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Showing posts with the label Fall 2023

Two New Summer Beauty Allium Via Division - November 2023

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The last few Falls, I've divided a great number of Summer Beauty Alliums .  This year, I didn't get to all that many, but I *did* add a few 'free' plants.   There was a pair of them flanking the Baby Blue Spruce in back that were getting pretty big.  You can see them below - on the right in the first photo and more in the middle in the second: I dug them both up and divided each - then replaced them in their spots.  Those two new plants - via division - went in on that side of the garden.  One behind the fence - Hosta Replacement.  The other by the Disneyland Roses. Two 'free plants'.  That I KNOW perform.  That's like free money, right? With these two, I BELIEVE that I've wrapped up Fall Planting posts. What's the total from below?   Holy crap.  I planted 68 new things.  Created 26 new plants via division.  Adding 94 total things to the garden in a four-week sprint.  30 ground cover plants make up almost 1/3rd of the 94.  Wow. 94 things in the garde

Transplanted Cat's Pajamas Nepeta - October/November 2023

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These #FallPlanting posts are getting further-and-further out from reality.  The photos below show lush, green garden.  I'm posting this at the end of November.  This was from way back in early October.  I had a Cat's Pajamas Nepeta planted in the backyard in pretty deep shade.  It wasn't doing well.  So, I dug it out and brought it over to the curved border outside the kitchen window.   The first photo below is the Nepeta peeking out from under a Guacamole Hosta leaf.  The second is the new home by the peonies and Lucky Charm Anemones: This doesn't count in my new/divided plants, right?  It is just a transplant.   I'm posting this in November 2023, but I did this transplanting in mid-October 2023.

Lost: Columnar Scotch Pine Tree - November 2023

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Planted early this year - with MUCH fanfare - my Columnar Scotch Pine tree is dead.  I yanked it out and returned it for a store credit.   Earlier this Fall, I noticed that it was *really* struggling, so I decided to do something pretty drastic:  transplanting it.   I also decided - as part of the transplant process - to lop-off all the dead parts.  I thought that maybe it wanted more sun, so I put it by the boardwalk.  Here's what it looked like when I transplanted it in September:  some green needles, but not doing well: Six weeks later, it was gone.  Below is what it looked like before I dug it out:  no more green needles. I've talked about how I haven't, historically done enough with conifers.  But, part of the reason for that negligence is because I've had such bad luck with them.  This is another lost conifer in a long-line of them.  Have I made up for things with my new Conifer Garden?  Maybe.  But, might they all end up like this columnar Scotch Pine?  Maybe, t

Five Autumn Ferns Planted - November 2023

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#10 on my 2023 to-do list was to do a 'fern upgrade' .  That means replacing the Ostrich Ferns (my first love) with ferns that do better and last longer.  I've written about this a few times before and even tried to implement this last Fall with planting a number of Autumn Ferns late.  But...not all of them made it.  Despite that, I decided to roll the dice (again) and plant Autumn Ferns late in the growing season.  This time, they're slightly bigger, though.  ( Last year, I planted 12 and only six small ones came back. ) Also..of note...I planted two Crested Wood Ferns earlier this year - as part of my #FernUpgrade project . One of the things that I'm evolving on in my garden are hostas.  I was a hosta guy.  But, the thing that I'm starting to notice - over time - is that Hostas totally disappear come dormancy.  That leaves BIG swaths of NOTHING in the garden all winter.  Are hostas going to stay in my garden?  Yes.  But, I'm done dividing any of them that

Fall Dividing All Gold Hakonechloa Forest Grasses - November 2023

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The star of our garden are the All Gold Hakonechloa Japanese Forest Grasses .  I have two colonies of them - one in front and one in back.  I have a dozen places where I could use more, but they are always very expensive and rarely go on sale.  So...I thought they might be a good candidate for Fall Division.   I selected one to test this Fall - in the front IB2DWs bed.  And only chose one because I haven't divided these before.  They've been really hard to get established, so I didn't want to put too many of them at risk.  But...if this works this year, I'll divide a few in the Spring and then even more come Fall 2024. Here's the before - I was targeting the largest one in the back. And, here's the after -below.  My process for this was to first tie-up the grass blades, so I could get a good shot at digging out the clump.  Below is the grass all tied-up. I opted to divide it FIRST into half.  Then, I took one of the halves and divided that again.  Leaving me wit

Creating A Stumpery Garden - Getting Ahead of A 2024 Garden Trend - November 2023

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I spotted this annual outlook on gardening trends from Garden Design and will - I think - post about the full list at some point.  I've done that the past few years - 2022 trends -  and last year - 2023 trends .  There are a few items on this years list that are worth a blog-post-level exploration.   But...there's one item that was totally BRAND NEW to me.  Borderline revelation.  It was that in 2024, more gardeners are going to 'rediscover stumpery gardens'.    I read that and was like... Wait a second.  Stumpery.  What the heck is a stumpery?   I've never heard of a stumpery let alone thought about adding one or 'rediscovering' stumpery gardens.   Here's what Garden Design says : While once a Victorian fad designed to show off fern collections, stumperies are again making a comeback. Only now, the focus isn’t only on plant collections but also on creating wildlife sanctuaries while showcasing shade-loving plants. Simply speaking, a stumpery is a shad

Royal Purple Smoke Tree Planted - IB2DWs - October 2023

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I've long admired the Purple Smoke Trees that I see in gardens and landscapes.  I've thought about planting one for a number of years, but each time I come across one, I opt against it.  Until...this week.  When I found a 'Royal Purple' Smoke Tree at the end-of-season sale at the orange big box store.  It was too good of a price and I've been wanting to add some red to contrast the newly planted dwarf conifers in my new IB2DWs Conifer Garden. So, I bought it and stuck it in the ground closer to the sidewalk and pretty far back in the bed.   You can see it in the photo below:  Is this thing a tree?  Or a shrub?  It is referenced either way, but I'm calling it a tree - mostly due to the name.  The tag says 'shrub', but... This becomes the last tree of 2023 and...amazingly...the 21st planted for the year.   As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

Bird's Nest Spruce Planted - IB2DWs - October 2023

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What does my IB2DWs bed lack?  Well...to be fair, it lacks a lot.  But what I'm (mostly) talking about are conifers.  Evergreens.  Remember... Conifers Should Come First .  I've failed at that.  But, I can make up for it, I hope.  My #2 priority was to plant evergreens IB2DWS.  And my #1 was to add more evergreens .  I've started by posting about one of two Baby Blue Spruce trees that I planted in the extended IB2DWs bed.  Today, I'm sharing that I planted a Bird's Nest Spruce in the currently planted IB2DWs bed.  You can see it above - it is to the west of the Cat's Pajamas Nepeta and a few feet set back from the driveway. It was five bucks.  What's not to like about that?  I have a Bird's Nest Spruce in the back that was devoured by rabbits.  I've moved it once and need to move it again.   Here's the container - Bird's Nest Spruce - Picea abies 'Nidiformis' - which NC State calls a 'dwarf needled evergreen shrub' .   As for

Ruby Muhly Grass - Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' - Three Planted By Boardwalk - October 2023

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Another day, another set of plants going in as part of my #FallPlanting sprint.  This time...featuring a set of ornamental grasses that I've seen other talk about:  Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' - or Ruby Muhly Grass.  At the top of this post is a look at one of the small quart-sized grasses that I brought home.  And below is a photo of the tag at The Growing Place - where they call this grass a "show stopper'.   Across Instagram, I've seen a few gardeners that I follow post photos of the plumes of these Muhly grasses - especially in the sunset.  At $5 a piece, the sale price had me trapped.   When I began to get them planted, I was struck by how dense and mature their root systems were - see below for what I'd consider a root-bound grass: I opted to put them right at the end of the current boardwalk - two in back, one out front to create a small grass colony.  See below for two photos:  one from the yard looking back at the boardwalk.  The other fro

John Creech Sedum spurium - Two Planted In Front - October 2023

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Fall 2023 is (now) going to be a moment that I'll look back on and think about sedums.  Sedums as groundcover have been on my radar since the success of the volunteer Angelina Sedum that started in our backyard and I've transplanted in a number of places.   The past few weeks have featured a few Sedum that have gone in - a Chicks and Hens Hopewell and a pair of Voodoo Sedum - all of which are IB2DWs and are part of my growing groundcover collection.  When I was at The Growing Place, I came across another new (to me) sedum:  Sedum spurium 'John Creech'.  You can see the sign above in this post.  They say:  A fantastic groundcover.  Distinctive, spoon-shaped leaves.  And it forms 'an extremely tight, dense mat that weeds don't have a chance '.   Who is John Creech?  From the Missouri Botanic Garden listing, they say :   John Creech, former director of the U.S. National Arboreteum, reportedly collected this plant at the Central Siberian Botanic Garden in 1971.

Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' - Two Planted in Front - October 2023

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Fall planting continues with a few more plants that required me to 'step out' a little bit from my gardening comfort zone with another flowering perennial.  Yesterday, I shared the three dark-foliage, flowering Midnight Masquerade Pentsemons that I put IB2DWS - extended and talked about how I was drawn to them because of the dark foliage, but bought them based on Roy Diblik's "Appropriate Plant List" .  'Midnight Masquerade' is an improved habit of a few varieties that are included on Roy's list, so I had confidence in adding them to our garden.   I was walking the nursery tables at The Growing Place during their 50% off end-of-the-season sale and found a few things that I've decided to add to the garden. The first one was the Cardoon that I posted about earlier this week.  I noted that I wasn't sure it was going to be hardy for our zone, but my plan is to 'mulch it in' pretty hard with biosolids and leaves and hope for the best. The s