Why I Oughta...

The small, linear bed that is up against the foundation of our garage received some attention last year with the planting of three 1# Green Velvet boxwoods  and  a pair of Kousa Dogwoods that I'm going to espalier against the house.  This bed has been home to a bunch of orphans - including some Ostrich Ferns, hostas and the various Coral Bells that I've planted in containers and transplanted into this bed at the end of the growing season.  ( Note to self:  lay off Heucheras going forward, they just don't perform that well for me .) Historically, this has been a VERY informal bed, but my goal with the boxwoods were to add a little bit of structure, winter interest and formality to the garden.  This is 'on the way' to our backyard, so is viewed by anyone who 'comes back' via the gravel pathway. In the photo below, you can see the boxwood evergreen shrub that has managed the winter just fine, but you'll also note a clump of moss that we stuck into the soil...

I planted three Peachberry Ice Heucheras that I picked up at the Morton Arboretum Spring Sale last year and planted them around the border of the firepit in the back.  I've had mixed success with Heucheras in general, but these were pretty striking color-wise, so I opted to bring them home.    They seemed to do well in their first year and by late Summer had put on some size and were showing a nice two-tone set of leaves.  Here they were in mid-August 2023 .   I have left most of my Heucheras un-protected from rabbits over the past few Winters and never noticed that the (dang) rabbits went at them.  But...these must be different.  I was back there cleaning some things up when I brushed aside some of the leaf litter and saw what was left of the Peachberry Ice Heucheras.  See below for what they look like: I have no idea if these will come back this year, but because they lost so much of their mass, I'm not betting on it.  

Last Fall, I bought and planted two (at that time) new (to me) Heucheras:  Dolce Silver Gumdrops.  They were at Lowe's end-of-the-season sale and I said that I was going to plant them in over by the Guacamole Hostas .  Today, there's just one of them.  And, I don't really see *where* I could have planted the other one as there isn't a ton of empty space around.  But that one?  It is showing up well right now - Late Summer/Early Fall with silver foliage and tiny pink blooms about to arrive.  See below for a photo of the current state of this Silver Gumdrop Coral Bells: I've had mixed results with Heucheras over the years.  Some that I've neglected have done great.  Others that I've baby'd have perished.  This one is small, but that's by design.  The listing talks about this Heuchera's size this way : Silver Gumdrop’ is a smaller scale Heuchera, the perfect size for a container. Growers and gardeners alike will be pleased that it is ...

I don't seem to have documented the planting of these two, small Hicks upright Yews, but I wanted to document their current, Summer 2023 status in the [garden diary].  They are planted between the firepit and the side fence.  With the three Peachberry Ice Heucheras planted in front of them. These were planted as 1-gallon evergreen shrubs.  And while they haven't put on a ton of size, they're certainly grown.  See below for a photo showing the two, upright Yews spread apart. With some time, they'll fill in and fill-up to create an evergreen vertical screen.  I don't expect them to grow together, but I will add something-else evergreen in between them down the road. How about the color change on those Heucheras, huh?   

Some of the plants that we brought home from the Morton Arboretum annual plant sale were things that *had* to go in a specific spot.  I KNEW IMMEDIATELY where the Spine Tingler Epimedium was going to go.  Same with the Merlin Hellebores.  But, there were other plants that we bought that I KNEW I wanted to go in our garden, but also knew that there were a handful of spots that were viable options for their location.  The Dark Side of the Moon Astilbes are an example.  I put them on the southside, but I could have put them in a like 5 different spots. Another one that is similar are three Peachberry Ice Coral Bells - or Heuchera Primo Peachberry Ice.  The sign from the sale is at the top of this post that details these beauties.  But...that last line is the one that is most compelling:  Tolerates Black Walnut.  Isn't that interesting?  We have a bunch of Black Walnut trees.  We've lost some Heucheras over the years - like these Dolche...

Proven Winners has come out with their 2023 plants of the year recently and the list includes a few things of note (for me) that are worth getting to know a bit. Before I run through the ones that standout to me, I thought it was important to remind (myself) what Proven Winners uses as their criteria.  Now...Proven Winners is in the business of selling A LOT of plants, so what they say are their 'winners' are grounded in that:  commerce.  But... here's what they say are their criteria :   Easy to grow Iconic Readily available Outstanding landscape performance Easy to grow...for who?  Them...in their greenhouses?  Or, me the intermediate gardener with a shade-filled yard that lacks irrigation in Zone 5b?   Readily available speaks to their ease of growing, so they're really saying 'easy to grow' twice. That last one:  outstanding performance.  This one is the key.  Again...performance of what?   There are other groups...

Over the weekend, we popped into Lowe's to find that their entire garden center (aside Fall things like mums and kale) has been marked down 50%.  Lowe's isn't super convenient for us, but one of the things that I've noticed over the past couple of seasons is that they do a nice job with their garden center and usually carry things that are not normally sold in the Orange Big Box store nursery.  Last year, I planted a couple of purple Heucheras that I bought at Lowes that were 50% off and they've done well in the garden .  Those Purple Palace Coral Bells/Heucheras have all managed to survive this growing season and have put on growth.  This post shows all three of them and talks about the decline of another variety - Dolce Apple Twist .   My experience with those two - the common Purple Palace doing well and the more exotic Apple Twist not so much - was front and center when I came across a couple of plants at Lowes 50% off sale.   As I was walkin...

Last Spring - May of 2021 - I bought and planted three lime green heucheras named Dolce Apple Twist and planted them along the border in the south beds of our backyard.  I quickly transplanted some found hostas around them, filled them with ferns and a few months later added three companion (yet contrasting) purple heucheras named Palace Purple .  I interplanted these two by alternating the Apple Twist and Palace Purple.  That meant that last year....there were six coral bells (or Heucheras) in a little cluster.   This post is about the Dolce Apple Twist varieties.   These were from Proven Winners and bought at the orange big box nursery.  And, you can see in the photo below that there's just ONE left.  That means two have died and are gone.   I've long thought about doing an 'In Memoriam' post at the beginning of every Spring that lists everything that didn't make it.  I should add these to the list.  Heck...maybe I need to ...

Back in 2019, I transplanted a dark read Coral Bell perennial that I had in our urn container into the bed on the side of the garage and didn't think much about it.  It survived that first Winter and grew to a nice size.  Last Spring, I decided to divide it up into three plants.  This is an area of deep shade, so after dividing them, I didn't water them too much.  But, by Fall all three of them had survived .  Fast forward to this Spring and all three are showing new, dark red (maroon) foliage in the long, linear bed along the garage.  You can see them below: This photo - while posted in early June - was actually take in early May before I mulched the beds.  One of my 2022 to-do items (#16) was to design with dark foliage .  These certainly count as dark foliage.  Another item (#12) continue to divide plants.  These are too small (right now) to think about dividing them, but I'm thinking they'll go on a two or three-year schedule. ...

Yesterday, I shared a look at one of the Moneywort plants that I transplanted from a container to our side yard.  It has thrived in deep shade. And....Last week, I posted (again) about dividing and transplanting some Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses in our front beds (under our Norway Maple) and talked about how one of my 2021 to-do list goals was to transplant some foster plants AND to divide up some of my existing perennials.  I've created 12 'free grasses' by dividing up what I have on hand and in *that* post, I mentioned that I also divided a purple Heuchera earlier this year - but failed to post about it. The last time I checked in on this particular plant was last August when it had survived a full year after being transplanted the previous Fall.  But, earlier this year - right around early Spring - I dug up and divided this plant into three separate plants and put them back into the same bed on the northside of the garage.   You can see that bed bel...

I've talked about this before, but mid-Summer 50% off perennial sales are my love language.  That kind of sale typically happens at the big box stores garden centers, but it seems random based on the department manager.  Even at Home Depot - which we have three that I shop from regularly and a fourth that I pop into when I'm going to my parents - I've noticed that some stores do sales differently.  I'm talking hand-written signs vs the normal printed signs that you normally see.   When I come across a hand-written sale sign, I glom on to the stuff.    But, I also was turned on to a whole new thing recently:  Lowes.  We don't have a Lowes close to us, but I took the kids to a batting cage in a town a few over on a recent weekend and discovered that the cages/mini golf place is right behind a huge Lowes.  So, I went in, of course.  And I was surprised.  A step up from Menards, for sure.  The plant material was (mostly) taken...

Yesterday, I posted some photos of our new Japanese Maple tree and included in those photos was a brief look at three of these Dolce Apple Twist Heucheras that I bought at the same time.  Again...not planned - which may have been a mistake - but also, I bought three (not one!).  Here's a look at the 1# nursery pots that they came in: And here's a look at the back of the plant tag showing the height (10") and spacing (20") and a description of the colors (changes with the seasons).  It was their color (chartreuse) that drew me to them thinking that they'll be a nice contrast against some other items in this section. I planted these three in a row on the new border - just outside of the Japanese Tamukeyama Maple and surrounded by some transplanted hostas.  These (below) are the first four of the (ultimate) 15 hostas that I transplanted and posted about last week.  Also, on the left are a few ferns - some of the items listed as companion plants on the tag.  Mo...

Putting this post in the [garden diary] so I remember what I did in terms of feeding some of my existing shrubs and flowers in the beds.  First, I fed my Disneyland Roses for the first time this year - using this product from Jobe's below - called Knockout Rose food.  Mine aren't knock-out roses, but this is the only organic Rose food that the Home Depot was carrying when I was there.  I also fed all of my hydrangeas with Hollytone (no photo), but I used the entire bag.  I spread Hollytone around all seven of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas , the one teardown hydrangea and the two early ones ( Tuff Stuff and Everlasting Revolution ) in the backyard.  In the front yard, I hit the pair of Limelights , the four Vanilla Strawberry across the front porch and the one, lone Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea on the other side of the driveway.  Since this stuff is for acid-loving plants, I also put some in/around the pair of Rhododendrons by our back stoop. I also planted some ...

Last year, we filled our cast iron urn that is out front adjacent to our driveway with a variety of annuals and perennials including a purple Coral Bells or heuchera plant .   In our zone, Coral Bells - which prefers part shade - is typically a perennial, so when I was cleaning out the urn at the end of the gardening season (before we swapped it out for Mums), I stuck it in the bed next to our garage on the north side of our house.  This area is - almost entirely - shade, so I figured it might be something that could grow there. Fast forward to this Summer and have a look at the maroon/purple Coral Bells that you see in the photo at the top of this post.  It seems that the plant made it through the Winter and has come out the other side with some new growth and even some tiny flower stems that have shot out the top. I actually am NOT sure what the specific name is, but I bought it at a big box garden center - and I'm guessing it is this Purple Palace vari...