Why I Oughta...

One of the current-season 'gardening wins' that I'm going to take are the three Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs that I planted in mid-August down at the corner of the driveway and sidewalk .  These are in the 'island bed' and right against those hard surfaces. I watered them *a little bit*, but they mostly seemed to handle themselves.  I planted them mid-Summer, so I'm hoping they'll overwinter better than others have in the past - when I planted Ajuga as part of a "fall planting" cycle.   See below for the three little plugs and how much they've grown in 2.5 months: 

About a month ago, I posted some details of the Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' that was rebounding in our front beds - in the little island bed in between our driveway and front steps and on the other side of the stairs and along the property line.  I've been trying to utilize more and more groundcover over the past few years - after neglecting it for the first five.  On a recent trip to the Home Depot, I found this six pack of Ajuga plugs in the nursery and brought them home.  It was in flower, so in the first photo below, you can see the pack of plugs and (at the bottom of the photo) the flower stems that I snip'd-off: I put three of the six in the little island bed between the driveway and front steps.  This bed already has some Chocolate Chip, so I was sort-of filling in some of the gaps.  Below are three photos:  first one shows all three new plugs mixed with the existing.  Second one shows two of them (left and right) and the third photo shows the one f...

About five weeks (or so) ago - in Mid-June - I planted 64 plugs of annual Vinca.  Or, some call it Madigascar Periwinkle .   These were in the newly (as of last Fall) expanded front bed that I call our 'front porch bed'.  I've grown various flowering annuals up there.  To varying degrees of success.  Marigolds have worked .  Dusty Millers went nuts (and came back partially a second season).  One year, I did begonias and sedum.  The sedum looked great, but wasn't hardy .  Petunias failed .  Sun Patients didn't work, either .   I'm NOT EXACTLY sure how I ended up with pink (light purple?) annual vinca, but in one of those garden-center-induced hazes, I found myself sitting in the driveway with a couple of flats of these annuals.  I planted them and hoped for the best.  At first, they were stinkers.  A number of them (maybe 10?) up-and-died.  The rest just sort of were blah.   But then...time wo...

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos showing the front porch Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' groundcover and talked about how they all had some Winter die-back/decline despite a somewhat mild Winter.  Most of the colonies are back this year up front, but reduced in size. Today, I'm showing part of the front-of-the-border band of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' that runs in the "Kitchen Curved" bed.  This is the oldest bed and the first one that has fully filled-out with Oakleaf Hydrangeas, Amsonia, various Astilbes, some Japanese Anemone, a Fernleaf Spirea (Matcha Ball) and dotted with a tiny Emperor 1 Japanese Maple tree.   The Ajuga here was first planted in Spring of 2023 .  Here's what they looked like 90 days later - after the heat of August .  They were putting on size with some larger than a grapefruit.   By last Spring, I wrote this 'hits/misses' post showing how some of the Ajuga was working , while other colonies didn't.   Last Fall, as the l...

Starting in the Fall of 2022, I have added one type of groundcover every year - Ajuga 'chocolate chip'.  I think it was Plantsman Roy Diblik who first turned me on to the plant (in one of his videos) and I stuck a few plugs into the island bed in between our front stoop and the driveway .  A year later, I was calling these a success as they had grown and filled out some of the space .   By last July, the groundcover was peeking out over the driveway and filling in space all around the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses in the bed.   But, over this past Winter, we had a setback.  There was some serious die-back on the entire bed.  Everything shrunk down and some of the plants didn't seem to come back.  I also lost ALL six of the Island Bed plugs that I planted last year, too .  This wasn't my first Winter of decline for some of the Ajuga.  I've posted this 'Ajuga Hits and Misses' post in Spring of 2024 that talked/showed some of th...

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 have tree kinds of astilbes in our garden.  The original were Fanal with their red flowers .  I added a couple of bareroot Maggie Daley Astilbes a few years back .  And, most-recently, I've bought (in two different years) some dark-foliage Astilbes named Dark Side of the Moon .  I moved/transplanted them (6 total plants) to the 'nook garden' as part of an edit last year .   They sort-of just *were* last year.  With the transplant stress coupled with a little bit of neglect and some weed pressure, I wasn't sure what to expect this Spring.  Would they come back?  Were they going to put on size?   Turns out, all six came back.  Just like the Sun Kings .  And, for the first time a couple of them (not all six) have put up flower blooms.  Straight, rigid, dark purple stalks with tiny clusters of dots on top.  Below is a photo showing one of them: One of the big items on my 2025 to-do list was to finish up the edits ...

Back in 2023, I planted a pair of John Creech Sedums as groundcover in the small, corner bed by our front walk .  I found them at the end-of-the-season sale at TGP and threw them in without thinking too much about them.   Today, both of those originals are doing well and providing that 'living mulch' layer in a really great way.   So, when I saw this same Sedum at the low price of $2 per small container, I grabbed a pair of them and figured I'd find a home for the groundcover.   The sellers of this plant bill these as 'trail blazers' - and something that can handle a little foot traffic. I'm not so sure about that, but that's what the label (see below) claims: With the new, large pizza oven bed in the back being MOSTLY bare, I decided to put these in along the thin border that abuts the timber retaining wall.  See below for the planting of two sedums: This area gets mid-day sun, so I'll keep an eye on it.  What I'd love to see is to have this...

More bedding annuals.  This time, in the front of the Island Bed in our front yard.  Which...is no longer an island bed as it touches the sidewalk and driveway on two sides.  I have been planning on filling it up with some Seslaria and/or some other perennials.  But, those plans haven't come together.  So, I figured I should fill it with some annuals.  Get a little bit of pop of color up there. For part of the front of the bed, I saw these Supertunias in dark purple.  Called "Royal Velvet": Proven Winners says : "Supertunia petunias are vigorous with slightly mounded habits that function as both fillers and spillers in containers. They are also excellent landscape plants, best suited to be placed near the front of beds. They have medium to large sized flowers." That's exactly where I am putting them.  I ended up buying ten (10) pint-sized plants and spaced them out along the sidewalk: When I bought these ten, I thought they might cover the whol...

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of a pair of Silver Swirl Dusty Millers and talked about how I was using them to fill up some space in the new pizza oven bed.  Today, I'm showing a few more annuals-as-groundcover plants:  three Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime Sweet Potato Vine plants.  Below are a few photos showing these 'accent plants' that normally are sold for the 'spill' in your containers:  Here's what Proven Winners says about them : Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime boasts brilliant lime green, heart-shaped leaves that bring a refreshing pop of color to any garden. This heat-tolerant beauty requires no deadheading, making it a low-maintenance addition to your landscape. It excels as a ground cover, spreading quickly to fill in spaces, and also works wonderfully as a foliage component in mixed plant combinations. Sounds perfect, right? Fills up a space. Just what I need.  I spread out three of them in a triangle and got busy planting them.  I'm ...

I've posted a number of times about groundcover and how I've evolved as a gardener when it comes to planting groundcover.  It was (for me) an afterthought.  (Unfortunately...the same could be said about conifers, but I've begun to change that fact).   The first groundcover that I 'got to know' and planted was Ajuga 'chocolate chip'.  I've planted it in a number of spots and will continue to add it when I can find it.  Over the years, I've added some sedums ( Angelina, a variegated variety and something that I've grown to love: John Creech Sedum .   But, I've also begun to get smarter about using annuals as bedding plants over the years.  And, thanks to some of the garden tours I've watched on YouTube has lead me to think about annuals as groundcover.  I've done *some* of that with Coleus.  And...  #6 on my 2025 to-do list was to use more coleus as a bedding plant.   And, #16 on my list was to 'keep going on groundcover'...

The pair of square beds that sit on either side of our back concrete stoop have changed over the years.  Starting with a pair of Rhododendrons, I replaced them with Spring Grove Ginkgo trees (dwarf trees) in Spring 2023 .   I also added some (volunteer) Angelina Sedum to both sides that has had ups-and-downs. After doing a clean-up in this bed, here below are what the two square beds look like currently.  The trees have been attacked by (Dang!) rabbits.  And the sedum has seen better days.  I'm hoping that the weather will warm up and these sedums will spring to life.   First is the south bed - close to our grill: And, here below is the south bed.  In between the stoop and the screened porch door:

Sedum groundcover is something that I've added over the past few years - some of it works, some of it is a work-in-project.  In walking around the beds this weekend, I noticed the pair of Sedum kamtschaticum 'Variegatum' that I planted in Fall 2023 are doing the best of all of the groundcovers.  These are IB2DWs, down by the sidewalk.  You can see them in this post from a year ago .   They're tucked in near some legacy tulips - that you can see both of below.  Tulips on the right - just foliage.  And, right down the middle of the photo, there are two clumps of sedum that are putting on Spring growth: These put on small yellow flowers in mid-Summer.  Here's a photo from June 2024 showing the flowers .    One of the big changes here is the expansion of this bed in the past 12ish months.  These were, when planted, adjacent to lawn.  Now, they're surrounded by mulch.   Groundcover continues to be something I'm going to fo...

A few days back, I posted a photo of some snow-covered Angelia Sedum groundcover that was providing a little bit of Winter Interest near our back stoop.  On my way out to dump the kitchen compost bin in the larger bins in back, I stopped to look at some other groundcover that was 'showing up' in the snow:  Spine Tingler Epimedium.   Below is a photo showing the three plants - that I put in the ground in Spring 2023 :  There, amongst the light snow and leaf litter is the dried-out, rigid and spike-edged foliage of Spine Tingler.   These have fared a bit better than the Amber Queen varieties, so perhaps a few more of these should be on my list at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale in 2025.  

The Angelina Sedum that is planted as a groundcover in the square beds on either side of our back stoop are looking really good with the thin layer of snow (and ice) that is blanketing our garden this week.   I've noted this particular Sedum in previous Winters.  Here's a post and photo from a year ago - January 2024 .  Here's how MUCH brighter it gets by late Spring:  Have a look at May 2024 .  Something to think about in 2025:  Digging up plugs of this to transplant. 

Fall Planting 2024 keeps rolling right along with the planting of a six-pack of groundcover plugs.  These are something I've used WIDELY in my garden: Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'.  #3 on my 2024 to-do list was to keep going on groundcover (or...as I want to call it "living mulch"), so these six help that cause .  I've had some 'hits and misses' with Ajuga , but have learned a little bit about it over the years.   I opted to put all six in the newly 'extended' Island bed in the front yard.  I decided to plant the Skylands Spruce tree in the back of that bed, so I had to add a good amount of mulch to extend it back.  I figured that was a good spot to put down some groundcover.   Below you can see four of the Ajuga Chocolate Chip planted on the northside of the bed - but right at the feet of the new Skylands Spruce.   I put the other two in a little bit more of a 'protected' area - under the canopy of the Northern Glow Korean Maple.  I...

Here's a shot that shows off a couple of Carex Montana that I really like - below.  These three are tucked in against an informal flagstone path on the southside of our house - right at the feet of the Greenspire Lindens that have been espaliered.  I planted these three in July of 2023 - 14 months ago.  And they've matured by growing significantly .   These live up close to a tall fence/set of trees, so they get VERY LITTLE direct sunlight.   Ignore the clover and weeds and extension cord.  Just focus on the foliage on these three groundcover plants.  I should plant 12 more along the path. 

Back in late April, I bought a single 1# nursery container of a stonecrop/sedum at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale that reminded me of eucalyptus.  I bought it on a whim and didn't have a plan for it.  When I cut and created the new Island bed in the front yard, I ended up tucking it into the backside of that bed - behind the Spring Grove Ginkgo.  I don't seem to have posted about it.  And, to be fair...I mostly forgot about it.   But, the rabbits didn't forget about it.  They've been gnawing at it all Summer.  But, it keeps growing back.   The name of the plant - October Daphne - would imply that it puts on a show in October.  But...perhaps due to the rabbit damage, that show has ALREADY begun - in early/mid-September.  See below for a photo showing the pink blooms on some of the tips: Here, below, is a look at the sign from the sale that describes the sedum (or stonecrop) - Sedum sieboldii 'October Daphne' - as a 'l...