the middle and orange at the tips.  Beautiful and a nice piece of [ garden inspiration ] to file away. 

The three Autumn Ferns that have changed everything I think about ferns in the garden are at their peak pre-color-change right now - mid-September.   They are full, lush and alive with fronds the reach up and out and curl ever-so-slightly in this shade bed.   Photo of the 'original three' below: Last Fall, I planted a number of small Autumn Ferns, but it appears that just six of them came back and made it this year .   There are a couple of plants that I'm going to seek out at the big box store end-of-season sales:  These Autumn Ferns and Ajuga Chocolate Chip for groundcover .

My 2023 yard and garden to-do list had 25 items on it and with most 1 of the growing season behind us, I thought it would be helpful (for me!) to do a mid-season check-in.  How am I doing against my priorities?  What do I need to do before the season ends?  Let's run through the list and see how we're doing: 1.  Evergreens.  I wanted to plant more evergreens.  I've planted 19 evergreens so far this season:  five Boxwoods in front, a Columnar Scotch Pine tree in back and now 13 more Boxwoods in back.  I also transplanted a large Boxwood from the front-to-back.  So..20 evergreens including one transplant.  I'd say... Done .  2.  IB2DW Extension.   I wanted to extend the bed and add 'clustered evergreens' along with other things like grasses and annuals.  I haven't added anything, but I did amend the soil with biosolids and carved out some turf to extend the bed a little bit.  I'd say this is: Incomplete.   3.  Front porch bed.   I amended the bed with

I've covered the Elephant Ear bulbs that I planted in some of our patio containers already , but after gifting a few of them, I had two remaining.  What did I do with them?  I stuck them in the ground amongst some 'escaped' strawberry (that I'm using as groundcover) and Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  See below for these two tropical annuals that have popped up in our landscape: #25 on my annual to-do list was to use 'annuals beyond the container' .  I'd say that this counts, right?   What have I learned?  First...that these probably aren't a perfect fit in this area.  At least by themselves.  But....that doesn't mean that I can't plant them somewhere else, right?  Or, augment/expand this bed and plant some other colors at their feet?  Something to think about for next year.  The other thing to think about?  Those sexy black-stemmed version that they have at the Arboretum .  Upgrade to those, right? 

Number 10 on my 2023 to-do list was to keep going on my 'fern upgrade' project.  That means that I need to say 'so long' (not goodbye) to my first fern love - the ostrich fern.  And begin to replace them with better performers.    I've written a few times about ferns that 'look good' after a full, not Summer and documented all of the various ferns in our garden in September .  At that time the Ostrich Ferns look tired and burned out.  The Autumn and Japanese Painted ferns do NOT.  Then, there's Winter - when the Autumn Ferns stick around and add some visuals to the mostly barren garden .   So, replacing Ostrich Ferns with other ferns is something that I've been trying to do - both through divisions as well as new additions.  When I planted the Inaba shadire Japanese Maple, I removed six Ostrich Fern clumps and put them in the far back.  I planted the tree a step-back from the border, allowing for a little planting near the edge of the lawn.   And th

Late last Fall, I went on a Home Depot end-of-season-plant-sale binge and bought a number of very small Autumn Ferns and planted them in a few spots in the backyard.   I planted twelve of them in three different spots including a number of them in the far back, right in front of the Hicks Yew hedge. How many are left back there?  Certainly not all of them.  Based on this layout, I'm thinking that I planted ten-to-twelve in a staggered layout.  Today, there are six that have survived Winter, Spring and thus far into Summer.  One is decent sized, the rest are BABIES.  In the photo below, you can see the six survivors in the orange circles. One of the things that I learned this Spring is that I have to be more careful with late season watering.  I fear that I disrupted the roots and exposed them to the winter elements.   I'm thinking that if I nurse these six to the end of the year, they'll turn into something more signficant next growing season. I do want to keep replacing m

At the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale this year, I came across this sign (photo below) describing a Japanese Maple variety that was new (to me):  Inaba shidare.  It was listed as an Acer palmatum and the photo had red laceleaf foliage.  The sign describes it as "The best of the weeping red laceleaf maples for its leaf color retention in Summer, its scorch resistance, vigor and hardiness.  The lace-like foliage emerges deep purple in Spring, matures to purple-red by Summer and finally turns bright red in Fall."   I mean...what's not to love about that, right?  I had previously purchased a Japanese Maple from the Morton Sale - an Emperor 1 in 2021 - and have been REALLY happy with it in our garden.  So, when I saw this sign for the Inaba shidare, I wanted one.  The only problem?   They were gone.  Sold out.  Or...at least...sold out during *my* visit. Felt a little bit like a 'one that got away' sort-of-deal. So, imagine my delight when I was picking up some