Why I Oughta...

Moving on from the pair of stoop containers (small ones) , we now look at the pair of larger, back patio containers.  #7 on my 2024 to-do list was to 'do better containers' - and these two are the largest of the bunch and that means can have the biggest impact.  Are these perfect?  Nope.  Not by a lot.  Are they better than last year?  I think so.   Here, below, is a look at both of them side-by-side.  There's Creeping Jenny cascading down in both.  Red Wave Petunias are dotted in both.  The corner container has Orange Zinnias.  And the round one has the (new to me) Scaevola 'Bombay Dark Blue flower that has spread out and added some nice color.   Below is a closer look at the Scaevola 'Bombay Dark Blue - from The Growing Place.   Here's a look at all three working together - with the Wave Petunias in bloom (last week). The Creeping Jenny was a hold-over from last year and overwintered in teh container...

The last time that I published a "State of the IB2DWs" was in Summer 2022 - just about two years ago . Back then, the bed was just getting established; after being transformed from turf grass to a mulch bed.  Today, it is longer, bigger, more-planted and presents a more full-figured profile to visitors.  I thought it was time to update the garden diary with a new State of IB2DWs.    First, the original part - closer to the garage.    Below are a few photos that show the current state - featuring some Serendipity Alliums, Karl Foerster Grasses, Cat's Pajamas Nepeta, some Elijah Blue Fescue clumps, creeping jenny, sedums, All Gold Hakonechloa grasses, a couple of Agastache Blue Fortune , a Prairie Dropseed, some Peonies, a couple of conifers, some boxwoods, a Cardoon and a couple of trees.  Things are doing well, but the Summer heat hasn't arrived.  

#17 on my 2023 to-do list was to 'keep going with groundcover' and that's something that I've done in little pockets all season-long.  The idea of 'living mulch' along with the ability to buy LESS wood mulch is quite attractive to me.  Not to mention the increased competition with weeds, the 'reduction of footcandles' (as Roy Diblik puts it ) and the filling in spaces.  There's, frankly, a lot of reasons to like groundcover.   Last year, I added 20-or-so groundcover plants including some Ajuga and Carex. This year, I've looked at how well the Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' has done and posted about my groundcover progress for 2023 .  Earlier this Summer -in early August - I ran a subtotal of my groundcover plantings for the 2023 season .  At that time, I totaled 30 new groundcover plants and plugs for 2023: 1  Epimedium warleyense  - Orange Queen Epimedium 3  Spine Tingler Epimedium 14  Ajuga Chocolate Chip 6  Ajuga Bronze Beauty 3...

It seems that I've stumbled across a groundcover that works for me in areas of deep shade and places that I'll neglect.  That's the situation on the north side of our house - along the gravel path.  I have never watered this area.  But, I stuck a Creeping Jenny Moneywort out there after I dug it out of our Front Porch Container and it has...ummm...taken. Last October, I showed a photo of this ground cover and it was just getting started here .  What's it look like today?  See below for how it has spread out and is thriving: I like how it is spilling out onto the path.  And how it has filled in a huge section of this long, linear bed.     With this kind of growth, you have to wonder if this is an invasive, right?  University of Wisconsin says that it isn't .  But...I'm not sure.  Despite adding some ground cover being one of my 2022 to-do items, I'm not going to fly out and buy a bunch of plugs of this stuff.  At least...no...

I've posted a series of times about the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that we have in our landscape and how I've been digging them up, dividing them and transplanting them to various spots of our beds to provide that notion of a cohesive design with repeating patterns of specific plants.  I started doing this last Fall and then did even more this Spring after realizing that the ones I divided last Fall were just fine.   Last week, I showed how I made eight new divisions in the backyard and planted them in various places in the backyard.  The final Karl Foerster grass that I needed to dig up and divide was this large one in between our driveway and front walk stoop.  It was left there as a hedge - but is suffering from some center rot.  It needed to be divided.  See below for the 'before'.  The two further back were divisions from last Fall and are showing some new green tips this Spring: After digging that one out and dividing it up, I put on...

Last year, we had some Moneywort (Creeping Jenny ) in our front porch container that before Winter set in, I transplanted into a couple of beds to try to grow as ground cover.  One of the plants I divided and planted in the ' in between two driveways' bed that I was just establishing last Fall .   Another one of them ended up behind the fence, but along the house.  This bed is now set against the metal path edging and had a couple of legacy Hostas planted here and there over the years.   This particular Creeping Jenny seemed to weather the Winter just fine (it *is* tucked in against the house and has the fence not far from it, so there isn't harsh Winter winds that could hit it) and this Summer, it seemed to stretch out a bit.  You can see the current state of the ground cover below:  This seems like it needs a few shade tolerant plants tucked in on their side of the main planting of Moneywort, but it also tells me that I can replicate this in oth...