Why I Oughta...

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...

I planted some small pot-grown Wichita Blue (upright) Junipers in our backyard in early May .  Today, four-months-later, all three of them seem to have handled the heat of the Summer and aren't in distress.  That's good.  I watered them pretty heavily this Summer and they're (partially) protected from the Sun - being planted under the tree swing Northern Red Oak.   They get shade in the morning and late afternoon.  But, are full Sun in the middle of the day.   That seems (*knock on wood*) to be working for them as there is little brown'ing-out happening with the needles.  See below for what these three look like after being planted for four months in our garden: To date, I haven't planted the rest of the bed around them, but this is my inspiration :  using Stachys Hummelo in a mass planting.   Maybe that'll be a #Fall2025 project.  Or, something for next year. 

We popped in to a few gardens around Ireland earlier this month (including St. Stephens Green that I posted about yesterday ) and saw a climate that seemed to grow a lot like ours.  With a little bit more tropical foliage than we can grow here.  Cape Cod garden vibes with the hydrangeas (especially the blue ones), but the Cape has way more Rhododendrons than Ireland. One of the stops was at Muckross House.  On the property is a walled garden named (naturally) Muckross Gardens .   There's an arboretum, some pruned shrubs, perennials and annual displays.   But, if you walk around the perimiter of the walled garden, you'll find something else:  espalier.  Apple trees trained into fan-shaped espalier held against the warm, stone walls of the garden.  I took a few photos and one of the things that I like about how they've pruned these is that they've seemingly thinned out the foliage in spots to show more branching followed by clusters (or cl...

This planter outside of an office building has a nice legibility to it:  annual vinca (Madagascar Vinca) in the front, sort-of spilling over the front ledge of the bed (or garden box), backed by a white-flowering waxy Begonia.  In the corners are Purple Heart Tradescantia (which has a trailing habit).  Behind the begonias (and taller) is a row of Salvia.  And, in the center?  Some tropical-looking cannas.  Nice combination that serves as inspiration for an all-annual island bed.  

For the past year-or-so, I've been thinking about this inspiration photo that shows a combination of blue-green, upright conifer trees flanked by Stachys Hummelo perennials in a mass planting .   I talked about using it in the front yard, but had not come across Wichita Blue Junipers in the wild, so the idea sort-of just hung on the shelf.   That was...until I went to the big box nursery recently and saw these blue-needle upright conifers in the parking lot amongst the big masses of arborvitae.  These looked interesting.  Upon closer inspection...it turns out...these are what I've been thinking about for the past year:  Wichita Blue Juniper trees.   The Missouri Botanical Garden describes Wichita Blue Junipers thusly: ‘Wichita Blue’ is a compact, conical, male form that grows slowly (6-12” per year) to 10-15’ tall, but may eventually reach 15-30’ tall. As the cultivar name suggests, it is noted for its blue or blue-gray foliage that retains ...

Amongst the various hard surfaces around the Walt Disney World Resort are 'realistic' (Animal Kingdom) and not-so-realistic (the brown middle part in Liberty Square).  It isn't hard to miss some of the hardscape elements, but it is also worth taking a beat and looking around to see what they're using in various spots.  One of them is this European Fan at Disney Springs.  See below for the cobble stones: I've been spending time thinking about the hard surfaces for my pizza oven patio - here's my initial 'musings' post .  This European Fan pattern sent me looking out on the Web for how I could use it down there.  I found this concrete fan pattern that can be used to stamp concrete .  Could be a nice treatment, right?

Yesterday, I published a post detailing the idea of "Legibility in the Garden" and talked how Dr. Jared Barnes introduced me to the concept via his Meristem blog.  Barnes has developed a set of elements that he feels are the core components of "Legibility" and how we as gardeners can achieve it :   1. Clean edges 2. Desire lines and paths 3. Primary and secondary axes 4. Sightlines 5. Focal points 6. Entrances 7. Seeing over plantings Edging is something that I've posted about a number of times .  And, it seems to check a few of Dr. Barnes' components:  clean lines, paths and entrances.   Edging is something that I posted about last Fall when I included some inspiration from a YouTube channel (Moxie Gardens) and talked about how he used railroad ties and other wood beams cut up into chunks to edge various parts of his garden and beds.   A couple weeks ago, Amy at Pretty Purple Door sent a newsletter that talked about creating a dog-frie...

I've found myself drawn to a creator on TikTok named "Artful Roger" who combines his love of gardening with his other interests (like building miniature things, vintage Christmas and interior design).  I'm much more likely to 'swipe' up/past the miniatures/interior/tablescape design videos, but I never skip one of his garden TikToks.  And...as I've shown...I'm a sucker for Vintage Christmas.   In a series of videos, he posted about how he created what he calls a "Micropond" in his backyard.  Here's one of the videos showing the completed project - linked here - and embedded below: @endtable Here are the pond details. #micropond #gardenpond #waterfeature #gardenwaterfeature #artfulrodger #gardeningbasics ♬ Happy - Calming Tune The photo at the top of this post is a screenshot from that very TikTok.  There's a lot to like about this.  Boulders that he found on-site.  The use of mixed materials like the driftwood.  Pea grave...

With the growing season winding down, I'm turning my attention to a couple of things:  chronicling the lessons learned from this past season AND thinking about what I could do NEXT season.  This post is to put down a marker for next year - with something I've come across via YouTube:  Edging.   I've posted some photos/inspiration of edging over the years including this metal edging from Luxembourg Gardens in Paris , this metal vs. brick edging view in 2019  and this boulder edge at a nursery .   Moxie Gardens is a YouTube Channel of a gardener/landscaper who lives in Kansas (I think) and has built a personality-heavy backyard garden with LOTS of unique touches.  One of them is his use of various types of edging.  Here's a video - and screenshot below - that shows how he used 4x6 posts cut-up to different heights to create a curved edging around his patio.  Here's the 275 second mark with this view: Screenshot v ia Moxie Gardens vi...

I came across some new water feature inspiration - this time it was at the Lemont Park District Rec Center - in what appears to be the Danny Rizzo Memorial Plaza .  Right before you enter the building is a water feature that is made up of stacked, flat flagstones (or something similar) that allow for the fountain to cascade down each of the layers and pool into a round, visible reservoir.  I could see this being a DIY job - the hardest part is moving the rocks.   Here, below, is a video showing this stacked flagstone water feature/fountain in a round pool.  Here, below, is a photo: I could see this being an upgrade for our current container fountain and something (with the right drill bit), we could ourselves.  Maybe even a small pond as the reservoir.  

Resist the lure of the big box nursery store.  That's something that I'm trying to live-by this Spring.  And, something I'll need to remind myself when it comes to containers.  The past few years, I've picked up some bedding annuals from the orange big box store.  Same with some of the plants that go into our various containers.  One of those has been coleus.  I've used it in containers - but not as a bedding plant where I've installed it as an annual in mass.   Here's a post about our large, rectangular front porch container from the 2021 season that includes some two-toned coleus .   Over the years, I've admired coleus as a bedding plant in some municipal applications (like in large, island beds in Downtown Downers Grove) where they've planted one variety in mass.   I also have come back a few times to this garden tour on the S&K Greenhouse YouTube Channel where Justin (the S&K Nursery guy) visits the home garden of B...

I was watching this garden tour on YouTube from Garden Gate Magazine and just about totally fell in love.  What a garden.   There is SO MUCH to appreciate in this one video in this one garden that I'll probably post a few things about it that struck me.  The first of which...is related to gabion-style walls.  Below is a screenshot of the garden tour - at the 9:53 mark ( here's a link to that 9:53 mark in the video ) that shows off a set of pillars that are done gabion-style.  See below: The garden-owner talks about framing and how they use these gabion-style pillars as a way to frame the entrance for visitor's experience.  The gardener saw these in a local garden and decided to replicate them and included putting pots on top.   I've posted about gabion walls back in 2019 when I saw them in an annual garden trend post .   I also posted a few other posts about various walls over the years including this stone wall at Disney's Aulani ...

Yesterday, I posted a look at my first ever (small) Wattle Fence that I put up in my new (as of this Fall) stumpery garden in the back .  In that post, I talked about the idea of "Garden Vignettes" and how they draw the visitor in towards certain spots in the garden and allow the gardener to show a bit of their personality.    The stumpery allows for a little personality.  The Wattle Fence, too.   So do berms and boulders.   In this recent post about using boulders in the garden , I said this: "One of the things that I'm putting on my 2024 to-do list is to add a little 'personality' to my garden with objects. Boulders fit that category, so I'm getting a little bit of a headstart this Fall/Winter." What other ways can you see a little personality in the garden?  With signs.  Earlier this Fall, I saw this  post on Insta from Erin the Impatient Garder that shows a few Garden Vignettes from Northview Garden .  This is a screensho...

Earlier this Summer, I posted some photos and details of the plantings in the beds of the Fragrance Garden at the Morton Arboretum and documented some of the things that I struck me as interesting - including the use of a new (to me) plant:  Cardoon. So imagine my surprise when I came across this sign at The Growing Place.  Sure enough...Cardoon.  It is in the herbs and vegetables section.  It was cheap to begin with...and with 50% off, I figured I'd take a shot.   Is it cold hardy to Zone 5B?  I don't think so.  But, I planted it - this late in the season - anyway.  Only way to learn, right?  And, for two bucks, why not get a little joy out of this freakshow of a plant. I put it IB2DWs - where I would see it A LOT.  See below for location. Cardoon planted as a bedding plant I'm going to mulch it in pretty hard (pile biosolids on top of the crown) when the foliage dies back, but I'm pretty sure this won't come back - as it is usual...