Why I Oughta...

One of the things that I wanted to try this year was growing some accent or filler plants (for cut flower arrangements) in the vertical planter (Greenstalk) that we keep on the patio.  Last year, I grew some herbs, veggies and Zinnias.  This year, I put that very thing on my 2026 to-do list at #9.  Here's what I wrote : 9. Accents, too. Speaking of adding variety to cut flower arrangements, we can do better job of growing accent plants for foliage. Plan to use the Greenstalk Vertical Garden for these cut flower accent plants this year. Instead of growing vegetables. Do a row of herbs and then load up the vertical garden pockets with accent plants like the Eucalyptus that I grew last year . Well...I didn't end up planting a 'row of herbs', but I did use one layer of the Greenstalk for accent plants.  And, I did use Eucalyptus, in fact.     I started with plugs from The Garden Club.  Eight Silver Dollar Eucalptus plugs.  Six of those went int...

Back in July, I posted a photo or two about how I had to prune back some of the lower limbs on some of our Frans Fontaine European (Columnar) Hornebeam trees to make traversing the sideyard boardwalk a little bit easier.  They were encroaching on the pathway.   That is part of the collection of posts about these trees that you can find here:  [ Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam Trees ].   2026 marks their eight season in the garden and you can go all the way back to when I was first researching the trees and when eight 2" caliper Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees were planted in May 2018.  They were planted 6-feet trunk-to-trunk .   Over the years, I've documented their growth, leaf-fall, bud setting and opening in Spring. Here's what they look like right now - after eight seasons: They're big, and leafy.  But, they're starting to show some holes.   I haven't pruned these at all.  But, the neighbor to the north has pr...

A little over a month ago, I planted seven Montana Sedge plugs in and around the little path on the southside of our backyard that takes you from the yard to the cut flower sideyard garden.  There are some flagstone steppers that define the path and there were some existing Carex Montana in this area from a few years ago.  I tucked the seven new plugs in along the path in June .   Today, they've grown and put out their full flush of blades (is that what sedges have?  blades?  like grass?)  Below are a few photos showing the blend of old and new groundcover along the path.   I put one on the 'other side' of the path, but it lives under some hosta foliage.  It is persisting, but not thriving here.   And, below, you can see a couple of the existing sedges.  These are further back from the yard, but since they've been around for a while, they're bigger. As we get past the heat of August and I start thinking about some 'fall p...

Over the past few growing seasons, I've become a coleus-as-bedding-plant believer.  I 'praised' it in Fall of 2024 .  And, called growing three Inferno Coleus at the corner of our patio a ' garden win ' at the end of the growing season (October) last year.  This year, I didn't plant any Inferno Coleus, which...in retrospect was a mistake.  I've been unhappy with the coleus up front, but I can't say the same about the coleus I planted in our backyard - in the same spot as Inferno last year.  This year, I planted three Talevera Moondust Coleus in that spot.  I found them at Wannemaker's and they jumped off the nursery table with their speckles of paint on the foliage.   If you go back to the planting post , you'll see that they're described this way by the grower: Sun-tolerant varieties maintain color and foliage patterns in both sun and shade conditions. These late-flowering selections are tidy, non-bolting plants in the garden. The plant tag...

We had a pretty big rain storm a week or so ago that brought with it some welcomed precipitation.  It also battered some of my plants and trees.  Downed branches and (in a couple of cases) bent-over dahlias and other plants.  I scurried around and straightened everything out and found the dahlias that weren't staked (enough) and tried to provide some support.   I also cut a bunch of things and brought them in for an arrangement for one of Nat's friends.  The Saint Martin dahlias are on very long, thin stems while the Melina Fleur dahlias (decorative) are (for now) on short, stubby ones.  And, the Plectranthus Silver Shield is plentiful.  But, I still don't quite know the best way to use it in an arrangement.  The underside of the foliage is (to me) the star, but when I tuck some of it in the vase, the underside sort-of disappears.  There's also a spring of Silver Dollar Eucalyptus in here that I'm still learning about how best to cut to...

All the way back in August of 2024, I posted a "Getting to Know" post about a number of dahlias that I had come across in that growing season that jumped out to me.  Enough, at least, to write that post about.  One of those varieties in that post was Burlesca.  I'm growing those this year.   And another one was Jowey Winnie.   I bought two tubers of Jowey Winnie from Longfield Gardens this past Winter and have put them through my normal dahlia tuber program of starting indoors, moving outdoors and planting in the beds.  One of them IB2DWs and one of them in the Pizza Oven West bed.  The one in front was a dud and didn't grow.  The one in the back by the pizza oven is throwing off its first bloom.   But, is it Jowey Winnie?  Here is the bloom on *my* Jowey Winnie Dahlia before I cut it: As for why I'm questioning if this is, indeed, a Jowey Winne, let me turn to the seller, Longfield Gardens, and their product page ....

The hedge of Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees along the side of our house have continued to grow.  And that means they're encroaching on the boardwalk that is used to get from the front to our backyard along that same side.  Last year, I pruned these trees (just a little bit) to get the lower limbs off the boardwalk/screened porch.   This year, I did the same thing. Below are some photos showing the before/after and how little I took off.  Ummm...just the tip(s).  (Mostly).   On the left is the 'before', on the right is the 'after'.  I deliberately didn't take back/take-off too much as I like the idea of creating a little 'portal' to the backyard.  Hide-and-reveal. Miegakure.   Here is an animated image of the before/after portal haircut: Before and After Pruning Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam Trees Thinking about this area reminds me:   There's something hanging out there on my 2026 to-do list: plant something on the boardwalk...

Even more varieties (and types) of dahlias are beginning to bloom in the various planting pockets around the front, side and back yard.  I'll start with some new (meaning...first time blooming *this year*) and then move on to some ones that I've cut previously this season. First up is my favorite dahlia:  Milena Fleur.  The very first bloom opened up.  This was the dahlia that made me plant dahlias.  I should have planted MORE of these plants.   Next is Pooh.  A collarette dahlia that I grew last year and was a prolific tuber-grower.  I divided two plants into 17 different tubers that I started in pots.  2 to 17.  This first bloom might be the best Pooh Dahlia bloom that I've ever grown.  It has a color-quality to it that is DIFFERENT than last year. Pooh Collarette Dahlia - Red, yellow and white petals in bloom. Now, moving on to the dahlia blooms that I've cut and posted photos of from earlier in July.  First up is this ...

In the pizza oven bed, I have a lone, solitary Alchemilla Mollis 'Thriller' (Lady's Mantle) that I planted near the corner of the timbers of the retaining wall.  You can see it in the photos of this post about adding a new (to me) allium variety to that same bed .    I also bought a different variety (Auslese) a few years back and planted it in a spot that is buried in Ostrich Ferns.  I should go see if I can move that thing..... The reason I bring it up is that I was...well...influenced.   I saw this post from Erin the Impatient Gardener where she fawns over Alchemilla Mollis (Lady's Mantle) in her garden: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) One of my garden rules is to never buy one of anything.  So, I needed to remedy that issue.   Also, #3 and #4 on my 2026 to-do list are these: For #3 (Finish up the edit with grasses), I have made progress....

My Mom recently brought to my attention how I don't have any perennial geraniums in our garden.  That's actually not true as I have one under the dwarf Ginkgo tree by our back stoop.  Brookside Geranium .   But, why my Mom brought it up was when we were talking about groundcover.  And..."living mulch".   Or, more...my desire to buy LESS MULCH each year by filling in the spots in the garden with easy-to-maintain perennials. I was at the Big Box store recently and saw these small geranium plugs for $6.98 and 50% off.  They're New Hampshire Purple Geranium.  And, they're certainly small.  But, for $3.50, I figured I'd give it a shot.   Proven Winners has a listing page up for New Hampshire Purple Geranium .  Hardy Geranium, Bloody Cranesbill.  They say: A profusion of magenta-purple flowers atop compact, spreading mounds of leaves makes this one of the best low-growing cranesbills. Low-growing.  Like that. ...

I brought home some small quarts from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm earlier this month with designs on adding them to some blank spots in the garden.  I was able to successfully stick to my plan of buying things that I already have on-hand and know they work well (in terms of growing conditions) in our garden.  I ended up with ten quarts, five of two different plants.  Today, I'll post the details of one of them:  Autumn Moor Grass.  Seslelaria Autumnalis.   Here are the five quart nursery pots from Northwind Perennial Farm: I started my Autumn Moor Grass journey in the Fall of 2023 when I planted a bunch of them in our front porch bed .  I divided a few of them over the years - something I should do again this Fall. These five are going into the very front of the IB2DWs bed.  Down by the sidewalk.  This is a 'hard to grow' area, but I've been amending the soil with biosolids and have mulched it heavy the past few growing seasons...

The past few days, I've posted photos of the individual blooms that I've been snip'ing off the dahlia plants that are tucked into every available space in our garden.  That has lead to my first-of-the-season piecemeal cut flower arrangement.  On our kitchen counter.  [Countertop Flowers]. Yesterday, I showed a Blue Wish, Saint Martin and a random pink Cactus dahlia .  Day before was Burlesca, Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac and a "Rip City ".   Put those all together and you get a cacophony of color and texture and type.   Below is flower arrangement #1 for the 2026 growing season. With no fillers aside from one small Lacy Blue Didiscus.   Mixed Dahlia Cut Flower Arrangement Have to get to Goodwill to find some jars because bloomin' season is upon us.  

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of my first (real) flush of dahlia blooms that I cut off the plants in the various spots around our garden .  Those included some "known" varieties including Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac, Burlesca and Blue Wish.  I said "known" because there was also a semi-cactus dark maroon dahlia that came labeled as Rip City, but is clearly NOT Rip City. Today, I'm posting some photos of some additional dahlia blooms that I cut the following day.  These, too, include mostly "known" dahlias.  And...one unknown. First...the "known".   The biggest of the bunch is Blue Wish.  And, I'll say that I might have a new favorite dahlia?  This looks like it is painted with a watercolor set.  Pale purples and whites.  Perfectly shaped. Next up is a Saint Martin Dahlia.  This one came in a combo pack from Longfield Gardens via Costco (photo of the bag below).  And, was a new-to-me variety, but the 30" height (other...