Why I Oughta...

We've had a pair of Rhododendrons that flank the sides of our back stoop since our first year here in Downers Grove.  They've been a mixed bag - evergreen is nice, but they've under performed and have gotten a little leggy in some years.  They're there because that's what our plan called for, but would I plant something else there if I could do it all over again?  Probably.   On one side, I've had some ground cover take root in the shape of a volunteer sedum and that's a nice addition (by accident).  You can see both one of the rhododendrons and the Lemon Coral Sedum at the base in the photo below.   Taking a look back, it seems these bloomed in mid-June last year .  I gave both of these flowering shrubs a bit of a prune last year after they flowered and I'll do the same this year.   I've mentioned trying to use tropicals (and sub-tropicals) in the garden more this year and that is one of the reasons why I *want* these to work so much:  they lend a

We moved lilacs this Spring from here ...to here .  We have NEVER witnessed even ONE Lilac flower in all the years in Downers Grove.  Now...with the transplant, guess what?  They flowered!?!?  Yeah.  First time ever.  Perhaps due to the transplant stress?  Or in spite of it?  See below for a photo of the first-of-their-kind blooms on our recently-transplanted Lilac flowering shrubs that we moved to the north side.  These will be something that we'll have to watch this year and next Spring to see how they managed the transplant.  

At the beginning of June, I showed off the three 2# Little Lime Hydrangeas that I brought home as part of our backyard landscape plan .  I wanted them to fill in right in front of the apple tree Belgian Fence espalier on the north side of the yard - under the Tree Swing Northern Red Oak tree. In order to get these three in the ground, I first has to dig up and transplant an existing shrub: An Azelea .  This flowering shrub has been in the ground for a number of years and, in reality, was in a terrible spot.  It flowers (barely), but is leggy and not happy here.  I started by digging up the azalea while trying to keep the rootball totally intact and surrounded by soil.  See below for the spade I used to dig this azalea up - right in front of the Belgian Fence espalier: I decided to move this one out further west to a more-sunny spot in the backyard.   With these being #13, #14 and #15 shrubs planted, I thought I'd revisit my initial list : 5 Oakleaf Hydrangeas.   Planted and done. 

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos showing the location of the Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangeas that we bought at the Morton Arboretum and planted in the backyard (southside bed, understory of the secondary Northern Red Oak tree).   I also bought two MORE Oakleaf Hydrangeas from the sale - Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas - that are also planted (now) in our backyard.  This time, however, they are in the northside bed.  These Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangas  (Hydrangea Quercifolia) are MUCH darker green than the Little Honey variety, but like the Little Honey, these maintain a compact form of under five feet tall .   Last year, when I moved the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas out from the fence, I moved ONE of them over to the south bed - in between the Harry Lauder Walking Stick tree and the Weeping Nootka Falsecypress tree .   The plan calls for three flowering shrubs planted in a cluster here and that's why I brought home two Ruby Slippers shrubs from the Morton Arboretum Sale.  

A week ago, I started posting a series of photos of the plant material that we brought home from the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  The first of those posts were these three Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangeas that are bright chartreuse in color and are dwarf (under 5' tall) in stature.  The plan called for three Little Lime Hydrangeas, but because this spot is deeper into the shade than it used to be (when the plan was built/drafted), I decided to call the audible and move to an Oakleaf variety.   I tucked these three into the area just to the West of where I dug out the Lilacs.  They get four feet tall and four feet wide, so when mature, they'll (hopefully) fill in the current spacing.  You can see the three Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangeas standing OUT in the landscape below: Here, below, is an annotated version of that same photo showing where these are located - understory of the flowering Kwanzan Cherry tree and bordered by the Everillo Sedges and one (of th

 Yesterday, I started with the first set of plants that I picked up at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale:  three Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangea .  In that post, I talked about the sale (it is really great) and how I went in with a plan (shrubs first, others second).  I was able to (mostly) stick to my plan and brought home a total of five flowering shrubs - three Little Honey - and two Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  Again....I'll mention:  #1 on my 2022 to-do list was to focus on shrubs .  And, these two Ruby Slippers pays that off.  In my 'shrubs' post where I listed out needs, I talked about five Oakleaf Hydrangeas .  Turns out, I *think* that I really need either eight (three more) or (maybe) just five, but three more of SOME OTHER kind of dwarf flowering shrub.   Before we talk about placement, let's look at Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ruby Slippers'.  Below are the two that I brought home: Below is the sign at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  It des

This past weekend was the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  I've gone the past couple of years and always have such a nice time and bring home really interesting plants that you just can't find at big box nurseries.  And, their prices are pretty fair.   Over the years, I've bought grasses ( All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses , Karl Foerster Grasses, Totem Pole grass ), trees ( a cool red Katsura and an Emperor 1 Japanese Maple ), ferns ( Ghost Ferns and others), sedges and both Epimedium and Pulmonaria.   Last year, I went in with a 'loose plan' and came home with a variety of plants that I really liked that work in our (mostly-shade) garden.   If you've never been, I'll tell you:  it is REALLY HARD to focus and prioritize.  Every table has something that is interesting and unique.  And, it is REALLY EASY to just start putting stuff in your box to bring home.  Soon, the total adds up and you're buying stuff that you are drawn to but...mayb

Our plan for the year called for a focus on shrubs .  Shrubs in the backyard, mostly.  But, also shrubs in the front yard.  In my post outlining the list of shrubs that are called for in the plan, I mentioned needing to replace one of the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas that are sitting in front of our front porch out front.  It started to decline last year and despite watering, it withered and died last Summer.  A couple of factors came in play (I'm pretty sure) that caused the hydrangea to die:  the surface root mat from the Norway Maple tree outcompeting the hydrangea COUPLED with the hydrophobic mulch that was taking place and not allowing the watering that I *was* providing to get down to the rootball.   I found four treeform Viburnum - Doublefile - at Menards and brought them home with the goal of adding them to our yard - mostly in the backyard.  Our plan called for eight additional Viburnum (Arrowwood Chicago Lustre) around the border of our yard that would complement the

We brought home four treeform DoubleFile Viburum a couple of weeks ago and once the Green Giant Thuja planting project (and Lilac transplanting), I got busy digging these Virurnum in the ground. Two went in along the north side fence, one went in back the fire pit and one is going in (not yet) in the front yard bed in front of our porch.  Last Fall, I planted two Arrowwood Viburnum along the fenceline after finding them on an end-of-season close-out .  The plan calls for a number of them, but four in a line where I've planted two (meaning...two more) and a few more along the back - some of which I've sub'd out (for now) for Lilacs.    Starting out with the two additional ones along the north side fence ( see this post showing the location ), I needed to put in a pair between the two existing and the spot where the Canadian Hemlocks (which....are TINY, still) will grow.  Like in the Lilac transplant landing zone, there was a scrub shrub standing which needed to come out s

Earlier this month, as part of a series of garden bed 'slices', I did some shrub exploration posts including the 'Lilac Replacement' section and the ' Northside Mixed Bed ' that kind of worked together.  They both required some upright evergreens, but the Lilacs needed to be transplanted from one section to the other.  Earlier this week, I got started by planting the upright evergreens - three Green Giant Thujas - in each section.  From there, I dug up and transplanted the four Lilac shrubs (2 Nocture, 2 Common) in the Northside bed. Before I did the planting, I removed some of the lower, but still large limbs on the Hackberry tree to make sure these were getting the most sun they could get in this spot.  Below is a look at the couple of cuts I made with my extension saw: Here's what the newly planted area looks like with three evergreens, four flowering shrubs, an existing scrub shrub and a small London Planetree (below): And, here's an annotated versi

Last week, I wandered around the shrub section over at Hinsdale Nursery to figure out what they were going to be carrying this season in terms of hydrangeas, viburnum, various evergreens and even a fothergilla that I spotted at the Morton Arboretum .  As part of the various backyard bed 'slices' and the 'explorations' that I did a few weeks back, I ended up with a shopping list of sorts that included upright evergreens and a bunch of flowering shrubs.  On that list was four Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum - two along the north fence, two along the back .  They would go along with the two that I planted last year .   While at the nursery, I found a whole bunch of Viburum that I found interesting and decided that I should think about using some alternatives.  One of the varities that really captured my interest was this (below) Doublefile Viburnum - Viburnum Plicatum Tomentosum 'Mariesii'.   The listing calls out a few features:  tiered, horizontal, 'layered

Shrub exploration post number five (today) focuses on the north side bed that is bordered by the firewood rack on one side and our Dawn Redwood on the other .  This 'thinking out loud' exploration post on shrubs follows on the previous four including the lilac replacement, a mixed evergreen/dwarf hydrangea planting, the base on our espaliered Linden trees and just yesterday, a mixed privacy border by our fire pit area.   Today is a spot that I talked about in my original 'shrubs as my #1 priority' post in March that - per the plan - calls for a series of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum .  Looking at that area in the plan, you'll see a row of Viburnum below: What is in this area right now?  Just a couple of trees and a scrub shrub that we inherited.  Orange oval = London Planetree.  Yellow oval = edge of our Dawn Redwood.  Red oval = Contorted Walkingstick tree.  You can see the big, scrub bush there in the middle, too. Knowing that I'm looking to transplant t

Having locked-in my 2022 priorities for the yard and garden last week , I have begun to think about the practical implementation of the first item on the list:  Shrubs.  A discussion of some of the shrub needs were walked thru earlier in March in this post that laid out a list of needs and included a reference to adding three Tardiva Hydrangeas.  Back in 2017, I included a look at that part of the beds that called for these Tardiva Hydrangeas here .   With all that background out of the way, I think it is useful to look at the current conditions of this portion of the bed AND my current thinking in terms of deciduous shrubs based on some pointers from others.   To be sure, this is NOT a 'clean slate' situation.  I've planted things there that NEED to be relocated. First, I have four Lilac shrubs planted along the fenceline.  Two common Lilacs ( planted in 2018 ) and two Nocture Lilacs ( planted in 2019 ).  NONE of these have worked here.  They haven't died.  But, they

Dang rabbits.  They've taken a pretty big toll on my row of Oakleaf Hydrangeas in our backyard.  In the photo at the top, you can see the freshly-shorn-off tips.  This has happened on all of them along our south fence line - including the pair of dwarf ones. I didn't protect these from pests with wire cages because they haven't been hit in previous Winters.  However...I *have* had one of our other Oakleaf Hydrangeas (planted on the northside bed) get hit by rabbits previously.  I've protected that one with a cage.  Just like I've done other shrubs like the recently planted Arrowwood Viburnum .   Our history with rabbits is well-established and we've had them around the yard since we moved in.  Last Summer, we had a little litter born right next to our patio .  They eat anything they can get their little teeth into including some of my tree seedlings , Hemlock trees , Toad Lillies and even young Hicks Yews . Below, you can see a few more photos of these small sh

Yesterday, I posted a few photos of a pyramidal boxwood - Green Mountain - that I planted in a backyard bed and talked about how it was tucked in by the Belgian Fence and some ornamental grasses.  If you looked closely at one of the photos yesterday, you might have noticed a few other shrubs in their nursery containers in the background.  Today, I'm sharing the details in the [ garden diary ] of those other two shrubs hiding back by the fence. As part of our plan, the designer called for a series of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs in a few different spots around the yard.  Below, you can see two areas that call these particular shrubs out. Part of the area you see in the plan above was/is called out as " Priority Area #2 " in this year's list of Priority areas.  You can see that it calls for four Viburnum in this section.  But...when you're dealing with some end-of-season shrub sales, you don't always get the quantity that you want.  I couldn't f

We have a pair of hydrangeas that are what I'd consider somewhat exotic.  I say that because they're not something you'd come across at your normal Big Box nursery - like Limelights or what-have-you.  These were given to us by Nat's Mom as an anniversary gift back in 2017 - our first late Summer/early Fall in our house.  The two of them are a Tuff Stuff Mountain Hydrangea .  And an Everlasting Revolution Hydrangea .  They were both planted in 2017.  And I've posted about them over the years - where they've grown a bit, have survived, but NEVER produced any flowers.  I recently transplanted the smaller one - Everlasting Revolution - to be closer to the front of the bed due to its small size. Tuff Stuff Mountain Hydrangea - Has never flowered.  Always a bit bigger than the Revolution. Planted October 2017 June 2018 - first Summer .  Appeared to grow on both new and old wood. August 2018 - survived the first heat wave during the first Summer. September 2019 - end

We have a pair of Rhododendrons planted on either side of our rear stoop that we put in the ground in 2018 as part of our plan .  I have never pruned them, but have protected them a little bit in Winter using Wilt-pruf a couple of times.  These are evergreen shrubs and they put on a nice flower show most years. But, this year these shrubs looked a little sad earlier this Spring.  They were yellow, drooping and leggy.  I bought some Epsoma Holly Tone this year to feed my hydrangeas and these Rhdodendrons and it seems like they've responded a bit.  I'm pretty sure they have an iron deficiency - as outlined here by Ortho.  Purdue University Extension office has a post up about this yellowing - called chlorosis .   I have started to feed these with a little bit of coffee grounds, but I think that I'm going to need some more drastic action to correct the iron. But, back to this season:  these two shrubs are flowering right now with light purple flowers.  Here, below are the pa