Why I Oughta...

This year, I planted three small Inferno Coleus annuals in the newly (this year) expanded bed at the corner of our back patio .  This was the second year of growing this red foliage plant as a bedding annual.  Last year, I put them in the front yard island bed.  By August, I was declaring them a big success as they grew into big mounds of bright color that contrasted with everything green back there.  #6 on my 2026 to-do list was to grow 'more coleus as bedding plants' , so this was in service of that goal.  Last Fall, I wrote this "In Praise of Coleus As A Bedding Plant" post and this year, I've become even more of a fan.   Below is a look at the current state of this coleus.  I let it flower and 'go to seed' late in the season after pinching off the blooms for months earlier this Summer.  The color is striking: For Fall 2025 and the 2026 season, I'd like to remember to do a few things: 1.  Expand this bed this Fall using the 'lazy b...

I planted a pair of Silver Swirl Snowflake Dusty Miller annuals in the newly-created pizza oven bed back in early June.  I had designs of using these for cut flower arrangements.  But, the rabbits had other plans.  Over the course of the Summer, the (dang!) rabbits gnawed at these and ground them down to stubs.  They never got off to any-sort-of-start and the foliage was chronically short. But, recently...something has happened and the rabbits seem to have moved-on and began to leave these alone.  Now, the strap-y foliage is about 4" tall and with a little bit of watering, I'm thinking I can eek some of this white material out before the end of the season.   I'd like to try these again next year, but they won't be in the ground.  I have a different plan for them.  

One of the shade-tolerant foliage shrubs (is it a shrub?) that continues to be a standout in our backyard is Japanese Golden Spikenard - also called Sun King Aralia.  I have a drift of them in the far back 'nook' behind the small Weeping Nootka Cypress tree.  And this year, I planted three more on the other side of the garden - in hopes of bringing some of that sweet 'garden repetition' to the backyard .   I called them 'foliage' plants because that's what they're grown for:  bright green, almost-tropical-looking foliage that thrives in low-light conditions.  But, for the first time...I now have discovered that they also FLOWER.   See below for the little cluster of flowers that has appeared out the top of the canopy:  That's new (to me).  But, wait...there's more (than flowers).  Via the Missouri Botanical Garden listing : Sun King’ is a golden-leaved cultivar that features a large rounded clump of golden yellow compound leaves whi...

Earlier this season, I planted three small Inferno Coleus plants in the small bed that sits at the corner of our back patio .  I had grown Inferno in the front yard last year and wanted to grow it again.  Have a look at the photo below - showing the late-Summer view of what started as three small plants.  I wanted to grow more coleus as bedding annuals in the beds , so I'd call this a success.  (#6 on my 2025 to-do list this year .) I'll grow Inferno again next year.  Maybe in multiple spots - as a form of 'repetition' to help improve 'legibility' with some colorful annuals.   Last Fall, I expanded this bed a bit.  I'll look to grow it even more this Fall with my 'lazy bed' method using cardboard, compost and municipal biosolids.  

Back in June, I planted three (more) Sun King Aralias in the backyard.  Last year, I planted six of the same plant in the far backyard and they came back and are thriving.  So, at the Morton Arboretum Sale this year, I bought three more for the yard.   I tucked them into the other side of the backyard (southside) about half-way back near the Green Giant Thujas.  This is a spot where I previously had an Oakleaf Hydrangea (rabbits killed it) and these three bright-green perennials check a few boxes:  1.  Repetition.  With this second colony of Sun Kings, we now are starting to show a little bit of the notion of 'repetition'. 2.  Lean into what's working.  With the six (that I ignored last year) coming back, I knew these would work well in our conditions. 3. Japanese-inspired gardening. I mean...the plants are named Sun King Golden Japanese Aralias. 4.  Foliage gardening.  These don't flower.  Or, at least don't flower mean...

One of the thing that's been on my mind over the past few months is the concept of 'legibility' in the garden.  I wrote up a post about it - when I first came across the concept.  I also included it in my 2025 to-do list .  Part of legibility are 'entrances'.  Entrances to garden spaces.   One of the primary entrances to our garden is along the side of house via the boardwalk.  In my 2025 to-do list, I mentioned 'planting up the boardwalk' as something I wanted to get done.   Over the past few years, I've planted a few things there - but nothing has worked.  Ferns.  Hostas.  I think it is too dry and too dark.   But, I'm trying again.  This time...with an Ajuga.  Bronze Beauty Ajuga.  Here's the six-pack of groundcover that I bought: Along the screened porch, there's a long, thin bed.  Below is the before/after of planting these six plugs: I watered them in and they looked flat that first day....

We're on a streak of posts about annuals as bedding plants in the garden and that continues today showing this small cluster of White Polka Dot annual plants that I planted in between the boxwoods that are living at the base on the Greenspire Linden espaliers.  This is a most-full-shade spot, so Polka Dot plants seemed to be just the thing that could brighten up this spot.   I've used Polka Dot plants before as annuals in the border around the Tree Swing tree .  This time, I bought eight ten (10) white ones.  Below are a couple of photos showing them as they went in the ground: 

A quiet workhorse in the shady understory part of our garden are the three Queen of Hearts Brunnera that are planted along the front border.  They went in during the Summer of 2021 and I haven't thought much about them since .   Below is a photo showing these shade-loving perennials in full bloom with their delicate blue flowers on the tips of 'sprays' above the silver-lined foliage.   Looking at this cluster (now), I think I planted these too far apart and should have pulled them closer.  Perhaps one way to rectify this gap in the middle is to think about dividing a couple of these this Fall to add one-or-two more plants.  Marking this as a [candidate for dividing] for later this Fall.  

First came the Ostrich Fern.  Then, I realized there were BETTER ferns that I could grow in my garden.  The one that I seem to be drawn to most?  The Autumn Brilliance Fern .  I planted three to start and then each Fall, I've added more small ones.  Unfortunately...most of them don't over winter that first year, so I end up having far fewer than I start the Fall with in the backyard. But, where do we stand today - late Spring - in terms of Autumn Ferns? First...the three originals - they're all here today.  And looking mighty fine in their Springtime splendor: In the Fall of 2022, I planted 12 (yes...twelve) small Autumn Ferns.  I thought ALL of them died, but turns out that four remain - all in front of the Hicks Yew Hedge in the back.  Two photos below show two apiece.  These are, well....small.  But they get very little supplemental water back there. That makes seven so far.   Last Fall, I planted five more quart-sized Autum...

Tucked into the little cluster of epimedium (Amber Queen and Spine Tingler) were a pair of Shredded Umbrella plants that I picked up at Northwind Perennial Farm last Summer .  I was influenced by a YouTube video and brought them home without much thought.  The scientific name of these Shredded Umbrella plants is Synelesis aconitifolia  and they're prized for their upright foliage that resembles - as you might have guessed - a 'shredded umbrella' in the garden.  You can see the pair of these interplanted in the photo below:  These didn't last long in their first season in the garden - going dormant well before anything else - so I'm somewhat surprised that they came back for their first Spring.   I figured that I didn't give them enough water and the summer heat took them before they could establish themselves.  Perhaps that's their foliage cycle?  Dying back by late Summer?  I'll be watching this year to see how they do - with hopes they...

I'm on a roll with dividing - ferns, seslaria, Astilbes.  Today, spotted Lungwort. Last Fall, I transplanted my three Twinkle Toes Lungwort from the back of a bed, closer to the front .  Those three have thrived in their new spot.  But, they also left behind a few little surprises.   In the spot where the three transplants were living previously sprouted up three whole Twinkle Toes Lungwort plants.   I, of course hedged.  I dug up two of them and left one in place.  The two that I dug up, I divided.  Creating four new Twinkle Toes Lungworts.  I put two on the front of the border next to the newly transplanted Fanal Astilbes on the north side.   I tucked one in next to the Ghost Fern on the Boardwalk: And the fourth went in at the stoop on the side gravel walkway: Below is an 'after' photo that shows the three big clumps in front and the one volunteer that I left in place.  Next year, I'll lift it out and divide again....

#10 on my 2023 to-do list was to do a 'fern upgrade' .  That means replacing the Ostrich Ferns (my first love) with ferns that do better and last longer.  I've written about this a few times before and even tried to implement this last Fall with planting a number of Autumn Ferns late.  But...not all of them made it.  Despite that, I decided to roll the dice (again) and plant Autumn Ferns late in the growing season.  This time, they're slightly bigger, though.  ( Last year, I planted 12 and only six small ones came back. ) Also..of note...I planted two Crested Wood Ferns earlier this year - as part of my #FernUpgrade project . One of the things that I'm evolving on in my garden are hostas.  I was a hosta guy.  But, the thing that I'm starting to notice - over time - is that Hostas totally disappear come dormancy.  That leaves BIG swaths of NOTHING in the garden all winter.  Are hostas going to stay in my garden?  Yes.  But, I'm...

I posted the details and a photo of planting a Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea shrub in the front porch beds in mid-October .  When I planted that one, I also...planted a second one:  but in back.  I decided to tuck it in the 'kitchen window curved bed', sort-of by where my bird-feeding pole lives.   That bed has some good foliage and good texture contrasts going on - the Amsonia, Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Astilbes create a nice combination.  This small-size (dare I saw dwarf) fern-like shrub adds a pop of color (yellow/chartreuse) and some lightness of foliage to this spot. The shrub is already showing some buds on the limbs - that I presume are set of next year.  But..you never can tell what kind of stress these nursery plants go through that might alter their normal growth cycle.   I planted this in mid-October, but posting it in early November 2023.  

I planted three Abiqua Drinking Gourd Hostas a little over two years ago .  And today, I still have those same three Abiqua Drinking Gourd Hostas.  You can see all three of them, planted in a row, in the photo at the top of this post.  I bought these based on a post that I read summarizing various cultivars of Hostas that described these as "One of the true giants".   I had visions of five-foot-spread hostas with giant, cupped, blue-green foliage.   Are they giant?  Not yet.  You can see that.   But, are the leaves large?  Yep.  I can see a future where they'd be 'giant'.   The change in two years is large.  Compare September 2021 (here) to the photo above.   Also, it appears - to my eye - that they're growing when I look back a year (Summer 2022) and count a similar number of lobes/leaves, but the ones come out of the center sure appear larger this season.  

Last Fall, I couldn't help but come home from Lowe's with these two white-centered hostas during their 50% off sale.  I mean...they are real standouts on the nursery bench and they basically sell themselves.   I planted them in October of 2022 amongst some other hostas - like Guacamole .   They're full of that crinkled hosta foliage this time of year.  And, the white centers really brighten up this part of the understory bed.   Below is what they look like after one growing season.  Are they ready to divide?  No.  Not yet.  Maybe next Fall they'll have put on enough size to warrant division.  For now, I'm just enjoying them and thinking about why anyone would want a plain-jane hosta when they can have something like this around?

I had to pick up one of the kids at the Morton Arboretum recently had had a little bit of time to get some steps in and decided to go see the Fragrance Garden up by the Thornhill Center on the West side of the Arboretum .  It is a spot where you can park pretty close and get to see some beds and containers on a quick little, easy walk.  A couple of years ago, I was in this same garden and posted some thoughts and photos here .  At that time, I was struck by the bedding plants and combinations they had in what felt like a very shady garden (which...is a lot like our own garden).    It was from that experience that I said (to myself) that I needed to think about using annuals beyond the container - as bedding plants - in the shade.  In fact....that was one of my 2023 to-do items and the push behind all of the annuals that I planted this year including some Lobelia, Begonias, Impatiens, Polka Dot Plants .  The beds at the Morton Arboretum have inspired me...

Nobody grows hostas for their flowers.  Is that a 'hot take'?  I don't think so.  Foliage gardeners (I'm a self-proclaimed foliage gardener) grow hostas because of what they do:  shade-garden workhorses that add some texture and fill in spaces. But...they also flower.  With these tall, odd, scapes of flowers.  Are they scapes ? I think so .  I remember my mom's garden, filled with hostas.  And popping the purple flowers that emerged each Summer.  I don't think I've ever tracked the flower emergence in my own garden, so I figured I'd start a little bit right now. Why now?   Because I was walking around the garden one morning recently and was struck by one set of flowers in back.  On these hostas: The flowers seem VERY dark purple (for hostas).  Thanks to the Hosta Library, it appears that these are Venticosa hostas .   The Delaware Hosta Association has this description : The Dark Green One with Purple Flowers: H....