Why I Oughta...

One of the very best things I did in our garden this year was planting an Arctic Jade Korean Maple in our backyard .  It was/is our second Korean Maple with the first one being a Northern Glow Korean Maple that I planted out front in 2024 .  I posted photos of this small tree when the foliage was green .  And when the foliage was yellow .  And when the foliage was turning red .  Here, below, is a look at the tree when the foliage is, well...gone.  The tree is dormant and has dropped all of its leaves.  Last week, when I posted this peek at some of the Hakonechloa All Golds in the snow , you could see the side-profile of this Arctic Jade.   With it being 'naked' during the Winter, it gives me a chance to observe the structure.  Now....one of my "Great Garden Rules" is #8:  Don't prune anything for a while.  That means there's no touching this tree for a couple of seasons.  But, I can already see something that I'd prune of...

Yesterday, I s howed one of two small Canadian Hemlock trees in our backyard and talked about how one of them was being eaten-up by some (dang) rabbits this Winter .   Here, below, is a look at the other one of these conifer trees that was planted at the same time.  This one is MUCH-MORE full.  But, about the same height (five-ish feet tall).    Similarly tucked into the 'understory garden', this Canadian Hemlock is one of just two remaining of the six that we originally planted.  I mentioned yesterday that I need to include the Canadian Hemlock on my list of trees/shrubs/flowers that work in our garden and think about adding more.   I think the Stumpery is a prime location as well as the unplanted bed that sits in front of the fire pit garden.   Speaking of the stumpery ...I should revisit it this week to show the 'winter interest'.  

All the way back in Summer of 2019, I bought and planted a number of VERY SMALL Canadian Hemlock trees from an online nursery .   Three of them were planted along the north side fence line .  Today, two of those three are still standing .  Seven years ago, these trees weren't even a foot-tall in height.   Today?  This one is probably five-feet tall.  But, sparsely branched.  And, the caliper of the trunk is probably up to almost an inch.  Below is a look at this Canadian Hemlock tucked into the 'understory garden'.   Would I plant this tree back here, close to these other trunks - if I was to do it all over?  No.  Would I plant this small of a tree - if I was to do it all over?  No. But, here we are.  Seven years later and the tree is in this spot. The growth of the tree isn't really the point of this post in my garden diary.  I was out taking some kitchen scraps to the compost bin and took a number of ...

Planted back in the Fall of 2021 , we have a (still) small Mugo Pine in the backyard northside bed about 3/4's of the way back.  It is planted pretty close to the Harry Lauder Walking Stick Tree that I posted about yesterday .  It was a #1 gallon conifer when it went in and cost just $5.00.   I posted about it one-year after planting as it was establishing itself (but not putting on any growth at that time).   Then, in Fall of 2022, I noted that the (dang!) rabbits were feasting on this small shrub .   By Fall of 2024 it had grown a little bit , but it still was small.   Today? Like the Harry Lauder Contorted Walking Stick Tree ...this one has been 'slow-growing'.  Here, below, is the Mugo Pine peeking up out of the snow: I included the idea of ' conifers should come first ' in my v1 draft of Jake's Great Garden Rules   and this Mugo Pine is an example of a conifer that I planted earlier than most.  Was it likely too ...

Planted in the Summer of 2020, this Harry Lauder Walking Stick Tree sits in the back part of the garden in a tucked-away spot, but when you see it when it is bare and dormant, it provides A LOT of winter interest.   It is described as 'contorted' and that's certainly the case with this small tree that I spotted on my way back to the compost pile this weekend.  When I snapped this photo (below), I muttered to myself:  "this tree has hardly grown.  How long has it been here?" [Sidenote:  I wrote about Contorted Trees at Disneyland Paris here that's worth checking out .  That was the inspiration for buying and planting this tree in our garden.] The answer to the second part is:  This year will mark its seventh (7th) growing season ('20, '21, '22, '23, '24, '25, '26).  That's far longer than I thought.   As for the second part;  has it grown?  Let's look.  Here, below, is what it looks like currently: Looking back at th...

While the (dang) rabbits were able to get to *some* of my Japanese Forest Grasses (when they were green), on-balance most of them are showing off a little bit of their 'winter interest'.  Are these the largest masses of grasses?  No.  But, they're SOMETHING - in terms of sizes.  I transplanted these over in 2024, so they have had two growing seasons on this border .  Here's a post showing them re-emerging for year two in April 2025 .   Here's the grasses right now, under a light blanket of snow: Here's hoping that they'll FILL OUT and get 'fat and sassy' in 2026.  

One of my ' early early' potential projects was to add a garden arch to the backyard.  That's because I was gifted a garden arch for Christmas.  It is still in the box, so I'm not totally sure what it looks like, but believe it to be a square one (non-arch) and it is made of wood.  Where could it go?  The first spot is obviously the fire pit entrance.  To help frame/create that as the 'entrance' to the fire pit .  Like this: But, I could also put it closer to the house.  Either off the boardwalk.  Or, as part of a 'hide-and-reveal' entrance off the patio?  If I did that....what would we do back by the firepit?   The answer is, of course easy:  Revisit the idea of building a moongate back there .   I suppose the installation of the arch certainly isn't permanent.  So, if I end up starting with it back there, it doesn't mean we can't build the moongate, right? 

Mid-January means it is about ten weeks since I brought home the two large Amaryllis bulbs from Wannemaker's Christmas Open House and planted them in some pots .  Like I've done every year, after planting them up, I put them in a spot with good sun exposure (full view of the sky) along with some heat (a stone table that sits on top of a heat vent from our furnace).   The first of the two bulbs - Flamed Amadeus - bloomed a couple of weeks ago - and has since had those first flower blooms die back .  The second stem with a bud is coming up out of the bulb right now.  The second Amaryllis was named Shine Dream.  Here's the post when I brought it home .  By early December, this Shine Dream was showing some 'action' .  That means (to me) ...a tip was emerging from the bulb.  It was a slow two weeks until that same bud grew up and out of the bulb a tiny bit .   Today, it looks like this: Shine Dream is tall.  Much taller than the Fla...

Here, below is a look at an unfinished part of a 2024 'garden edit'.  There are just three Hakonechloa Macra (straight green) grasses planted.  I think there's room for four or five more.   The other side of this bed (the pizza oven bed) is on my early, early priority list for adding the same grasses.  I'm thinking we need to do both ends:

A couple of my backyard 'garden edits' involved what I termed the "Hosta Replacement Project" - where I yanked out some hostas and replaced them with something else that persisted in the winter (grasses, astilbes, etc).   I moved a bunch of them out, but there are many more left in place.  Perhaps, another section of the great 'hosta replacement project' could be one of my potential "2026 priority projects"?  I'm not convinced.  But, like Paul Graham has said :  writing helps you understand what you actually think.  As he put it , "Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn't know it as well as you thought." Below is a photo showing the northside bed that is about half-way back (behind the picnic table).  The thing you see standing tall and proud are those white stalks.  Those are hosta flower stalks that are hanging around after the foliage disappeared when the perennial went dormant.   ...

One of the 'wins' from last garden season were the three Garden Ghost Artemisia that I planted in the front yard Island Bed along the driveway .  They quickly filled-in/filled-out, provided a nice pop of white to brighten up the bed and were *very useful* in cut flower arrangements.  I bought them from Roy Diblik's nursery up in Wisconsin (Northwind Perennial Farm) and planted them along with a couple of grasses, some annuals and the Korean Maple tree.   Here's a look at one of the MANY arrangements that I used the Garden Ghost plumes in as filler flowers . The provide a tiny bit of Winter interest, but they also have stems that help protect the crown of the plants by trapping leaf litter around the base of the woody plants.  Below is a look at the current state of these Garden Ghost Artemisias planted right next to the driveway: I've talked about it a few times, but between the early snow-fall and the deliberate adoption (at least a little bit more than normal...

Last Spring, I posted some photos of the perennial garden plantings along the (then-recently) renovated Riverside Plaza that runs along the Chicago River's South Branch .  I pointed out the inclusion of some of my favorite plants (Autumn Moor Grass) and how the designer used them in mass plantings.   This past week, on a walk to the train I noticed something else in these raised beds:  winter interest.  Here, below is a photo showing the seedheads or plumes (of what I think is some sort of Astilbe or Goat's Beard) that is planted in mass.  There's something planted in the front (Looks like some Lady's Mantle foliage on the right) and something that is still green in the back (Looks like a fern like Autumn Fern) making this a layered bed.  But...there's certainly four-season interest, isn't there? Later on, I took another photo of another bed that was in the dark that shows the same seedheads.  These, however, were planted in a narrow bed, so they...

This Summer will mark seven (7) years since I planted and installed twelve (12) small Hicks Yews in the far back reach of our yard in a straight row spanning the width of our grass/yard.  Here's the post showing them in the ground for the first time when the needles were barely above the mulch .  That was mid-Summer 2019.   Seven years and this will be the eight growing season. Back then, I had a swoop-ing, undulating, but formally pruned hedge in mind .  That closely-clipped hedge was a product of YEARS of growth.   I watered them in the first year, but have mostly left them alone.  *Knock on Wood*.  I haven't lost one.  Yet.  Here they are in August of 2020 - one year after planting . Here the hedge is in November 2021 - four years ago . Here are some photos from December of 2022 showing the growth . And.. the Hicks Yews snuck into this post from Summer 2023 where I was talking about some ferns . Here's a post showing the gr...

Each year, I try to create a garden to-do list that forces me to prioritize what I work on and by publishing it here on the blog, creates a situation where I become accountable to delivering on the items in the list.  That final to-do list is based on a process where I think-thru (and write out) some priority projects in the Winter/Spring.  And, starting in 2024, I also created a draft version of some potential items that I called an "early look at potential projects" .  I did that same thing in 2025 with another 'early look' that ended up having 18 items in bullet-list format .  I think that almost every one of the eighteen ended up (in some form) on my final list, so the exercise was useful. That list last year was posted in March.   We're sitting here in the early days of January.  So, I'm going to call this one an "Early, Early" list.  And, I'll reserve the right to update this with an 'early list' later this Spring.   The easiest pla...

Mid-December, the first of our two Amaryllis bulbs - the Flamed Amadeus - was sending up its first flower buds .  Now, three-ish weeks later, the flower petals are opening up and starting to put on a wintertime flower show on our counter.   Below are a couple of photos showing the first two flowers to begin to open with a third on this stem following right behind.    These are billed as being some of the 'largest Amaryllis blooms', so my expectations are high.  The stem isn't too tall, so there's no toppling-over (yet).   This stage of these 'double amaryllis' (when the petals are still unfurling) is interesting as it appears crumpled in the center, but standing proud on the perimeter.  You sort-of get that double opening experience in one bloom.   We're well past Christmas now and that means the decorations are coming down and the wintertime-induced seasonal depression begins to creep in.  This pop of countertop color is a goo...

Last week I posted a list of 'potential' sites to expand (and amend the soil) of various bed sites around the garden.  Some of these were/are small extensions (adding inches to the width/depth of the beds) and others are much larger (adding feet of width/depth).  I wrote up the list and posted it in January not JUST because of the Wintertime-induced garden-related cabin fever, but also because a key element of my 1 'lazy bed extension' method involves TIME.  Time to supress and kill the turf.  That's because my 'lazy bed extension' method doesn't require the removal of turf, instead I just smother it with cardboard and then top the cardboard with various materials (biosolids + compost + leaf litter + mulch). On that list were a few front yard locations including expanding the Magnolia bed (which is a tight circle currently), connecting the Oregon Green bed to the front porch bed (about four-feet of distance) and expanding the small (12" deep) bed ...

Over the years, I've written and linked to various 'garden rules' and 'garden mistakes' lists.  And, I've made a bunch of those mistakes. And, learned from the 'rules'.  But, over the holidays, I was talking to my oldest sister and my brother-in-law about gardening.  They're taking on a new, exciting project and are in the midst of planning a clean-sheet garden at their lake house in Michigan.  The conversation drifted towards them asking for advice on where to start.  And, that made me think about what I would tell other gardeners.  I went home and ended up writing a Google Doc that included some advice, links and thoughts.  After editing a little bit, it ended up taking the shape of being a list of rules (or advice) that I've seemingly adopted for my own garden.  I thought it was worth sharing as (in this case, like many others here on the blog), I've adopted Paul Graham's advice and wrote things out.  The act of *writing this list* ta...

Yesterday, I posted a 'garden dreaming' post about building a new, raised bed section in our backyard to grow even more vegetables and flowers.   And, right before the new year, I posted by 2025 to-do list scorecard .  I bring both of those posts up because they are both involved in this post about lazy beds.   First, the scorecard .  I graded myself 18/25, but one of the seven incompletes was #23 - "More Lazy Bed Extensions" and I mentioned in the post that I have reserved the right to update my scorecard total if I get these bed extensions done before the end of January.   Time is important on these lazy bed extensions as we need time to suppress the turf that exists, 'melt away' the cardboard and allow the biosolids to mellow out a little bit.  I've done them in the Fall and the beds were ready come Spring.  And, I've done some on a quicker turnaround.   If I get these done in January, I'll have 120ish days of cure time....

The hits-and-misses that I've had with cut flowers and vegetables this past year has me (already) thinking about next year.  I wanted to make 2025 the year of 'even more cut flowers' and with all of the dahlias that I planted, we made that happen.  But, the constraints of our property mean that I'm close to the limit on what I can do going forward.  We have a ton of garden space in the backyard.  But, MOST OF IT is in shade.  That means that if I want to grow more things like dahlias and other cut flowers that need sun, I have to rethink things.   I could plant up more of the front yard or...I could do something bigger.   That something BIGGER is a cut flower garden.  In a part of the backyard that *is* in sun for a good part of the day.   And, a cut flower garden that uses raised beds.  We had raised beds in Elmhurst that lived inside of a fenced-in enclosure.  That garden produced a BOUNTY every season.  Vegeta...

I've mentioned that Winter snow came early this year and that cut-short some of my typical garden cleanup. It also dropped most of the leaves on the Frans Fontaine Hornbeams that normally hang around all Winter.   And, those two things - snow packing down and leaves falling - has created a full bed of leaf litter at the feet of the Hornbeams.  Below is a photo showing the fallen leaves that have been matted-down by the heavy snow (that has since melted).   Just in FRONT of these trees is the newly-expanded Pizza Oven bed.  That bed is full of clay soil. One of the things I've been talking about doing this Winter is amending the clay soil to make it a little bit more hospitable to gardening next year - especially with more dahlias on their way.   My first thought was to utilize municipal biosolids and just pile it ON TOP OF THE CURRENT MULCH.  But, now, seeing this leave litter, I'm thinking that I should try to rake it up on top of the clay b...