Why I Oughta...

Last Fall, I decided to dig-up, divide and transplant four Fanal Astilbes that had been in our garden since 2020 .  They had four growing seasons under their belt and based on what I was reading, as like most other perennials, Astilbes can be divided every three-or-so-years.  But, I also know that they're finicky.  Some gardeners talk about how they can't get them to grow.  I've had (*knock wood*) pretty good luck (so far).  And, it seems that luck has extended to (at least) this Spring.   Of the four that I divided and transplanted last Fall, all four parent plants (left on the southside) and the four new divisions (planted on the north side as part of the " Hosta Replacement Project ") are back this Spring.  How lovely.   Below is a photo showing the four planted in the understory bed - on the northside.  Their first Spring where they are showing off their young, purple foliage.    I'll plan on watering these in plenty t...

Last Spring, I planted four small (1#) Green Velvet Boxwoods in our front porch bed in a spot that was created when I took the Norway Maple tree down and opened up the bed.  My goal was to plant some evergreen shrubs here that extend the hedge of existing Green Velvet Boxwoods that are planted closer to our stoop.  These were late-Spring 50% sale plants and I planted them with a mix of compost and biosolids.  They seemed to handle the heat of the Summer just fine and have survived this past Winter.  Have a look below to see the little bit of new, Spring growth that all four have put on in recent weeks:  At the top of the photo, you can see the trunk of the Triumph Elm tree and a few other things hanging around - including some left-over Tulips that survived the stump grinding , a Summer Beauty Allium in front and a Matcha Ball Spirea over on the left of the photo.  Further back, there are a couple Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses and some of the Vanilla...

Last Fall, I dug up and divided the three Elijah Blue Fescue ornamental grass clumps that I planted in our IB2DWs bed and grew the colony (from three to six).  I originally planted three of these Blue Fescues back in Spring of 2022 along with a trio of Nepeta 'Cat's Pajamas' in a sort-of blue-hue'd combination planting.   These three were NEVER (to my eye) thriving, but they just chugged along over the course of two growing seasons.  Last Fall, I noticed some center rot and then read up on these ornamental grasses and learned that they need to be divided every few years to push healthy new growth .  So...I took my hori hori to them and created six grasses from three.  I put them back in the same location and just 'expanded' the colony with a staggered set of grasses.  Two of them were - at the time last fall - were TINY.   To my surprise, all six came back, including the two tiny ones.  Here, below, is a look at the six Elijah Blue Fes...

One of the hidden gems from last Fall's planting sprint is going to be the three Midnight Masquerade Penstemons that I bought at the big box nursery end-of-season sale.  I tucked them into the IB2DWs Conifer garden - along the property line.  And, they didn't do much last year before going dormant.  But, they appear to be semi-evergreen with the foliage sticking around in some form all Winter.  This Spring, they have put on some new growth that is purple and green.  See below for the current state of these three natives:  This spot is loaded with biosolids, so I'll need to top the bed off with mulch this Spring to avoid some of that turf from coming back and/or to suppress weed pressure.  And, cleanup the back edge of that bed while I'm at it.   I'll also be watching these for height - with their plant tag saying they'll get 36 to 40 inches tall, so that back-of-bed location might be perfect. 

As part of my 2023 "Fall Planting" spring, I added a number of sedum groundcovers in a few spots of our garden.  Three of those sedums were named Sedum kamtschaticum 'Variegatum' - with one of them going in the front porch bed along the south property line and two of them down in the 'hard to grow' section of the IB2DWs (extended) bed by the sidewalk .  They were big plants when they went in, but I wasn't sure how they'd do after being planted so late in the season.  Not to mention...the (dang!) rabbits were happy to gnaw on their green, succulent-like foliage all Winter.   When the snow melted, there wasn't much of the plants there.  But, fast forward to today in Mid-March, and here, below is what that little bed (right up against the sidewalk) looks like.  Tulips to the right side and turfgrass to the left.  In between?  Those variegated sedums: Below is a close-up photo of one of the sedums showing their new 2024 growing season growth: I'm...

Last year, I planted a number of Seslaria Autumnalis (Autumn Moor Grasses) in our front porch beds that I picked up from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin.  They did REALLY well in their first year - so well, in fact - that I decided to roll-the-dice and divide a couple of them in their FIRST Fall in the garden.  I divided three of them and planted the three new divisions in the backyard - around the tree-swing Oak tree .    Some of my other Fall Divisions dealt with some 'heaving' and I'm not sure if they're going to make it.  But, these three Moor Grasses?  See below - they appear to be putting on green blades for their second growing season: These are inter-planted with some Summer Beauty Allium that are planted closer to the border.  And, what appears to be some to-be-determined Allium bulbs (based on the foliage) closer to the trunk of the tree.   My plan is to (likely) divide a few more of the Moor Grasses in front, bu...

Last May, I planted a pair of Brookside Geraniums in the square beds on either side of our backstoop along with a pair of Spring Grove Ginkgos .  These geraniums were from the Morton Sale and I tucked them into the back of the little beds.  A month-after-planting, I looked-back-in on the planting and they were doing well - and in bloom by the end of June .   That meant that this past Winter was their FIRST Winter - and I didn't have any data on their reemergence.  We can now add these to the [garden diary] showing the Brookside Geranium foliage comes up in a small, dark-green clump in mid-March.    You can see the current state of this Brookside Geranium below: Last year, these sort-of 'spilled' out one side of the bed and didn't spread very much.  Perhaps this will be the year that these will fill-out a little more.  

Last year, I discovered that our Serendipity Alliums were out-performing our Summer Beauty Alliums in terms of bloom time and WHEN they bloomed ( Serendipity bloomed later ).   I've added a number of Summer Beauty via divisions over the years, but I had - until last Fall - not divided the pair of Serendipity Alliums that were IB2DWs.   I originally planted three of them the middle of the Summer 2021, but only two survived.  (Should have known planting a new perennial in the heat of Summer was unwise.) Last Fall, I took the two existing clumps and divided them up into five plants.  From two-to-five = net of three new plants .  This Spring, all five have come back - for now.  Below is a look at the three in the original IB2DWs bed - close to the driveway: And below is a look at the other two - in the new conifer garden - they can be seen on the left side of the photo.   I'm thinking that I'll see how these do and perhaps in next year, we'l...