Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted photos and details of how I'm starting a bulb lawn with (just) 95 crocus corms and mentioned that I also was expanding the bulb lawn by planting some bulbs in the parkway. Like the Crocus varieties that I planted (Ruby Giant, King of the Striped and Romance), when I was looking at the Daffodils, I also wanted something a bit shorter in height.  I ended up buying (for now) just one package of 14 Tete a Tete Daffodil bulbs.  Here's how Longfield Gardens describes them : A miniature daffodil with one to three perfect little blossoms per stem. Though Tete a Tete stands just 7" tall, the bright yellow flowers can be seen from a great distance. Emphasis, mine.   Miniature and bright yellow.  Sounds great. These bulbs are a bit bigger than the Crocus bulbs: I've long thought about how to transform the parkway into something more interesting than turf grass.  I don't have built-in irrigation and the parkway is pretty far from our hose bib, so...

Back at the beginning of September, I posted some details about planting a bulb lawn and took a photo of a set of bulbs at Menards that included some short-stature (in height) crocus flowers and other Fall-planting bulbs/corms.  I'm looking for short early-bloomers and after doing a little bit of research, I found that three crocus flowers were right for me.   I ended up buying one package of Ruby Giant, King of the Striped and Romance.  Here, below, is a photo of the bags.  35 + 25 + 35 = 95 crocus corms. #13 on my 2026 to-do list was to get some bulbs in the ground : 13. Plant fall bulbs. For my first few gardening seasons, I was pretty good about planting fall bulbs. Alliums and tulips, mostly. But, I got away from it. Get back to it this Fall. And…Try a bulb lawn in front. Yes…a bulb lawn. Or, at least a patch of bulb lawn as an experiment. A bulb lawn.  Doing one would require WAY, WAY, WAY more bulbs (corms).  Less than 100 is like dipping my to...

Back at the beginning of August, I posted about the front yard Island Bed annuals .  And, talked about how I should have planted more Vinca and was underwhelmed by the coleus.  At that time,  I wrote this : The coleus in this bed have (also) been a disappointment. But, that's for a separate post so I can learn from the experience. The coleus that I have up there is named Wizard Sun Velvet Red Coleus .  Here's the post when I bought them.  And, the description: Compact, mid-sized foliage plant with upright habit is ideal for mixed containers, planters, baskets and landscapes. Easy-care plants are late flowering, extending their landscape value. Emphasis, mine. Compact.  Compact!  That was the 'bug' back earlier this Summer.  Last year, the coleus that I grew were LARGER and fuller.  But, they also swallowed up everything behind them.  The Spring Grove Ginkgo.  The Greenlee Sesleria were nowhere to be seen .   Now....move a...

Yesterday, I posted a photo showing the mid-Summer update on the 36 Titan Halo Lavender Blue Annual Vinca that are planted down by the sidewalk in the Island bed.  I talked about how they had grown slowly the first two months - all of June and July - but have recently put on some size.  A little too late for my taste, though.  At least down there where they're supposed to provide some curb appeal. Further back, in the front porch bed, I also planted Titan Halo Lavender Blue vinca plugs.  I planted 76 of them in the newly expanded bed .   In 2025, I planted 64 vinca plugs .  They were bedding vinca from the big box store.  Nothing special.  But, by the end of July they had created a carpet of color.  Branching out and filling in.  And continuous flowering.  They were great .  So great that I went ham on annual Vinca this year.   With...what I thought was a 'better' vinca.  At least, bigger and bolder. ...

Back in June, I planted 36 tiny plugs of Titan Blue Lavender Halo Vinca in a mass planting in the (mostly) front of the Island Bed down by the sidewalk.  I grew Annual Vinca in the front porch bed last year and in addition to planting more there this year, I also decided to give it a try down in the Island Bed.   The 36 plugs were tiny when they went in .  And, maybe I spaced them too far part.  But, after all of June.  And all of July, they're finally starting to put on some size and fill-out the space that I gave them.  Not all of them survived, but I'd say that the great majority of them have made it to August.  I'm not sure, but I think a few of them might have been over-watered (vs struggle from drought).   Below is a as-current photo of the Titan Halo Vinca.  I recently watered them, so they're a little 'tipped over' from the weight of the water.  But, this gives us a sense for spacing.  And color. Turns out, 36 isn...

August, already?  Yeeesh. The heat is here, but for the first time (for me as a gardener), so, too are the Lisianthus. As a cut flower in our garden.   That means that I'm learning something new.   The garden continues to reward patience.  In this case it is patience to see the blooms change color.  To their intended color.  Turns out, that's just what Lisianthus does:  it changes color as it blooms.   Back in Spring, I bought some Lisianthus Metallic Blue (Celeb 2) plugs from Garden Club .  They arrived a bit early (my fault), so I potted-them-up and tried to keep them alive for a month-plus until I could plant them outside.  They went in the newly expanded Saratoga Ginkgo bed in late May .   All eight plugs survived the first month indoors and have made it to August in the ground.  I protected them from rabbits with a little chicken wire cage , so I'm not sure if the rabbits would have gotten to these. And...

A week ago, I posted a 'getting to know' post about Little Lamb Lamb's ear and talked up some of its features as a groundcover.   So, it wasn't hard to 'add to cart' with a couple of small quart-sized plugs when I saw them at a 50% off sale at the Big Box store.  As for finding a home for them, I opted to fill-in a gap at the very front of the Island bed down by the sidewalk that I had previously tried to fill with some Chocolate Chip Ajuga plugs .  Some of those planted earlier this year have made it (so far) and some of them didn't.   The two Little Lamb Lamb's Ears filled the gap.  See below for them on the very front of this bed: I'll see how these do in the early days and then decide if I should bring home a few more to fill in some space and create even more 'living mulch'. I had previously planted 43 groundcover plants for the season (7 sedges, 36 ajuga plugs), so these two get me up to 45 for the season.  

My Mom recently brought to my attention how I don't have any perennial geraniums in our garden.  That's actually not true as I have one under the dwarf Ginkgo tree by our back stoop.  Brookside Geranium .   But, why my Mom brought it up was when we were talking about groundcover.  And..."living mulch".   Or, more...my desire to buy LESS MULCH each year by filling in the spots in the garden with easy-to-maintain perennials. I was at the Big Box store recently and saw these small geranium plugs for $6.98 and 50% off.  They're New Hampshire Purple Geranium.  And, they're certainly small.  But, for $3.50, I figured I'd give it a shot.   Proven Winners has a listing page up for New Hampshire Purple Geranium .  Hardy Geranium, Bloody Cranesbill.  They say: A profusion of magenta-purple flowers atop compact, spreading mounds of leaves makes this one of the best low-growing cranesbills. Low-growing.  Like that. ...

Yesterday, I continued my "planting out plugs" series with eight Lisianthus Celeb Metallic Blue plugs from Garden Club that went in the front yard Saratoga Ginkgo bed.  That brought my total up to 20 new (to me) accent and cut flower plugs that have been planted out (8 Didiscus + 6 Silver Shield + 8 Lisianthus = 20) Today, I am showing just three more that went into the Island bed in front: 3 Gomphrena Audray White plugs from Garden Club .  I have more of these to plant out, but I'm limited by space and chicken wire.   I put two together and one under a Dollar Tree wire garbage can.  You can see them below: That brings my total to 23.  8 Didiscus + 6 Silver Shield + 8 Lisianthus + 3 Gomphrena Audray White = 23 new (to me) accent and cut flower plugs.  All eight of these didn't survive (I think one died) the two month LIMINAL SPACE they lived in between when they arrived and when I planted them out.  These went out on May 22nd.  And they're ...

Day three of accent plant plug being planted-out in the garden. First day was the eight Didiscus Lacy Blue in the Island bed.  Yesterday, I showed a photo of the six Silver Shields going in the corner bed by the back patio .   That brings my accent plant total to 14 (so far).  Today, we continue with eight more cut flowers that are new (to me).   Lisianthus Celeb Metallic Blue .  Lisianthus has taken on sort-of a mythical state amongst the cut-flower-farming-tok world that I've fallen into.  It is (by reputation) very slow growing, so no idea how these will do out in my garden.  To help them, I planted all eight in the newly expanded Saratoga Ginkgo bed out front .  This gets good sun and because of the annual Vinca in the adjacent bed, I'll water the heck out of them.   Below is a photo showing the eight Lisianthus Celeb Metallic Blue in rabbit protection cages.  I'm hoping that like everything else, as these put on some ...

Earlier this year, I bought a bunch of cut flower plugs from Garden Club and they arrived earlier than I really needed them .  Lesson learned for next year:  Have them delivered later in the Spring.  Of that set of plugs, eight of them are a new (to me) flower:  Didiscus Lacy Blue .  Of the plugs that arrived, these seemed to do the best with my "up-potting" as all eight have navigated the past two months and have put on some new foliage.   After managing them for weeks, I finally got around to planting them after all the threat of frost was gone.  In the second-to-last-week of May (the same day I put in a bunch of Dahlias), I planted these eight small plants.  They went in the south part of the Island Bed.   I spaced them about a foot apart and protected them with a ring of chicken wire to keep the rabbits away from them - until they can put on some mass.  I planted them in a mix of compost, garden soil and municipal biosolid...

Over the past month, I've posted a number of posts about adding groundcover plugs to the garden.  The latest was a post about six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs that I put into the front yard Island Bed at the very edge of the sidewalk.  Those joined three existing ones from 2025.  They weren't the most healthy plugs, but they went in anyway.  That brought my groundcover planting total to 24 total planted for the year.  Today, I added six more Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs to that same Island bed.  Five along the final edge in the front and one 'up the driveway'. This brings the total to thirty groundcover plants added (to date).  #20 on my to-do list is to "Keep Going on Groundcover" .  Thirty in the Spring is a good number.  My previous annual high-planting mark for Groundcover plants was that epic Fall 2023 season when I added 36 .  I'm right there and it is just Spring.   Adding this 'living mulch' down in the Island bed serv...

Dahlia season has begun here.  With the initial planting of seventeen dahlias.  That was day one of planting the tubers that I started out in the garden.  I made this annotated map to show (mostly myself) where everything is planted because I'm growing many new (to me) varieties for the first time and have a much more diverse lineup than in previous seasons.  Note:  this post is going live in early June, but I planted these on May 20th.  Last year, I planted them in the first week of June , so this is almost three weeks earlier.  Here, below is that map.  So far, I've put six in the "Pizza Oven West" bed, seven along the side of the house in the "South Sun Wall" bed and four "Under the Elm".  You can see them numbered in red: Pizza Oven East 1.  Crichton Honey 2.  Cafe Au Lait 3.  Creme de Cognac 4.  Blue Wish 5.  Milena Fleur 6.  Jowie Winnie Here (below) is a photo below of these plantings.  Note that I pu...

Yesterday, I showed photos of the 76 Titan Blue Lavender Halo Vinca annuals that I added to our front porch bed where I hope they'll grow into a carpet of color.  In service of the notion of 'repetition', I opted to plant the same annuals down in the island bed to try to carry that same color further forward and bring those two plantings together visually.   I went with 36 vinca down there.  Below are a few photos showing how the 36 Titan Blue Lavender Vinca are planted in between the Red Wizard Sun Coleus and the existing Ajuga groundcover that abuts the sidewalk.  First up are side-views: And, here below is the curb-view: Last year, I didn't have luck with the flowering annuals in this bed, so I'm hoping that these Titan Vinca will fare better.  

More groundcover (or living mulch) is something I've been working-on for a couple of growing seasons.  This month, I put in six Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs in the [kitchen curved] bed in the backyard and six Ajuga 'Burgundy Glow' in the backyard near the colony of Hellebores on the northside .  This week, I put in six more Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs in the front of the Island Bed in our front yard down along the sidewalk.  This brings my 2026 groundcover planting total to 24. Here, below, is a look at the six new plugs that are to the left of the three existing ones that went in last year in August .   Here are the three existing groudcover plants last Fall .  One of the challenges down by the sidewalk is retaining the mulch, so I'm hoping these plugs will grow-in and provide a 'living mulch' mat that stretches the front of the bed along the sidewalk.  You can see the six new ones in this photo of the red coleus annuals: These weren't the...

One of the [garden wins] that I hung on the scoreboard last year was planting coleus as a bedding plant in the garden.  Both in the front yard (island bed) and in the back ( corner patio bed ).  Last year, I planted twelve Versa Gold Coleus as bedding annuals up front in the Island bed and they filled-in and put on a great foliage show all season.  I was pretty good about dead-heading them and pinching off the flowers to keep the growth focused on the foliage.  I put on my 2026 to-do list to use more annuals (again) including coleus and talked about repetition via annuals.  More on that soon.   But, for the Island bed, I picked up sixteen (16) small Wizard Red Velvet Red Coleus plants: Wizard Red Sun Coleus is described by Ball Seed as : Compact, mid-sized foliage plant with upright habit is ideal for mixed containers, planters, baskets and landscapes. Easy-care plants are late flowering, extending their landscape value. These are likely to be a bit ...

In the Fall of 2023, I (also) planted a pair of small Baby Blue Spruce trees in the (then) newly expanded IB2DWs bed.  They were both in five-gallon containers and were small trees that were 50%-off at the end-of-year sale.    $50 for the pair .  Looking back, that's pretty good.   When I planted these, I talked about how they are dwarf trees - hence the name 'Baby Blue'.  That means they are very slow-growing and add just a few inches per year.   This will be the third full growing season (Planted in Fall 2023, so 2024, 2025 and now 2026), but I'd certainly declare these as 'slow-to-grow'.   Below are a couple of photos showing the current state of these two trees.   First up, is the tree planted further West (closer to the house).  This one is less-perfectly-pyramidal in shape.  It almost looks like it is leaning over to the right.  And...that might be the case, because of the growing canopy of the growin...

I planted a small, ball-and-burlap Oregon Green Austrian Pine tree in our front yard in the Fall of 2024 .  This came one year after my big "Fall Planting" sprint in Fall of 2023 when I had so much success with evergreens/conifers.    I wrote a 'Getting to Know' post about this tree and talked about how it will reach a 10' height in ten years and has an open-branching look.  But, it also has some of the best 'candles' of all the conifers.   Last May, I posted some photos showing off the candles emerging for the first Spring in our garden .  In that post, I talked about how some folks choose to prune those candles to keep the tree more compact.   Here below are a few photos showing the current state of this tree and the current set of candles.   Spring Candles on Oregon Green Austrian Pine Candle'ing - the pruning of these candles - typically focuses on removing or shortening the 'dominant candle'.  Others, like the folks at th...

Another day, another Spring growth on evergreen post in the garden diary.  This time, it is a similar trio of Green Velvet Boxwoods, but these are planted a year earlier, in June 2022 .  These shrubs started as TINY (TINY!) evergreen shrubs planted in a cluster IB2DWs, under the flowering pear tree along the north property line.    Take a quick look here to see how small they were when they went in the ground . Now in their fifth growing season ('22, '23, '24, '25 and now '26), they've taken a more globe-shape and have nicely rounded crowns.   See below for the current view of these three: Back when I put them in, I mentioned wanting 'structure' and 'Winter interest' in this bed.  We're starting to see those dynamics come to life.