Why I Oughta...

Most everything perennial in our backyard garden has gone to sleep for the season.  But there's some new(er) things that are seeing their first Winter season in our yard that are showing a little bit of contrast.  Below is a photo that shows an inter-planted set of Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria and Blue Champion Primrose.  The Primrose went in the beds in VERY EARLY Spring 2023 and this is the first Winter:  The foliage difference is pretty striking;  the Pulmonaria is mostly brown, wilting and dead.  The Primrose?  Green and seemingly evergreen.   A new (to me) nice little study in winter foliage. Here's a post from a little bit over a year ago showing these same Pulmonaria without the Blue Champion Primrose .   Also... note the leaf litter.  Those Northern Red Oak leaves sure don't break down easily.  

I'm on a roll with dividing - ferns, seslaria, Astilbes.  Today, spotted Lungwort. Last Fall, I transplanted my three Twinkle Toes Lungwort from the back of a bed, closer to the front .  Those three have thrived in their new spot.  But, they also left behind a few little surprises.   In the spot where the three transplants were living previously sprouted up three whole Twinkle Toes Lungwort plants.   I, of course hedged.  I dug up two of them and left one in place.  The two that I dug up, I divided.  Creating four new Twinkle Toes Lungworts.  I put two on the front of the border next to the newly transplanted Fanal Astilbes on the north side.   I tucked one in next to the Ghost Fern on the Boardwalk: And the fourth went in at the stoop on the side gravel walkway: Below is an 'after' photo that shows the three big clumps in front and the one volunteer that I left in place.  Next year, I'll lift it out and divide again....

Here comes planting season. The first of the new perennials has just gone in:  the three primrose that we bought at Wannemaker's early season sale .  These are Primula belarina 'Blue Champion' and I interplanted them with the Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I transplanted late last growing season (I moved them closer to the front of the border in order to allow space for other things in the middle of the bed that are taller .) and they have reemerged this Spring.   This area is more Sunny this time of year, but becomes more shade as the trees take on their seasonal leaves.   My hope is they'll be watered in (enough) to get established this year and as the Lungwort grows up, it will protect these Primrose a little bit.  

 The timing of dormancy in the garden continues to be a real source of learning for me in our garden - with different plants moving at different pacing that varies from year-to-year.  One of the plants that I caught in the garden going through a transition this week was the trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort (Pulmonaria) that is showing a mix of foliage that appears to be green and some that is showing pure garden death.   See below for a photo showing the three Pulmonaria in early January: This Fall, I moved these these three out further to the edge of the bed, so there is likely a bit of transplant shock , but based on what I've seen over the years, these are right on track.    Here's a post with photos from early March 2021 that shows a similar mix of dead foliage with the new growth.

Yesterday, I posted a photo of this strange feather grass that is still green and alive in a large container on my patio and mentioned that everything else has gone dormant and has suffered from the series of frost-filled overnights that we had last week.  Almost all of the various shrubs have dropped their leaves and most of the low-and-mid-height perennials have let their leaves and flowers shed.  But, there are a few things of note in the garden that I thought I'd document for the diary here. First, the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  They're still holding their leaves.  And those leaves are a dark, dark red/maroon.  A few green ones, too.  See below for a peek at one of these in our backyard: Also, below, you can see the three Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria that are wilting from the frost.

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos showing the transplant location of three purple Astilbes that I moved from the north bed to the south bed where they're (now) tucked in amongst some other Fanal Astilbes.  In that post, I mentioned that this was the first of my early Fall transplant moves that I was planning to take on as the weather begins to turn cooler.  On my [ Fall 2022 ] task list was another transplant project:  Twinkle Toes Lungwort .   I planted three of these Lungwort in the south bed back in the Fall of 2020 and they've done really well over the past two growing seasons.  All three of them have put on size and are really lovely dotted silver, low border-loving plants.   In my post from a couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to dig these up and move them closer to the front of the bed.  The reality is that they're low-lying plants and need to be closer to the front so I can plant something more intermediate behind them....

I have a trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I planted in the Fall of 2020 that need to be put on my Fall 2022 transplant list.  In the photo below, you can see the three spotted Lungwort in the upper right of the photo.  And...in the bottom/center of the photo a big, wide-open space in the bed along the border - right where the hose is showing up all wavy-like.  These three Lungwort need to be dug up and moved closer to the border.  Two on the bottom side of the hose, one on the top side - in the middle.  And it is something I need to do this Fall.   I have a few other things (now) on the [ Fall 2022 ] tag in terms of transplanting projects like this Pagoda Dogwood (transplant or prune??) and dividing some hostas .  Now, moving these Lungwort is on there - and something I should do in September to give them enough time before the first frost. 

There are some plants that I've bought at various nurseries that seem to have done well and others that don't make it.  Then, there are the plants and perennials that I've bought at the Morton Arboretum plant sales.  I'm pretty sure that aside from some Huecheras that I planted in full Sun and were trampled by workers building the house next door, just about everything that I've brought home has worked out well.  The first time I went to the Morton sale was in the Fall of 2020 - they had a Fall Sale due to COVID - and I brought home some new-to-me perennials.  The first of those were three Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria - or Lungwort - that I planted in our backyard in late September 2020 .  They survived their first Winter and emerged for their first Spring a year ago - in mid-March 2021 .   Ever since, they've just performed and had some nice growth along the way.    The last time that I showed these were in Fall of last year when they put on som...

I planted three of these Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (Lungwort) last Fall after buying them from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale .  It seemed to do fine to wind down the growing season last year and I was excited to see it re-emerge this Spring with new growth .  I don't seem to have posted any specific photos of these during the growing season, but I did sneak them into these photos from when I planted some Jack of Diamonds Brunnera this Summer .  When I was out planting the Green Gem boxwoods recently, I noticed that these had put on some LATE-Season growth and seemed pretty happy. Below, are a couple of photos showing (first) all three of them.  You can see the new, more-green foliage in the center of the plant as the new growth.  Then, in the second photo, you can see a close-up of the new growth. These have been a great addition to our shade garden and I can think of a half-dozen other places to add similar Pulmonaria plants.  Thinking I should put ...

I was walking around the front beds and - once again - I'm struck by how I've had not a lot of luck with anything I've planted underneath our large Norway Maple tree that sits right outside of our front porch.  This large tree is in decline - likely due to the construction we had when we built our house in 2016 and 2017.  I've tried to attack *that* problem by having the arborists from Davey apply a growth regulator and a liquid fertilizer last year.  And, I'm hoping that the tree is on a path towards survival.  They'll come back this year to apply a second year of fertilizer - that I'm pretty sure (based on these photos) is working .   This year though, I lost a mature hydrangea - a Vanilla Strawberry (one of four out front) and my Lime Light Hydrangeas suffered some this year - and dropped a lot of their leaves in the middle of the Summer .  Here, below, is a top-down photo showing the dead hydrangea (very bottom, middle) and the proximity to the Nor...

Mid-July is when the big box stores start to put some of their perennials on 50% off sales.  They have their trees and shrubs that have been picked over out on pallets with big 50% off signs, but they also begin to put some of the perennials inside the garden center, including shade plants on discounts, too.  On one of my trips to one of the Home Depots near us, I found some of these Jack of Diamonds' Brunnera in 1# nursery pots from Proven Winners that were marked down 66% - making them three for the price of one.   These are the second set of Brunnera that we now have in the yard with the first ones (a trio of three) were these Queen of Hearts ones that I planted in June of this year in the shade of our backyard .  These are new to me this year, but were on the list that Laura from Garden Answer published of her favorite shade perennials.   The Queen of Hearts Brunnera are planted in a border mixed with some hostas and they've done well this first y...

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 t...

My mother always had a dwarf Alberta Spruce in our landscape.  Despite being a shade gardener, I have a memory of her having one of these shrubs/trees in the front yard when I was growing up.  I also remember that my Busia had a couple of these, too. And, that's why I put one in a couple of years ago.  I planted this tree (is it really a tree??) back in late Spring 2018  and it seemed to do well right away.  It put on some new growth in year one and year two.  This year, it was humming along.  But, suddenly, it now looks like this below.  It is in decline:  Back at the beginning of the month, I posted a photo and details of a trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that I planted at the base of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce .  In that post , I made mention of the stress this tree was under then.  In the photo above in this post, you can see both the Spruce, but you can also see all three of the Lungwort. At this point, I'm not hopeful.  Need...

Back in late September, I posted some photos and details of three Twinkle Toes Lungwort plants that I bought at the Fall Plant Sale .  These are pretty interesting plants in that they have hairy foliage, are variegated and throw off blue flowers.  All while being shade plants.  I got around to planting them in a mass right to the yard-side of the Dwarf Albert Spruce tree - that is having some stress right now.   You can see them below:   I'm going to keep watering these in every few days to try to help them get established and hope that they'll stick around come next Spring.  ( Note:  I labeled this planting in September, yet the date of the post is October. )

We have no blue flowering plants in our yard - so when we came across a full shade, blue-flowering perennial at the Fall Plant Sale - Nat said that we had to buy them.  These are NOT on my plan, but since they're Full Shade, they can go just about anywhere.   We bought three of these (and one more for Nat's Mom) for our backyard.   Walter's Garden describes these as being complimentary to hostas and ferns:  This beautiful shade perennial will make you dance with its impressive spring flowers and unique foliage. Starting in mid-spring shortly after Hellebores are finished booming, dainty light periwinkle blue flowers cover a low, mounded habit. After the flowers fade, you can enjoy its dark green leaves that are lightly sprinkled with silver. This plant will thrive in part shade to full shade as long as you provide moisture. Pulmonaria is an underused perennial that grows well in shady gardens. It is especially attractive when planted among hostas, ferns, a...