Why I Oughta...

Planted in 2021, this will be the third growing season for a singular large-scale Switch Grass that is planted in our front porch bed: the Totem Pole Switch Grass .  I've been able to 'get to know' this grass a bit over the years and have discovered that it is late starte r - well after most grasses emerge for the year.  And that every year since planting, the grass has grown taller and taller .  On a recent warm(er) afternoon this past weekend, I wandered around the front beds to have a look at some plants and came across this grass.  And was struck by the seed heads.  And how it provides a really nice look in Winter.  See below for the current state of the Switch Grass: With the removal of the declining Norway Maple and the planting of the Triumph Elm, this front yard bed is one of my main/top priorities for 2023.  Do I leave this grass here?  Add more of them?  Time to make a plan. 

In a remarkable coincidence (at least to me, dear reader...), I'm posting a front porch sunrise one day shy of one year from the date that I posted a very similar photo here on the blog .  This is from November 29, 2021 .  What was the sunrise like a few days ago from our house?  See below for what is a vivid sunrise in the suburbs in November: What a way to start a day.   I have a whole archive of posts over the years that are tagged with [colorful sunrise] .  

Once I knew the large Norway Maple needed to come down, I immediately switched into tree planting-planning mode.  I looked around-and-around and thought about what we wanted in a tree: 1.  Disease and pest resistant  2.   Fast-growing 3.  Unique 4.  Something 'stately' and (when mature) large I worked with a few people to sort options.  The temptation of the Fall-Colors of the various Maple trees was strong.  But, ultimately, the experts that I consulted said that Maples make up far too-much of our local, urban canopy and that I should plant something different.   Further research sent me towards this narrow list called "Chicagoland Grows".   What is Chicagoland Grows?  From their site: Established in 1986, Chicagoland Grows® Plant Introduction Program is a unique partnership among the Chicago Botanic Garden , The Morton Arboretum , and the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois (OGA) , dedicated to developing, selecting, testing, and marketing a diversit

The day finally arrived.  A day that I have not been looking forward to in the life of our property.  That day is the day that our large, mature Norway Maple tree that was located just outside of our front porch came down.  This tree was a lovely tree.  Lived a good life.  We moved the location of our house foundation specifically so we could try to keep this tree.  But, it still needed to come down. I foretold the removal of this magnificent tree just last month when I posted about the continued decline of the tree .  In mid/late September, we had an early evening storm and lost another large limb.  Dare I say...a 'widow maker' came down.    It wasn't as if we didn't try to save this tree.  In fact, we surely didn't want to remove it.  But, it seemed liked it was necessary as the limbs kept falling and I began to become worried that it would fall on my house.  Or, my neighbor's house. Over the years, we've worked this tree.  Gave it a growth regulator in Se

Yesterday, I shared some looks at the island beds (of annuals) that you can see in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris this year .  I've used them as inspiration in the past for some containers, but this year, I thought we'd try to use them as inspiration for our front yard in-ground bed.  I decided to use a combination of 36 (small) Dusty Millers and some other colorful annuals (that I haven't bought yet).  I don't love pinks, so maybe reds is where I'll land.  While the alternating color isn't locked in, the Dusty Millers are, indeed, 'locked-in'.  Here you can see them below:  six six-packs bought and brought home. In 2020, I planted 24 impatiens .  Last year, we planted 20 sedum and 24 begonias .  For historicals: Our first full year - in 2018 - we planted some Ranunculuses - about eight of them. In 2019, we planted 16 orange marigolds. +8 plants yoy. In 2020, we planted 24 Impatiens . +8 plants yoy. In 2021, we planted 20 Lemon Coral Sedum and 24 begoni

I've covered a bunch of the shrubs ( hydrangeas ) and perennials ( Ivory Prince Hellebores ) that I brought home from the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale already here on the blog.  But, we also bought a tree from that same sale.  I've bought a tree each of the years that I've attended the sale including this Emperor 1 Japanese Maple tree last year .  And this Red Fox Katsura tree from 2020 .   This year, I've prioritized shrubs in the landscape, but I included a couple of tree items on my 2022 to-d list .  #7 was to plant more trees (and measuring them), so this new tree checks that box.   I keep thinking about that advice I came across in April of 2019 related to planting trees .  The proverb is below : That means planting small trees that - over time - can grow into something meaningful.  I've done this recently with a Ginkgo tree (well...two of them, but one snapped in half ), so I figured another Ginkgo would be interesting.   I brought the Babe to the sa

Below is a recent sunrise as viewed off of our front porch in Downers Grove, Illinois.  What we, in our house, call a 'Cotton Candy Sky'.  I used to observe the sunrise during Winter from the 64th floor of our office in the Aon Center, but I haven't been there for more than 18 months.  And, based on some news, it appears that I've taken in my last early-morning Winter sunrise from the Aon Center in my life.  Time marches on.  And, so do office locations.  I'm adding this to the [ view from my office ] collection since I haven't had an office to go to due to COVID since March 2020. I've taken a similar front-porch-sunrise shot back in 2018, but it was Springtime .  

I moved our Staghorn Fern outside recently.  I came across it on a lower rack at Home Depot for $10 back in late Winter/early Spring and brought it home.   It was potted in a plastic nursery pot and packed in a mix of soil and what seemed like Sphagnum Moss.  I looked around the Web and most everybody talks about how you can *mount* these ferns to boards and treat them like air plants.  There are a few places that talk about keeping them in containers, but it seems like having them mounted is the pro-move here.   Our fern is happy.  Slow-growing, but happy.  If you look at the very top of this post, you'll see some of the fronds have grown much longer than they were this Spring AND (this is important), the one droop'ing frond on the left seems to be the first frond with the sort-of antler-looking edges.  That's exciting to see. But, back to mounting....I really don't want to mount it.  At least for now.  I worry about watering it. Do I take it off the wall every few w

 I don't think I've posted photos of our front porch container in the past here on the blog.  We've done a mix over the years of DIY and even one year Nat had a pro fill our container.  This year, I went to the big box nursery and picked out some shade-loving plants to use including a big, dramatic fern on the left.  Along with some coleus, a purple sweet potato vine and (although they're hard to see, they're there) a few peach-colored Rex Begonias.    The Coleus is putting on a nice show and the vine is beginning to spill out a bit as the container hits its stride in the end of July.   I don't seem to have taken a photo of the tag for the fern, but I think it is a Cinnamon Fern.    Here's a look at the flowers before we planted them below.  The watermelon-striped plant and the Rex Begonias - which were the stunners pre-planting that you see below have been somewhat swallowed-up by everything else. Our front porch gets some early morning sun, then is in deep

The tulip bulbs that I planted last Fall in the front yard ( I planted 57 of them last Fall ) have really come up this Spring.  I'll take a proper photo of all of them - from the front - when they are all flowering.  But, for now, I wanted to document the location of the bulbs and where I can add even more this Fall.  From the front porch, this is the view of the stand of tulips around the Norway Maple tree: I wanted to post this on the blog in the Garden Diary so I remember WHERE to plant this Fall's bulbs to really fill in this area with tulips - so I circled these areas in the photo below.  I can see surrounding this tree with even more bulbs. I've posted about these tulips this Spring - first when they came up .  And then again, when they were covered in snow .  

We have a pair of Limelight Hydrangeas that are set just to the south of the front edge of our front porch.  They're kind of tucked on the side of the house - right at the 'wrap-around' section of the 'wrap around porch'.  They've done remarkably well - better than other hydrangeas we have right in front of the porch.   They throw off A LOT of green during the Summer.  Here's what they looked like in July of 2020 .  And what they looked like in the previous October showing off all the blooms drying out . I've always been confused about pruning hydrangeas.  Do they bloom on new wood?  Old wood?  Do you prune them to the ground?  Do you prune them back to buds?  Two buds?   Last year, I confirmed (to myself) that Limelight Hydrangeas bloom on 'new wood' .  Which means, I can prune them back pretty hard and they'll still flower.  Here's what they looked like last Spring after a prune and recovered with new green growth .  You can see that I

Nat spotted a little guy hanging on our front door wreath recently.  He's one a pretty good job of hiding himself - via natural camouflage - amongst our wreath leaves (these are faux leaves) and what I think is hiding from predators like birds.  Can you spot him in the photo below?   Took me a second to see him myself.  But, below is an annotated version of the same photo.  Clever insect, right? So, what is it?  Appears to be a Katydid .  

The pair of Limelight Hydrangeas that sit to the south of our front porch are just about hitting their stride this season.  They're tolerating the heat and are presenting a pleasant shape and nice color. This pair has consistently performed the best of *any* of our originally installed landscaping.  I've tried to keep tabs on these over time here in the garden diary. One year and one month ago (Early Summer 2019) - They were just getting started for the season. October of 2019 - they bloomed and were drying out.  And just 45 days ago - getting started on the growing season. This pair has put off some HUGE blooms the past few years and I've tried to tend to them with some late Winter pruning in an attempt to give them some shape.  You'll also notice some rocks on the left of the photo.  Those are new this season and were placed there to try to control some erosion as there is a downspout pop-up located in this bed.  That plentiful source of runoff water m

We positioned our house back about 15 feet from what the front-yard setback minimum in an attempt to preserve this Maple tree.  There is a dead spot in the canopy now - on the southside of the tree that I wanted to document here in the garden diary in an attempt to see if it is worsening or if the tree has stabilized.  I don't remember this dead spot being present last year, but I didn't document it, so I am unsure.  I'll be watching this tree closely to see if we need to call in an expert.

This pair of Limelight Hydrangeas put our a great show each Summer and Fall.  I posted a photo of them in October of 2019 when they were weighed down with tons of flower blooms .  And here's a photo from the previous Summer - just a little bit over two years ago - when these were greening up for the Summer.  These are located to the south of our front porch. I gave these a pretty hard prune in the late Winter and they're responding (seemingly) well this Spring.  Limelight Hydrangeas bloom on "new wood" , so that's a big part of the reason for the hard prune.  I gave both of these a heavy mulching this Spring - their first in two years - and they get plenty of water from our gutter run-off, so I think I've set them up for success. 

A couple of days ago, I posted a before/after photo of our Magnolia tree and the cocoa bean shell mulch that I added and mentioned that I had brought home just 10 bags of cocoa bean hull mulch from Lake Geneva.  Today, you can see our front bed with the balance of the bags laid down.  I was able to add mulch from the front of the bed to around and *just* behind the boxwoods.  We have three Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas behind the boxwoods that I didn't have enough mulch in the bags to cover at this point. From this point of view - and down lower near the sidewalk, you can't see *behind* the boxwoods, so it kind of looks finished despite about 50% of the bed not being freshly mulched. When we go back up to Wisconsin in the coming weeks/months when we drive two cars, I'll head over to the Hull Farm and pick up ten more bags of the stuff to finish off the bed. On the far left of the photo, you can see one of the limestone blocks that I installed to create that '