Why I Oughta...

Most all of our other grasses have woken up already.  But, up until the last few days, I was worried that we had lost the one Prairie Winds Totem Pole Switchgrass that we have planted in our front yard.  It is kind of 'behind' the Norway Maple.  I bought it from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale last Spring .   By early August, it was putting on some growth, but certainly didn't live up to its billing:  super tall .   Later in the month, it was able to withstand the heat of August and be in fine shape .   But, all Spring, there was NO Activity.  Not a single blade.  And then...we had a heat wave.  Last week, the temperatures were in the 90's all week.  And guess what?  That pushed everything along.  Including this Totem Pole Switchgrass.  See below for how it looks in mid-May: Oh...and see that Lemon Coral Sedum?  It is back for another season.  Groundcover is on my 2022 list , so I should think about more of this, right?

Last year, I bought three Japanese Forest Grasses - Hakonechloa Macra Hakone Grass - from Northwind up in Wisconsin and planted them right at the base of the big Northern Red Oak tree - the tree swing tree amongst some hostas.  These grasses are similar to the All Gold variety that I have in a few places, but these aren't as 'lime green' color, but rather a darker green.  They're also (per the signage) more vigorous.   This is their first Spring and all three of them have emerged from the mulch.  You can see them (below) tucked into the border with some hostas (Frances Williams and others) above them.   My plan is to let all of these things come up and then decide if I need to transplant a few things around.   The bare root hostas are starting to get to a more-mature size and as they fill in, I think there might be a few more than necessary here.  

This Spring, the backyard bed (under the tree swing) is showing eight All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses that have emerged from the mulch.  These are notorious slow-starters (for me), so I'm happy to see that all eight (from last Fall) have come back.  Here's last year's Fall look .   That's down one from Spring when I had nine in this bed.    You can see this area in the photo below with the grasses near the border of the curve in the bed: There's a lot going on in that photo.  Tulips glowing up in the background and more.  So....Below is an annotated version of the same photo showing the eight All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses.  In the back (in the blue circles) are three Miscanthus sinesis 'Adagio' that I planted last Fall .  In the orange circle is the lone  Green Mountain Boxwood from 2021  that is a pyramidal form.  For some of these, this will be the third growing season, while for others this will be the second - which I'm hoping means they're

Last Spring, I planted two pairs of new (to me) ferns in a little bed:  Two Shaggy Shield Ferns and two Tassel Ferns .  This post is looking at the Tassel Ferns.  They're different than what I have in other spots - Ostrich and Autumn Ferns - in a couple of ways:  they emerge a little different in that they don't unfurl the same way AND....they don't shed all their prior season foliage.   They're also - seemingly - this season the FIRST of the ferns to way up. See below for a photo of the tassels that have emerged along with last season's foliage that is still in place: The 'tassels' that you see in the photo are the reason for the fern's name.  They're quite lovely and a welcome sign of Spring in the yard.  The photo also is a reminder that I have a bunch of turf removal in the beds to continue to explore as well as finishing up the Spring cleanup to remove the dead foliage and the Oak leaves that are laying about.   The other ferns in this area - Sh

One of the best features of our garden back in Elmhurst were our peonies.  We had well-established and productive peony plants that produced a ton of blooms.  When we moved to Downers, we inherited one, but it was planted back in the shade and never really did anything .   I planted a couple and transplanted a couple from some teardowns , but they were all clustered in the back with not a ton of sun exposure.  Until last year.  When I expanded the beds closer to our patio and moved three of them there and one to the front yard - IB2DWs area.    I also planted a new white one - Duchesse de Nemours white .  If you look at the photo in this post , it looks like I had FOUR peony plants in this area last year.   When I go to look at that spot, there's good news and bad news.   Good news first:  I see some of those tell-tale red tips emerging from the soil.  If you look closely at this photo below, you can spot them: Now...the bad news:  I only count three.  See below for an annotated v

This is just year two of the set of Cascade Hops vine that I have growing in our backyard, but that's a little like providing ages for some of the kids in the Little League World Series.  I'm not sure it is accurate.  That's because I bought a SUPER root-bound plant that was more mature than traditional nursery stock, so I'm thinking that it is one year older than I 'consider' it to be. Besides the container it came in, what's another indicator of the REAL age?  It fruited last year - in year one - of being in the ground .    As I wandered around the beds peeking at what is coming to life this Spring, I noticed the tips of the vine emerging from the mulch and was surprised by the color:  they're purple.  See below: Feels like I'm NOW on-the-clock with a portion of #6 on my 2022 to-do list:  install a proper trellis for the Hops vine .  Need to find one and bring it home BEFORE the vine takes off this season.

There are signs of life emerging EVERYWHERE around our garden.  Here's a few photos of things that are bringing me a little bit of Spring joy in beds around our garden.  First, the IB2DW bed - which has (now) five Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that were planted last year .  Below, you can see the red-ish tips of the foliage emerging from the mulch.   On the south side of the house is an Iris that my Sister Vic gave to me from her Indiana Street (Elmhurst) neighbor.  I call this "Wes' Iris" .  It is coming alive as I type: Under the troubled (in Decline) Norway Maple out front are some *new* (to me) tulips that have arrived for the first time (below).  I planted these last year .  They're DIFFERENT in that the foliage is variegated and has a pink(ish) stripe down the edge.  And, here below, are a BUNCH more tulips that I planted down near the sidewalk in that troublesome spot.  Should note (to myself) where these are and how to augment them this Fall. Below is a peek

We have just ONE hellebores in our garden - bought during the height of COVID during a 'drive-thru' trip to the Growing Place.  Our plan calls for a couple of areas with MULTIPLE (like 10) Hellebores (or Lenten Roses) , but alas...we have just one.  And, yes... I (now) am aware that buying just ONE of any plant is a mistake, but I didn't know that then .  The problem (then AND now) is that Hellebores aren't cheap.  They're $20 to $30 a piece.  When I need 20 or so, that's a big budget number.  So, I'm going to say *that's* why I have just one (for now).   That one that we DO have in our garden is called a Sally's Shell.  Planted in May of 2020 .   In early March (9th), it was beginning to emerge from the ground .  And...  It bloomed for the first time last Spring in late March .   This year, that schedule has shifted back just a bit.  This is mid-March and it still looks like it is *just* emerging from the ground.  If you look at the photos below, yo

Last Fall, we went NUTS at the Morton Arboretum Fall plant sale.  Bought all sorts of stuff - some that made sense, some that didn't - base don our plan and priorities.   And, some of the decisions kind of landed in the middle.  They sorta made sense.  But sorta didn't.  One of THOSE was the trio of Twinkle Toes Lungworts that we bought and planted on the south side of the property .   Buying those didn't make sense because they're NOT in our plan.   But, buying them *did* make sense because of a few things:  they're blue.  And they grow and flower in deep shade - which we have tons of - and they flower in Spring - after Hellebores and before annual flowers show off.   After planting them, I mulched them initially with some wood chips and then left them alone.   There's some good news - in that it seems that all three are back this Spring.  Here's the little bit of green foliage that has emerged from the base of these plants: You can see the fuzz on the dea

A few days ago, I posted some sad photos of the small Canadian Hemlock trees that have been devoured by some freakin' rabbits in our backyard this Winter.  After I spotted that damage, I wanted to take a closer look at some of the other shrubs in our yard to see if there's more damage that occured between when we put the yard to bed for the Winter and now when it is starting to 'wake up'.  Unfortunately, I found more.  Both rabbit damage.  And Winter damage.  Let's start with this Hicks upright yew.  It is the one on the northern edge of the hedge.  And is the only one that has this much winter damage.  For history, I bought these Hicks Yews in July and planted them in the ground shortly thereafter.  This hedge (or...eventual hedge) is part of my 2020 " Priority Area 3 ' from my recent planning series.  This post is now part of my Winter Damage Series , I guess.  Full tag of posts here . It includes this post on our Front boxwood bronzing from