Why I Oughta...

Last week, my set of tubers from Bonny Blooms arrived (finally) and I quickly got to work planting them up in one-gallon nursery containers.  I ordered seven total dahlia tubers from Bonny Blooms in November 2025.   This was the first time I have ordered from Bonny Blooms and selected four different dahlia varieties:  Bell's Palermo (1 tuber), Peaches-N-Cream (2 tubers), Crichton Honey (2 tubers) and Brown Sugar (2 tubers).  These all were dahlias that I came across in year-end videos on Dahlia-Tok that growers/flower farmers have raved about in terms of how they look and how prolific bloomers they were in their own fields .   I was getting a little impatient because my order from Bonny Blooms had not arrived, so I went to their site where on the homepage they have a little 'chat' widget in the bottom corner .  Based on some advice on a dahlia-growing Facebook group, I pasted my order number in that chat window and inquired about shipping.  A day-...

In mid-April, I began unwrapping, dividing and potting-up my dahlia tubers .  And, I ended up with more than 90 one-gallon nursery pots of tubers.  Were all of them viable?  I wasn't sure.  But, today, I am feeling a higher-degree of confidence in what the viability-rate looks like.  By early May, many of them were sprouting, but some still lagged behind and didn't get started.  I tried to get a good division that included a body, a neck and some portion of the crown.  Turns out, I didn't get it perfect, but did pretty well. I recently moved the tubers up out of the basement window wells to the screened porch.  Below is a look at the layout showing more than 80 viable dahlias.  #6 on my 2026 to-do list was to "Go even Bigger on Dahlias" .  I'd say that I can cross that one off my list: Some are barely moving like this one below with a tiny bit of green foliage tipping through the potting mix: While others are more than a foot tall like t...

Last year, I planted three Nepetas that were new (to me) named Chartreuse on the Loose down near the pizza oven in our backyard.  By Summertime, they had grown-in and were re-blooming .  In that post from July 2025, I wrote: I've mentioned that I need to continue to remind myself to add more of WHAT IS WORKING instead of adding net-new stuff. But, these are both a reminder that sometimes new things can be great. But, now that I see them working, I have put them in the category of 'more of this plant because it is working'.... Repetition comes into play here, too. A few pops of this - along with my other 'backbone plants' (Hakonechloa, Alliums, Astilbes and Stachys) create that idea of 'repetition' - leading to...you guessed it: increased legibility. I also wrote (earlier this year) in my 2026 to-do list a few items worth referencing right now: #4 - Plant up the Pizza Oven Bed and #15 - Stay focused by using the concept of Repetition vs. new.   With t...

My container design work is average - at best.  I grew up with a red geraniums + spike mom-gardener, so my ability to put together striking containers typically falls short.  Every year, for the past few years, I've included this line in my annual to-do list ( this year, it is #1 6):  "Do better containers." I have a few back patio containers: two larger patio ones and some smaller ones that go on our stoop.  Last year, I planted a (new to me) trailing flower:  Superbells Coral Sun.  I really liked it .  So this year, when I saw it on the nursery table, I grabbed a few of them.  And, close-by was something else that I like in my containers:  euphorbia.  Diamond Frost from Proven Winners.   For now, I tucked those two things together in a few smaller containers.  It needs one more thing, but I'll find that in the next few weeks and add it.  For now, here, below is a peek at those containers. First up is one of them aft...

Yesterday, I posted a photo showing the six new Ajuga 'Burgundy Glow' plugs that I stuck in the front of the border by the little colony of Hellebores in our backyard.  I talked about how I wanted to 'keep going' on groundcover this year mostly with a mix of Ajuga and Carex.  Why?  Because those are the two groundcovers that I've had the most success with over the years.  I also should list sedum because a few of those have worked, too.  #1 on my 2026 to-do list was to 'stop fighting nature' and #15 was focus on repetition vs net-new things and #20 was to 'keep going' on groundcover.  When you combine all three of those things what do you get?  The answer:  more Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'.   There's plenty of reasons to shop at your local nursery over a big box store parking lot temporary nursery, but the prices on their groundcover plugs is NOT one of them.  Thanks to the folks at the Home Depot, you can buy a tray of six Ajuga plugs...

Amongst the excitement of the temperatures warming up and planting season arriving, I often need to return to my annual 'to-do' list to remind myself of the priorities.  #20 on my list was to 'keep going with groundcover' - something that I've been working on the past few seasons.  Well...groundcover AND conifers.  Because I was lacking BOTH.   My groundcover of choice has been Ajuga.  Mostly of the 'Chocolate Chip' variety.  But, I saw this tray of Burgundy Glow plugs on the bench at Menards and I figured I'd give these another run.  I say 'another run' because I've had Burgundy Glow before, but it didn't make it. I bought it for a Fairy Garden and transplanted it late in the season in the back .  It didn't survive Winter .  I also planted a single plant IB2DWs .  That one, too is gone.   This time, I'm planting six plugs.  And, planting them earlier in the year in hopes they can get established before the heat of Au...

I found this dwarf blue spruce on a high graft - or 'on standard' a week back and I went back for it the next day and brought it home.  Named Picea pungens 'Glauca Globosa'.  You can see the bright spring growth on the tips of this thing in the first photo below.  Is this a tree?  I don't think so.  Let's call this an evergreen shrub, so it won't go on my [trees planted] list.  But, being up 'on standard' almost makes me call it a tree.   Here, below is the front/back of the plant tag showing the blue color. I have three other blue spruces - two in front IB2DWs and one in the back.  The two up front are doing good (one better than the other) , but the one in back is in severe decline.   Blue spruces add an interesting color and texture to the garden, so my brain made the connection between the 'blank spot' I had been staring at for a few weeks in the [kitchen curved] bed and this dwarf conifer.  When I brought it home, I plop'...

Something that I included on my 2026 to-do list (#15) is to focus on repetition vs. planting net-new things.  I wrote this: 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, Nepeta and annuals. For shrubs, it means Viburnums. Well...this here is 'Future Jake' and I'm here to report on what I came home with from the annual Morton Arboretum Plant Sale. And the report contains good news: I bought more of things I already have including Sun Kings and Hakonechloa Grasses. Below are some photos of the plant sale signs and the trios of one-gallon containers that I bought of each kind: These are the third collection of Sun Kings that I'll have in the backyar...

The clumps of spreading (kind-of) groundcover named Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' are at their peak in early May this growing season.  After a period of foliage growth in April (that followed a seemingly mild Winter) on these, they're now in full bloom.  Purple/blue flowers standing tall.  In various pockets of the garden including these three clusters in the 'nook' garden bed along the front edge of that border. You can see them below.  These went in as part of a 'garden edit' in 2024 .   There were more back a few years, but I think that some of them were impacted by Winter 2024/2025.   #20 on my 2026 to-do list this year is to 'keep going with groundcover' .  Moments like this with Ajuga are a good reminder why that's a good idea.  

In mid-April, I began the process of potting up my dahlia tubers for the year.  They are MOSTLY tubers that I have grown in previous years that I dug up and stored over winter using the Saran Wrap method .  I began by trying to divide the tubers into viable 'clumps'.  After watching a bunch of YouTube videos, I learned that tubers need to also have part of the 'neck' attached to them in order for an 'eye' to sprout.  Without that 'eye', the tuber is 'blind' and won't ever put up shoots.   I ended up potting up close to 100 tubers in one-gallon nursery containers and after watering the potting mix (just a little bit), carried them all down to my basement to begin what I call 'sprout watch' .   From what I understand, these tubers (if they are viable) have enough energy stored in them to produce the initial growth and don't need too much water in order to begin their annual cycle.  Too much water and you end up rotting the tuber, so...

Over the years, I've adopted a multi-step approach to feeding and treating the (now) five Disneyland Rose bushes on the southside of our house.  These have suffered from pests and diseases in some years.  Sawfly larvae and blackspot.  At least, that's what I'm pretty sure was attacking them.  At the same time, I've read that Floribunda roses are 'heavy eaters' - meaning they need fertilizer to grow and bloom. The first step in my approach to keeping the Disneyland Roses healthy is a monthly application of a 3-in-1 granular treatment.  It is a 'systemic' treatment, meaning that the benefits get picked-up, overtime, through the root system.  I posted about this one year ago (May 2025) , when I talked how I was trying to get ahead of the problems.   I sprinkle less-than-a-capful around the base of the crown of each one this past week.  You can see the white granules in the photo below: The product I've been using is this Bioadvanced "All-in-One...

Imagine my surprise when I came across an upright tree amongst a bunch of other shade trees in the parking lot nursery recently that was leaf'ing out ahead of the others.  And, it was leaf'ing out with thin, vertical-heading branches all the way down to the ground.  See below for a photo showing the tree(s) in question mixed in amongst other taller, traditional shade tree trunks: What is that?   I walked closer and noticed the foliage.   Wait a second....I know those leaves.   That's a Hornbeam.  A columnar hornbeam.   There's no tag, but I know what I'm looking at and it is an upright, narrow, columnar Hornbeam.   I have those.  And I love them .  Off I went to grab a cart to load one of these trees on-to.  It is sitting in a 15-gallon pot and appears to be pot-grown because the roots are peeking out of the bottom holes.  Not ball-and-burlap stuck in a pot.  It rang up at a price that is too-good-...