Why I Oughta...

This is the third in a series of posts showing a few of the various hosta divisions that I've been doing lately in our backyard.  First was the two (new) hostas that I tucked in around the big Oak tree in our south border.   Then, the two (new) Bressingham Blue hostas that I transplanted over on the northside by the Doublefile Viburnum treeform .  Today's 'free plants' post shows off two (new) Lancifolia hostas that I took from a three-way division out by the original Autumn Ferns.   Below is a photo that shows the three Lancifolia Hostas amongst some other foliage.  The original location is in the front/center of the photo.  And the two new ones are both directly 'behind' and 'behind and to the left' of the original/mother hosta.   They look droop-y right now, but Lancifolia hostas are vigorous growers, so I'm not worried about them.  They'll show up strong come Spring. Below is the 'before' look at this area.  You can see the trio of

Yesterday, I posted a few photos of a hosta that I divided and transplanted around the large red oak tree in our backyard.  I tucked in the two new divisions into a part of the border that was bare.  I mentioned in that post that doing the seasonal gardening chore of dividing perennials was/is on my 2022 to-do list and I had planned to do a few more around the backyard.  Today, I'm showing a divided Bressingham Blue hosta that I dug up from around the side of the screened porch and split into three segments. The hosta in question was planted as a bareroot plant in 2018.  That means it has had five full growing seasons.  Here's what it looked like last Summer (2021), when I declared that this had finally reached maturity .  Today, I dug it up. First, below, you can see the current state of the hosta.  It has many stems and is a good division candidate. I split it into three segments and tucked the largest one back in the same spot.  Below, you can see the remaining Bressingham

The time has come to start dividing some perennials.  Why?  Because the temperature has dropped and I find myself with a little bit of time where I can putter in the backyard beds after work before it gets dark.  As a reminder, #12 on my 2022 to-do list was to add more 'free plants' through division - something that I've done the past few growing seasons.   My plan focuses on two different types of plants in our garden:  grasses and hostas.   Earlier this Summer, I went around and identified a few candidates to work on, but I started with a couple of hostas NOT on that list.  I was out by the large, Northern Red Oak tree in the south beds recently and noticed that a couple of hostas that are planted there have grown enough to be considered good candidates for division.  I dug up two - these are unknown cultivars - and split them.   I put one from each division in a hole kind of 'around' the oak tree trunk - in a spot of the border that is currently empty.  See belo

Ten days ago, I shared a photo of the (now) going-on=two-year-old Kentucky Coffee tree seedlings that I've kept in small 1-quart nursery container since they germinated.  In that post, I talked about how each of the small containers contained multiple small seedlings and it was time to both separate them and upgrade them to larger containers.  With the planting of a few new items in the garden, I found myself having a few 1# nursery pots that I could re-use.   I got started by pulling the seedlings out of their current homes (14 months since germination) and began to split them up by tearing the root masses apart.  Below, you can see one of the seedlings root system after I divided the clump: I started with just ONE set of the trees to ensure that they can handle the division of roots.  I figured there were two routes here:  divide the clumps.  Or, simply transplant the double seedling and cut off/prune down the weaker of the two.   Here, below, is the first of those two divided

We have two Praying Hands hostas in our backyard shade garden.  They are both planted close to each other in the hosta bed underneath the large Northern Red Oak tree swing tree and tucked in amongst some other known varieties like Frances Williams and Christmas Tree as well as a bunch of other, unknown varieties - some variegated, some not.   I planted the first one of these in Fall of 2020 .  At some point, I acquired a second one.  I don't seem to have posted about this second planting, nor how I transplanted the first one, but those two things did, indeed happen.  I originally planted this back by the colony of Guacamole Hostas, but I moved it because there's a little path to a kids picnic table there and this was going to be trampled.   Here, below, is a look at both of them. First, the larger of the two.  I'm thinking this is the 2020 version below.  You can see ferns and other hostas in the photo.  As well as the tray of Kentucky Coffee tree seedlings that I have tuck

A few days ago, I posted a photo of our lone Christmas Tree hosta in our backyard and talked about how it appeared ready for division .  I thought that - like last year - I could do a roundup of some other potential hosta division candidates.  I've had the most success in dividing hostas (or...frankly...anything) when I do it in the Fall.  I'm talking late September/early October.   Last Summer (end of August), I compiled a list of eight-or-so candidates .  I'm actually NOT sure which of those I actually moved on, but just a quick glance tells me there were a few that were dug up, divided and transplanted. But, what about this year?  In addition to the Christmas Tree sport, here's a few ideas below. First, the Bressingham Blue hostas next to our screened porch.  Here (below) are two views of them.  They're big and crowding out a painted fern.  At least two of these can be divided.  Further down that same path is this hosta (below).  This can be divided: Some of the

First planted as a tiny nursery hosta (from Menards) in 2018, we have a lone Christmas Tree Hosta in our backyard, under the Northern Red Oak tree swing tree .  That means this hosta is in its fifth growing season.  I posted a photo of it in August of 2020 - right about two years ago.  Check it out here .  Last August (2021), I included an inventory of some (potential) division candidates and included this hosta .   Finally... last Fall (2021), I included a photo of its yellow foliage right as it was heading towards dormancy .   So...what does it look like today?  See below for the current state: It has continued to put on more size and mass.  That means...it should go on my Fall 2022 division candidate list.   Earlier this Summer, I mentioned that some of the bare root Frances Williams hostas need to be relocated .  They're in the same bed as this one.    Add these all to the list along with the purple Astilbes that I posted about last week .   Here's the [ Fall 2022 ] task l

Two years ago (June 2020), I planted a dozen Fanal Astilbes in the (then) small bed along our south fence line in an area that was visible from both the patio and our kitchen windows.  They were in the plan and that was the *approximate* spot for them (at the time).  Why do I say 'at the time'?  Because when I planted these the bed was only about five feet from the fenceline.   That all changed in Spring/Summer of 2021 when I laid out and had a crew dig all new beds that reached far into the yard with a curvilinear shape.  Once the new edge of the border was created, I dug up all of these Fanal Astilbe plants and moved them out, closer to the border .  I planted twelve in 2020 and transplanted all twelve in 2021.  Today?  All twelve are still here.   I moved them to be a little bit of a serpentine row that you can see below.  (You'll also note that the three Butterscotch Amsonia that I planted last Spring are also back.) These could use a little bit of love in terms of &#

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.   2019: Planted in container. Transpl

Last Fall, I went around and started to divide up a bunch of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that were either suffering from some 'center rot' or simply just large enough clumps to warrant division.  There were two sets: one in between our driveway and front stoop that had three and another set out of our kitchen window that had five. As I look around the yard today, I have good news:  All of the divisions were successful and the grasses have come back for Spring.  For now.  First, let's start with the kitchen window grasses.  I hedged a little bit and decided to dig up and divide just TWO of the five.  I left the back three in place.  Below, you can see those three remaining and in front of them a couple of divots where the other two came out. Where did I put them?  I divided both of them into three new grass clumps.  I put the first three on the corner of our patio - you can see below.  These three are happy and green. The other one that was divided up into thirds was

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 below with the

Yesterday I posted a photo of a new bed on the corner of our back patio that is now home to three transplanted Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses .  These were divided from another grass, so....they're the best kind of plants:  free plants.  Today, I'm posting a photo of some other free plants:  another trio of Karl Foerster grasses.   This is the third in the series of dividing these grasses with the first being back i in September.  In that post , I showed how I added just ONE grass underneath our Norway Maple tree in front.   This time, I took another of the driveway grasses (the middle one) and divided it into four pieces.  This one was suffering from Center Rot , so it was due to be divided.  I left the largest piece in place (you can see it in the photo below) and took the other three over by the Maple. I took the other three divisions and planted them in an array in front of the Norway Maple - along with the first one I put there last week.  Now, there's four of the

September is a good time to divide some perennials in our growing zone - 5b - due to the cooler temperatures, the little bit of rain we get and the warm soil temperatures.  I have a few plants in our garden that were planted in 2017 that haven't been divided to date - so that's five growing seasons without dividing.  And, when it comes to some ornamental grasses, it seems that they do BEST when you divide them every three or four years.   My Fall dividing plan starts with these Karl Foerster grasses that were planted next to our driveway and our front way.  I just posted a photo of these grasses last week showing the trio of them being full and wide .  That's about their total, mature size.  Coupled with the fact that I noticed some 'center rot' this Spring , I knew it was time to dig these out and divide.   I started with the grass closest to our garage - you can see it on the right in the photo below: I dug it up and divided it into quarters - with four sections t

Putting this photo in the [ garden diary ] here to show what the trio of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses look like in late September, 2021.  The formal name for this sport is: C alamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' , so I should start calling them that in these posts, right? Photo below shows all three of them putting on a lovely, golden show with their reeds standing tall and the grass blades turning a bit rusty, but still providing a lot of interest.  These grasses are sandwiched between our driveway, our front way, our front stoop and the front porch. I showed these same grasses in July of this year when they have a lightweight almost-purple look to them  and now have them planted in four spots (two in back, two in front).  Compare that photo above with the photo in this post (that I'll paste below) from early October 2019 - just about 2 years ago.  Source - Same Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses from early October 2019 . They look about the same, right?  Tha

 One of the items on my early Fall garden task list is to divide up some of my hostas.  I usually do this in Spring and I think that causes many of them to be delayed a bit and not reach their potential in the growing season.  I've read around and it seems that there's mixed views :  some divide in Fall.  Some in Spring.  So, that's what I'm going to do:  divide some in the Fall.  After having divided a lot in the Spring.  Seems like the month of September is the month to divide.  I figure I'll give these a go right after Labor Day.  Cooling temperatures, but still enough time to establish themselves before going dormant with Winter. Here, below, is an inventory of some of the hostas that I think are ready to be divided.  By my count, there are 9 eligible specimens.  Dividing these will give me nine new plants to add to the beds.  For no cost and just a little bit of effort.  What's not to love about that?  Oh...transplant shock, you say?  I suppose there's