Why I Oughta...

I'm racing the Cicada clock on a few projects;  the pizza oven foundation.  And...some of my proposed 2024 Garden Edits.  I wrote a post about a number of 'garden edits' that I want to make and started with the Hakonechloa Macra grasses (the green ones ) around the tree swing.  And, this past weekend, I made another large 'garden edit'.    My mantra for 2024 is 'editing' what I have - and that means a focus on planting in mass (larger quantities of the same varieties) that meet three criteria: 1. They work in our yard. Meaning...they thrive, not just survive. 2. Are appealing (to me). Foliage and Texture are key. 3. Have some four-season appeal. I don't want my garden to be 'empty' in Winter. This edit is on the southside.  And this bed - and in particular - the border/edge of the bed have been a hodge-podge.  Mostly hostas to fill-up space.  And, while I put up a few stumps in my new "stumpery" , I didn't plant anything in t

Last Summer (June), I extended and (attempted) to clean up the front edge of our 'front porch bed' along the south property line .  The edge had been creeping 'inward' over the years, so I decided to use a shovel to remove as much of the grass as I could, carve off a clean edge and sort-of 'extend' the swoop of that bed a little bit into the lawn.    If you look back at the photos in this post , you'll see a nice, grass-free edge that I planted with bedding plants ( dwarf, French Marigolds ) and Dusty Millers .   By September, the dwarf (French) Marigolds took off and filled in the new border.  They looked great and were thick/full of oranges, reds and yellows .  Behind those annuals went a colony of Summer Beauty Alliums .  Backed by some small Green Velvet Boxwoods to extend the existing short hedge of boxwoods.   All was good last year.   This year, I've already started to clean up this bed - cutting down grasses and raking out some of the season

On Monday, I posted about adding a series of perennials to our front porch beds - including Autumn Moor Grasses and eight Summer Beauty Alliums that are in front of some small Green Velvet Boxwoods (that I planted last month).   As I was planting those, I realized that the edge of the bed has crept-in and I needed to cut the grass that had been growing in there - out.   I've been thinking about the extension of the curved portion of the bed (where the Norway Maple tree *was* and have been musing about how to use some dry-stacked stone there and/or how the bed can be extended down the property line to (eventually) connect with the small, circular bed around the Saucer Magnolia.   But, for now....I decided to just simply clean the bed edge up and extend it out - just a little bit.  Here, below, is the 'after' - a natural edge like this makes the bed look that much more polished.  That (above) is the after.  Here, below is the 'before'.  Quite a change, right?  The Fr

2022 was the year of groundcover in my garden.  I added dozens of various carex and at the very end of the season, I found five small quart-sized Ajuga Chocolate Chip plants and stuck them in the ground .  The groundcover of my mother - vinca and pachysandra - are out.  And sedges and Ajugas are in.  At least...for me. I was surprised (not sure why?) to find these six packs of Ajuga Chocolate Chip at the orange Big Box store - see below for the nursery tray of the six plugs:  They carry this tag:  Bugleweed 'Chocolate Chip' - Ajuga Tenorii I opted to put six on one side of the backyard and six on the other. Below is a look at the curved border - kitchen window border - with the Fanal Astilbes being (now) fronted by six Ajuga Chocolate Chip. Behind these - around the Oakleaf Hydrangeas - we are fighting Vinca that has crept over from our neighbor's yard.  I planted two of these plugs in amongst some of the vinca.  Hoping that the Ajuga can outcompete the Vinca. On the other