Why I Oughta...

I've been working on a wasserspiel (water feature) that includes a DIY Alpine trough that can be part of an upgraded water feature in the backyard.  The current water feature is a half-barrel with an insert that is stuck about half-way back in the garden and it is mostly a sound-feature.   The inspiration for the new feature is in this post (via Instagram) and includes a basin dug into the ground, covered in gravel with a stone trough on top that empties into the gravel and then recirculates.   That means that I have to identify a spot that I can dig out for a basin, cover it with gravel and set the DIY Alpine trough on top.  Oh...I also have to make the LARGER trough, as my current one is simply proof-of-concept.   I've been thinking about water features around the patio for years.  This post from 2017 (almost 10 years ago, eeek) shows a waterfall/creek that I fell in love with and talked about how it could work around the steps to the pat...

Over the past week or so, I've posted the first posts in my compost bin turning process.  In part one, I emptied the tumbler, removed the (mostly) finished compost from the third (finishing) bin and filled the tumbler back up .  In part two , I upgraded the finishing bin with some additional cedar boards to hold in more of that "black gold" near the bottom.   In that part two post, I outlined what was going to happen next :  The next step (which I'll cover in Part 3) is to open up the middle (mixing) bin and the left (holding bin) and pull everything out and build a mixed pile that I can load up into the finishing bin. I'll add a couple of layers of mixed material, slide in the first level of the aeration pipes. Add more material, then add the second level of pipes. Then, pile in the rest of the material to fill the finishing bin. I typically OVERFILL the the finishing bin. Mound up the material HIGHER than the rails of the bin. When the pile decomposes, i...

I was supposed to have two Crichton Honey tubers in the garden this year.  I'm certain that I have one.  The one next to the pizza oven.  I labeled it as dahlia #1 in my 42 tuber planting map .  I bought two Crichton Honey tubers from Bonny Blooms.   The other one is at spot #12 along the sideyard .  But, that whole bed has been suffering the past few weeks from a terrible infestation of Spider Mites.  So, I'm not seeing ANY blooms.  And, I'm not sure that it is Crichton Honey.  At least yet. But, the pizza oven version?  Have a look: And, in addition to being real (and spectacular), they're certainly popping off right now with blooms and blooms. Apricot blooms.  Almost orange.    I think they say "pumping out blooms" in the trade.  That checks out. While my time right now is spent with my little snips cutting off flowers for arrangements....I am hoping that all this above-ground plant happiness that I'm seeing means...

A couple weeks ago, I posted photos and details of how I was emptying the compost tumbler of finished compost (black gold) and top-dressing the dahlias around the garden.  And, stashing piles of compost in beds that I'd like to improve after the growing season (like the pizza oven bed that is full of clay).   #14 on my 2026 to-do list is to be an active compost gardener.   To be that, I need to turn the bins.   For me, that's an annual process.  I do it in late Summer/Fall.   And, that process was something that I recently started.  This post will cover part one (not sure how many parts there will be) of that process.   First, let's start off with the state of play with the three bin setup.   Left = holding bin.  The freshest material.  Not properly mixed. Center = mixed bin.  Material that is (at least) one-year aged.  And (hopefully) properly mixed. Right = finishing bin.   Two-y...

A few days ago, I posted an update on the 'compact' coleus (Wizard Sun Red Velvet Coleus) that I planted up front in the Island Bed in our front yard and talked about how my thinking on them has evolved as the Summer has gone on.  I initially was dissatisfied with their size, but after seeing them branch-out (a little bit), I've now come to the realization that their compact growing habit is a feature.  Not a bug.  Today is about celebrating another coleus that I've planted as a bedding plant:  Talavera Moondust Coleus that is planted in the corner bed by the patio.  I posted about this planting in early August when I declared they were doing: preeetay, preetay, preetay good .   Today, in early September, they're doing *even better*.  These have lived up to their billing as 'late flowering' and 'non-bolting' as I've only had to pinch off a few flower buds.   Last year, I declared the planting of some Inferno Coleus in this same spot a...

Just when things were going swimmingly with dahlia season pop'ing off, we have a setback.  And, this one was an accident.  I planted a number of dahlias in the Pizza Oven Bed.  I called it the "Pizza Oven West Bed" because it is, well...West of the oven.  And, that makes them *close* to tree swing.  Which, up until this week hasn't been an issue.  But...kids will be kids.  And, one-way-or-the-other, someone found themselves in, amongst the dahlias.  And, unfortunately....that means that two of them had stems that were cracked off.   A Milena Fluer decorative dahlia.  And, Rip City.  Or... what I was sold as Rip City (but I'm pretty sure isn't really Rip City.) Here, below, are a couple of photos.  Milena Fleur on the left.  "Rip City" on the right.  Both were cut down by about half.     Below are a couple more photos showing the close-ups of the cracks.   And, here below, are a couple of...

In the Summer of 2020, I bought and planted a small Harry Lauder Walkingstick tree .  A contorted tree that was inspired by our visit to Disneyland Paris and their Phantom Manor ride that has an outdoor queue with contorted , weeping and other very interesting trees/horticulture.  When we bought it, it was small.    And, it has stayed *mostly* small.  Hasn't changed VERY MUCH .  But, the bed the tree is planted in certainly *has changed* very much.   This tree is planted in the back, sort-of tucked in behind some things.  This is the sixth growing season and the tree is still somewhere between waist-and-chest high.  Like every tree that I've planted since the first few seasons, I haven't touched this tree.  No pruning.  No cleaning up.  Just an annual deep-root feeding from the professionals.   Here, below, is what it looks like in mid-Summer:  It really shines during the Winter when you can see the skeleton...

We have had a wet couple of weeks here in August.  I haven't watered anything in the garden since early August.  Not even the containers.  That's because we've had deep rains that have come every few days.  That's good for most things.  It has also made it easy on me in terms of lugging around the hose.   And, before that,  according to the Illinois State Climatologist blog post, we also had a wet July .  So, add those things up and it seems that some parts of the garden are loving it right now.  And, one of those is the Stumpery.   This year, I added 15 (yes...fifteen!) Autumn Ferns to the Stumpery.  These were planted amongst some existing Autumn Ferns.  And, three Godzilla Japanese Painted Ferns that went in the garden in Summer 2025 .  I picked these up at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale last year.  I looked for them again this year, but they didn't have any.  Based on how well they're doing, thes...

The Anemone Lucky Charm (from Northwind Perennial Farm) are just beginning to pop-off with their bloom cycle.  These are, I suppose "Late Bloomers".  This post from 2023 includes the description of this 'Lucky Charm' variety .  It also shows a similar late-August bloom time.  Here's a post from 2022 that includes the nursery sign when we bought them .  I've used these as filler/accent flowers in arrangements the past few seasons and I'll likely do the same this year.  Here, below, is the first cut of the year.  I like the closed-up buds better than I like the actual flowers in arrangements. Here below, is how they look on the plant: And, here below, is how the plants have filled-in and recovered from the planting of that Blue Spruce (on Standard).   They've filled-in the entire space and have created a living mulch of sorts with their spreading habit: I took a couple of divisions from this plant and put them near the pizza oven.  They're...

I saw this DIY fountain project featuring an Alpine trough and pondless setup on Instagram recently and it stuck with me so much that I've gone back to it a few times.  It is a small concrete (or stone or faux, I have no idea) trough, a simple copper faucet and an underground storage chamber that creates a pondless fountain situation.  Very European garden-feeling.  (To me, at least.)  Here it is embedded below:  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sebastian Streich (@my.garden.life.and.home) It is small but pretty striking.  I've talked about upgrading our water-feature situation over the years and even included an upgrade on my 2026 to-do list (#23) .   I've read and watched a ton of stories/videos about hypertufa and have recently poked around on DIY'ing an Alpine trough.  It seems that one of the ways forward is using a foam chassis that you wrap in concrete to create a lightweight tub.  That seems......

Back a few years back, I was on a real "dark foliage" kick.  I was seeking out "dark foliage" plants like Dark Side of the Moon Astilbe.  And... I ended up planting a pair of Eiffel Tower Elderberries in the backyard, under the secondary Oak tree along the south fence line .  The plant tags showed JET BLACK foliage.  The description said that the leaves emerge green and age to a dark black.   I don't think I've gotten black foliage.  Yet.  I posted photos in October 2024 (their second growing season) and they were...well...green .   What about now?  Below is a photo showing this pair of plants.  They're supposed to be 'upright', but mine are kind of lingering.   One thing that I just revisited is this little tid-bit of maintenance.  From my original planting post : Black Tower Elderberry is excellent for the back of the border and adds some textural drama to tight spaces. Plant in full coastal sun or partial shad...

Back in the Fall of 2023, I planted three Ruby Muhly Grasses - Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' - at the edge of the boardwalk in our backyard .  They were a deal on the 'end of the season' sale at The Growing Place.  But, they were also a grass that I had read about/come across them and thought their 'cloud-like' seedheads are something I'd like to have in the garden.   They went in very late in the season, but came back just fine their first year.  Here they are in mid-August 2024 prior to putting on any seed-head growth .  They were snug in their bed that I have subsequently expanded a little bit (and should expand more this Fall).   By September that first year, they had some seedheads .  But...not the 'clouds' that these grasses are famous for, at least.   Fast-forward to now.  This is their third growing season and they seem to have established themselves.  I don't pay much attention to them in terms of watering/...

Seven years ago, I planted a hedge.  Or, what was (hopefully) something that was going to grow INTO a hedge.  Of Hicks (upright) Yews.  I bought 15 (fifteen) very small, one-gallon pots of the evergreen columnar shrub and planted them on about 30" centers across the back of our yard .  When I say "very small", I mean "very small".   The last time that I looked at this hedge was in January, when everything in the garden was dormant and the green needles of the Yews stood out .   Below are a few photos showing the current state of this hedge.  Is it a hedge, yet?  Well...not quite.  But, we're getting close. They're filling in the gaps (not totally) and growing up (in an uneven fashion).  The inspiration for using these (well...) yews was an undulating hedge that I found on Instagram .  I also found " Wirtz hedges " that are sort-of cloud-pruned.   So, that means that the 'uneven-ness' isn't a bug.  It is (pot...

In the Spring of 2023, I ripped out a pair of Rhododendron from either side of our back stoop and replaced them with a pair of Spring Grove (dwarf) Ginkgo trees .  They were in larger nursery containers at the time I bought them, but they were small.  Short.  Well...dwarf.  Which usually means they're very slow-growing.  I wrote this 'getting to know' post about Spring Grove Ginkgo and talked about how they were discovered as a Witch's Broom in Ohio.   That first Summer, they were stressed.  This is a sunny location and the hot afternoon sun beat them up.  So, I put up some shade cloth to try to get them through August.  That worked and by September, they were leafy and (mostly) green .  Ever since, they haven't looked back.  And are growing faster than I thought they would.   Here they are in October 2024 .   Over the years, I've posted Wintertime photos showing their 'frames'.   Today, despi...

Over the past few growing seasons, I've become a coleus-as-bedding-plant believer.  I 'praised' it in Fall of 2024 .  And, called growing three Inferno Coleus at the corner of our patio a ' garden win ' at the end of the growing season (October) last year.  This year, I didn't plant any Inferno Coleus, which...in retrospect was a mistake.  I've been unhappy with the coleus up front, but I can't say the same about the coleus I planted in our backyard - in the same spot as Inferno last year.  This year, I planted three Talevera Moondust Coleus in that spot.  I found them at Wannemaker's and they jumped off the nursery table with their speckles of paint on the foliage.   If you go back to the planting post , you'll see that they're described this way by the grower: Sun-tolerant varieties maintain color and foliage patterns in both sun and shade conditions. These late-flowering selections are tidy, non-bolting plants in the garden. The plant tag...

Back around the border of the fire pit is a Redbud Tree.  I originally planted a weeping Lavender Twist Redbud tree in 2020, but it came cracked-in-half .  It came back alive, but I'm not sure if the tree was grafted or not, which means that the trunk was some other kind of tree.  I also sort-of lost track of where this tree was planted, because back in 2020, I planted it along the fence .    But...today....as I mentioned in the first sentence, we have a Redbud tree around the firepit.   I also have a memory of this tree getting stomped by some tree guys. However, it has persisted.  And, grown.   And, it *is* weeping.   But, now it is a multi-trunk tree. However, it is arching up and out (over the lawn and the firepit) and has taken on a nice shape.   I haven't documented this tree in the [tree diary], so I thought it was about time.    

In the pizza oven bed, I have a lone, solitary Alchemilla Mollis 'Thriller' (Lady's Mantle) that I planted near the corner of the timbers of the retaining wall.  You can see it in the photos of this post about adding a new (to me) allium variety to that same bed .    I also bought a different variety (Auslese) a few years back and planted it in a spot that is buried in Ostrich Ferns.  I should go see if I can move that thing..... The reason I bring it up is that I was...well...influenced.   I saw this post from Erin the Impatient Gardener where she fawns over Alchemilla Mollis (Lady's Mantle) in her garden: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) One of my garden rules is to never buy one of anything.  So, I needed to remedy that issue.   Also, #3 and #4 on my 2026 to-do list are these: For #3 (Finish up the edit with grasses), I have made progress....