Why I Oughta...

After a few years of lackluster peony growth, last Spring I finally saw some positive improvement in the flower output of the two colonies that are dotted around our garden.  I've moved the peonies into those two colonies based on sun conditions.  The first one is in the IB2DWs bed where I have a couple of plants.  And the second is in the "kitchen curved bed" in the back where I have three more.   Below are some photos showing the red tips emerging from the mulch.  These photos are from April 6th.   I've done similar "Peonies are Back" posts over the years.  Here is that post from April 2025 - one year ago .   Last year, I cut and preserved the blooms at the "marshmallow stage" and had peony flowers for Nat's birthday in July .  I'll do that again this year.  

The small colony of the lovely Spring ephemeral Sanguinaria canadensis - or commonly called Bloodroot is in bloom in early April.  This post is going up on April 14th, but I took this photo on April 6th.    My neighbor to the south dug-up and gave me a clump of this pretty cool perennial in Spring of 2023 and it has come back and bloomed every Spring since.  Here's the post from last year showing both this Bloodroot and the neighboring Virginia Bluebells .  You can see the Bluebells in the photo below on the left.   These are seemingly slow to expand, but I'm happy this initial colony is thriving with even more blooms this year than in the past.  

I took this photo of a volunteer Crocus that has appeared in the middle of our backyard lawn a few weeks back.  This was from late March.  And, it is such a delight to see.  This lone Crocus is a volunteer as I've never planted a single Crocus bulb (or...corm if you'd prefer) in the garden.  See below for the short, purple flower: Just because I haven't planted a single Crocus, doesn't mean that I haven't thought about it.  And, for me....that's a real sign of growth as a gardener.  There was a time when I fell into the 'lawn care' world.  I was treating feeding my lawn, treating it with iron, cutting it in a specific way and I even had a "Domination Line" up front.  But, my feelings on turf grass have evolved over time and I'm even actively removing more of it from our front yard with bed extensions this Spring.   On my recently published 2026 to-do list, I included as #13:  Plant Fall Bulbs .  In the past, that has mostly bee...

One of my 2026 to-do items is to 'expand the beds in Fall'.  I say 'Fall' because of how I utilize what I call the "lazy method" of smothering out the turf with cardboard.  That means that in addition to materials like cardboard and municipal biosolids, I need time.  Time for the grass to die.  Time for the cardboard to breakdown.  And time for the biosolids to MELLOW OUT.   Last year, I missed the Fall window to do some bed extensions, so I started to do them this Spring.  The first one was a few weeks ago with the Island Bed taking on new edges .  I used cardboard, municipal biosolids and composted manure to create a blend that I'll plant up (and mulch) later this Spring.  In the sideyard, I want to do the same thing:  expand the beds along the foundation to be more proud of the house.  Last year, I planted out the Dahlias in late May/early June.  I like to have about six weeks of time between laying down these bed exten...

Yesterday, I posted my Garden Club plug order and talked about how all six varieties are new (to me).   Lisianthus Celeb 2 Metallic Blue is the first one up.  I bought eight plugs and this is my first Lisianthus.  If you follow any flower farmer on Instagram, you can't go a week without hearing about Lisianthus.  They're rose-like and from what I've come to understand have good 'vase life'.  These "Celeb 2" Metallic blue are described by Garden Club as: The 'Celeb' series features large to extremely large, fully double, fringed flowers. This series dominates the Japanese Lisianthus market, and many of the cut flowers we see imported from Japan are Celeb types. Those Japanese gardeners.  They're so prolific .  Anything BLUE is of immediate interest to me, so the name made these an easy-add.  The photos show a more purple color, but we'll see what happens when/if they bloom: Source via Garden Club Ball Seed says : Huge blooms with strong, w...

Spring clean-up is upon us in the garden.  And, it appears that I'm a bit later than last year in doing some of the early spots like the Hellebores.  Below is a close-up shot of what some of our Hellebores look like right now after removing some of the leaf litter that protected their crowns over Winter.  A really nice peek at the flower buds and new foliage that signals Springtime is here. Here, below, is a wider shot showing four colonies of Hellebores.  Three across the front with one tucked in by the picnic table (green) legs.   Here, below, is how they started with their previous season's foliage that needed clipping-off and the leaf litter pulled back.  This photo shows how much I 'left' the leaves.  (We had a super early Snow that hit and I pretty much stopped Fall clean-up earlier than I normally do last Fall, resulting in more leaf litter than I normally leave behind.) ' Here's a look at the area after cleaning up most of the dead foliage...

If you look hard enough around parts of our garden, you'll see some strong signs of Spring.  Including these purple tulip foliage tips that have popped up from the mulch down by the sidewalk IB2DWs.  I've posted about the various tulip bulb tips emerging in late Winter/early Spring over the years including in early February 2025 (last year) .  In 2024, they were up in early January (it was a mild Winter).   I haven't planted tulip bulbs in years, so the numbers continue to dwindle, but I still like seeing these pop up as a reminder of what is to come in the garden.  

At the Wannemaker's Annual Christmas Open House, we met the Big Guy (of course), ate some grilled foods from Casey's and...came away with two big amaryllis bulbs.  As is the tradition.  Each of my two youngest kids picked out a bulb that there plant as we try (*fingers crossed*) to get some Christmas flowers.  I previously posted some details of amaryllis bulbs at Home Depot this season .  Last year, I planted two bulbs from Wannemakers:  A Double Dream .  And an Exotic Star .   The Exotic Star bloomed right around the New Year .  But, the Double Dream was a total dud.  It sent up a bud tip in March (yes...March!), but then it withered and died.   In 2023, we planted three .  One of them was a dud - Samba. But, the La Paz went off quickly. With a Rilona Amaryllis coming in right in-between.  Blooming in January .   This year, we are trying two new (to us) bulbs.  Here are the two tags of the bulbs they...

You bought that big container of mums and put them on your porch.  They look good.  Now, the tough part:  keeping them alive.  And keeping them from flopping wide open and splaying. First the 'keeping them alive' part.  It is pretty easy:  water them.  And, even better...'bottom water' them via a bucket or pan that they can sit-in.  Otherwise, drag your hose over there and keep 'em wet every few days.  If you're like me and you're dragging your hose around to try to eek out the final few dahlia blooms, then just stop at your mums and spray them down. As for the second part:  keeping them from splaying wide open?  That part is pretty easy too:  Wire them up.  Here's a post that I shared all the way back in 2017 that is popular every Fall: ProTip: Tie Up Your Mums .  Every Fall since then, we've done the same thing.  Buy the big set of Mums.  Use some twine or garden wire around the perimeter of the blooms to...

Here are a couple of dahlia-bloom-heavy arrangements that I brought over to Oakbrook Terrace this past weekend.  Both are filled with various dahlia types including pompon, ball and decorative.  Ivanetti and Mystery Fox are looking pretty good with their ombre looks.  And, the pinks of Wizard of Oz highlight the bright tones of Melina Fleur decorative dahlias.  There was one more that I cut and put-together at the same time, but I didn't get photos of it before it went off to its final home.  Both of these are in re-used jars.  A small yogurt jar on the left and a mason jar on the right.   These are different than the one I posted yesterday (two photos) and it is clear that dahlia bloom season is upon us.  

I walked out to the back and noticed that one of our dahlia plants is in RAPID DECLINE.  I mean...rapid.  It went from (I'm pretty sure) totally healthy what you see in the photo below overnight.  It is wilted with very little rigidity in the plant everywhere.   This happened before in this bed, but the dahlia recovered very quickly.  What I figured out (then) was that the poor soil conditions (this is a ton of clay) along with a period of heavy rain caused the tubers to drown and become overwatered.  Is that what is happening here? Or is it a pest issue like spider mites?   Or, something else.  Like a disease? I'm treating this two ways (right now). First...I dug up some of the soil around the tuber to try to help dry out the clay and let the tuber breath a little bit.  See below: Second, I'm seeing some tiny webbing (and what I think are Spider Mites) near the top of the plant.  So, I've applied a heavy dose of mite-icide to ...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of a bunch of Pooh Collarette Dahlia blooms that I cut and brought inside this week and talked about how I'm seeing "Dahlia Season" beginning to arrive with increased blooms.  That's due to a couple of things:  the time/maturity of the plants this season along with some recovery from a mite infestation.  The colors, shapes and textures of this morning's cuttings sure are fun to see.  Below are a couple of photos showing what is in bloom and how the colors are changing based on the time of year.   This is (mostly) the usual bunch ( like the cut flowers I posted a few days ago ):  Wizard of Oz, Melina Fleur, Mystery Fox and that dark purple dahlia.  

There is a season for every bloom and with our small drift of Lucky Charm Anemone, that season is "late Summer".  Here it is (below) in very late August when the first blooms are just coming on and opening up.  This will be an explosion of color for the next month - all the way right up until the first frost.  I'm not sure which I like more:  the open blooms or the closed, grey/purple-grey closed ball-like buds before they open up.   

The bulk of my flower arrangements have been focused on the flowers + some additional foliage plants.  Zinnias + ferns + artemeisa.  Dahlias + artemesia + polka dot plants.  For the most part, I was dealing with shorter-length stems on the 'stars' (Zinnias and Dahlias) and that meant that I was stripping just a few leaves from the stems and filling out the arrangement with those other foliage elements. But, thanks to my FYP, I've been getting served "here's how to get longer stem" videos and the secret isn't...well...it isn't a secret.  It is just doing something that is hard:  Cutting deep.   Why is cutting deep hard?  Because you're sacrificing some flower blooms.  To get the longer stems, you often take out up-to-three flowers.  Typically that means one full-formed and open that has shot up through the middle of the stem.  Then, two smaller, further-behind ones on either side.   I've always hesitated to sacrifice those ...

On Monday, I posted my latest cut flower arrangement featuring dahlias and zinnias and some perennials from around the garden .  Today, I'm showing another arrangement - featuring dahlias.  This time, though, it includes a couple of large Pablo Gallery Border Dahlias as the big statement pieces.  I used a few small Disneyland Roses, some snips of Limelight Hydrangea (before they opened up), a couple tall legs of Garden Ghost Artemeisa, and greenery and texture via Butterscotch Amsonia.   This is in a green Goodwill thrifted vase that has the look of Uranium Glass (but it isn't).  I tried to get that look of one side arching up with the other side arching down (via the Euphorbia).   The stand-outs are the Pablo Gallery dahlias - see below for a close-up.   Including the various peony-filled vases , this is the fifth (or so) arrangement that I've put together for the year.  

Planted in our backyard, in the new pizza oven bed is a dahlia that is new (to me):  Mystery Fox .  It is a Ball Dahlia and it is moving ahead of most of the other dahlias in our garden with the first few blooms opened up and more on their way.   Below is a look at the blooms in stages - closer to being cut vs just opening up.   The bottom photo shows the full plant - staked and filled with yellow-ish buds.  These were part of the Winter order this past off-season and this is the first time I'm growing them.  I've planted two sets of tubers - one in front and one in back.   The 'early blooming' is a (nice) surprise to me, but it shouldn't have been. The description of these dahlias lays it out : Each plant produces blossoms in a range of hues, from terracotta to coral and dusky rose. The 3 to 4" ball-style flowers are incredibly long lasting on the plant as well as in a vase. Zundert Mystery Fox starts blooming early in the season and ...

The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are popping off right now.  And, the earliest dahlia - Wizard of Oz - has a few open flowers.  And, the Limelight Hydrangeas are still not-quite-ready to open up their panicles.   Along with a couple of wisps of Garden Ghost Artemesia from the front yard Island Bed, we have another cut flower arrangement.   Below are a couple of photos showing this arrangement off from the front and side.  The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are showing up more as 'orange' right now, so do they work with the pink of the Wizard of Oz Dahlia ?  Technically...I'm unsure.  But, for me?  They work together just fine.   Around the edges are a couple of tips from the Limelight Hydrangeas in our garden: Feels like the first of many more to come this Summer.  

A few days ago, I showed the first cut flower from the set of Pablo Gallery Border dahlias that I put in the garden this year (in the backyard near the patio) and talked about how there were more blooms approaching.   There are five border dahlia tubers in this corner bed that wrap around the corner.  They are sitting on the 'other side' of a trio of Karl Foerster Grasses.    Below is a look at the current state of these five border dahlias.  Four of them have buds with one being a little bit further behind.  Three of them are home to opened-up multi-color dahlias.  These are coral-colored with some reds and yellows in them: The blooms are good-sized.  Below is a photo showing one of them with my hand as a reference for size: Pablo Gallery has won the the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit - so it is a proven and prolific bloomer.  I'm going to keep dead-heading these to see if we can get a bumper crop.  Based on...

Earlier this year, I planted three small quart-sized nursery containers of a new (to me) nepeta named 'Chartreuse on The Loose' .  It is an interesting variety that has a unique color foliage (lime green), habit (trailing) and maintenance needs (it doesn't require deadheading to re-bloom).  Right away, one of the plants was eaten-up by the (dang!) rabbits.  But the other two seemed to do just fine.   Look back at this planting post in early May when the three small plants were just that:  small .  Lots of mulch showing between them.   Today?  They've made a drift with no gaps in between them at all.   See below for the current state of these trailing/spreading catmint perennials: I've mentioned that I need to continue to remind myself to add more of WHAT IS WORKING instead of adding net-new stuff.  But, these are both a reminder that sometimes new things can be great.  But, now that I see them working, I have put them...

A few days ago, I posted some photos showing the big peony arrangement that I successfully stored in the fridge for about a month and talked about how peony blooming season is so short.  In addition to cutting and storing some peonies for later this Summer, I also cut and put out on the counter a couple of vases full of peonies when they were blooming.   I've been working on the Disneyland Roses a bit more this early Summer, too.  Paying attention to them water-wise.  And, spraying them with both an insecticide and fungicide as often as I remember to do out there.  That's produced Floribunda rose stems that are *knock wood* holding more leaves and having less pests than last year.   One of my 2025 goals was to continue to have countertop arrangements with cut flowers .  Here's a round-up of a number of cut flowers we've had on our counter the past six weeks or so. We have white double 'Duchesse de Nemours' peonies in the back .  And some...