Why I Oughta...

I've long proclaimed myself to be a foliage gardener.  That's partially because I'm a shade gardener and partially because flowering plants have always been a little bit outside of my comfort zone.  But, I'm starting to think that I'm also *another* kind of gardener:  a Fall Gardener.  Or at least a late Summer + Fall Gardener.   The September and October Dahlia blooms this year have taught me to love that part of the growing season.  And now....as things are going dormant in our yard and garden, I'm struck by some things that are happening in Fall.   What are those things?  Here's one - below.  The EYE-SEARING gold that is coming from our Butterscotch Amsonias in our backyard that are contrasted by the dark green foliage of some Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  This color is borderline shocking.  It is a little hard to see, but if you look closely, there are a couple of other things worth noting in this photo.  First....the small Emperor 1 Japanese Maple (Acer Pa

Last Spring, I bought three Butterscotch Amsonia from the Morton Arboretum plant sale - after reading about how they're texture superstars in the garden.  I planted them as an intermediate layer - behind a row of Fanal Astilbes and in front of a series of Oakleaf Hydrangeas.   I spaced them out pretty far (based on the recommended spacing).  What do they look like today?  They've filled in and starting to put on size.  See below: They're all kind of leaning towards the east - where the sun is located - but are doing what they're supposed to do:  add a fine leaf texture to the garden.  Compare the size to what they looked like in October of last year (when they were yellowing for the first time) and you can see that they've put on both height and width.  

Two years ago (June 2020), I planted a dozen Fanal Astilbes in the (then) small bed along our south fence line in an area that was visible from both the patio and our kitchen windows.  They were in the plan and that was the *approximate* spot for them (at the time).  Why do I say 'at the time'?  Because when I planted these the bed was only about five feet from the fenceline.   That all changed in Spring/Summer of 2021 when I laid out and had a crew dig all new beds that reached far into the yard with a curvilinear shape.  Once the new edge of the border was created, I dug up all of these Fanal Astilbe plants and moved them out, closer to the border .  I planted twelve in 2020 and transplanted all twelve in 2021.  Today?  All twelve are still here.   I moved them to be a little bit of a serpentine row that you can see below.  (You'll also note that the three Butterscotch Amsonia that I planted last Spring are also back.) These could use a little bit of love in terms of &#

 This is the third post showing off a newly acquired plant from this Spring's Morton Arboretum Plant Sale - the first two were when I added three more All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses and two Amber Queen Barrenworts .  Both of those were additional plants that I bought last year and added more this year.  I also bought a couple of plants that are net new to me:  both the type and the particular cultivar.  I'll also admit that this particular plant is OFF plan, but I saw it on one of Erin the Impatient Gardener's Instagram posts and added it to my list.  She talked about how it puts on a really nice Fall show and while it flowers, she grows it mostly for the foliage.  Here's one of her posts showing this off below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by ERIN 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) So, when I saw a version of it at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Sale, I bought a couple.  With the newly expanded beds and the "moved