Why I Oughta...

Last week, I wandered around the shrub section over at Hinsdale Nursery to figure out what they were going to be carrying this season in terms of hydrangeas, viburnum, various evergreens and even a fothergilla that I spotted at the Morton Arboretum .  As part of the various backyard bed 'slices' and the 'explorations' that I did a few weeks back, I ended up with a shopping list of sorts that included upright evergreens and a bunch of flowering shrubs.  On that list was four Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum - two along the north fence, two along the back .  They would go along with the two that I planted last year .   While at the nursery, I found a whole bunch of Viburum that I found interesting and decided that I should think about using some alternatives.  One of the varities that really captured my interest was this (below) Doublefile Viburnum - Viburnum Plicatum Tomentosum 'Mariesii'.   The listing calls out a few features:  tiered, horizontal, 'layered

Nine months ago, when our yard and garden had gone dormant, I posted a 'plant dreaming' post about Toad Lilies that Erin, the Impatient Gardener had introduced me to via her Instagram handle.  "You should know Toad Lilies" she wrote.    I included a mention of Toad Lilies in my 2021 to-do list (#18) and came across them earlier this Spring at Hinsdale Nursery.   In early June, I had three of them on hand and planted them in the far back - behind the new fire pit area .  I've watered them in a little bit, but I'll say that they seem to be doing just fine without being baby'd.  Here, below, are a couple of photos of the trio.  First, you can see the variegated edge on all of them is really bright and clear.  Love that.  What's interesting is that the photo at Hinsdale Nursery shows a white edge , whereas ours are much more lime green.   I spaced these three out in a little cluster as I understand they'll sort of naturally colonize.   Below is anoth

Last November, I posted a 'plant dreaming' post about Japanese Toad Lilies that I came across for the first time (i.e. new to me) via Erin the Impatient Gardener's Instagram handle.  Here's that post where she talked about growing Toad Lilies and said: "You should know and grow Toad Lilies. "  Ever since that post, these have been on my radar.  In fact, I mentioned them as part of #18 on this year's to-do list when I talked about the continued expansion of Japanese-inspired gardening .  So, when I saw them being sold at Hinsdale Nursery this Spring, I knew I had to buy some of them for our yard.   Here, below, is the listing at Hinsdale Nursery - for 'Gilt Edge' Japanese Toad Lily - Tricyrtis fomosana 'Gilt Edge': They're 'shade-loving' and will 'naturalize'.  Love both of those things. Here, below, are the three 1# nursery pots as they began to break dormancy recently: ...And here's a look at the plant tag that came

 Last year, I planted (in two sets) twelve Summer Beauty Ornamental Onion (Allium) on the south side of our backyard in two different spots.  First, I put in four underneath one of the Espalier'd Lindens , then seven more further down (and one more by the Lindens) all in a cluster that will, hopefully, grow up and out into a nice drift of alliums.  This is my first Spring with them and I'm happy to see that they're showing a lot of nice, new green growth coming out of the ground and seem to be one of the first movers of the season.   My count shows that all twelve are (right now) showing signs of life, so I'm thinking they all are coming back.   I threw down some wood chips on top of these to shelter them from the cold last Fall and I'm thinking these might have helped in some way.  But, they sure take on a messy look once Spring comes, don't they?  Have a look at three of these Allium covered with Fall wood chips below.  These need a new, fresh coat of hardwoo

When we moved in, we had three Hadspen hostas planted in our front landscape bed in front of the large Maple tree as part of our initial installation.  I've subsequently added some tulip bulbs to complement the boxwoods and hostas and have been laying down cocoa bean hull mulch over the years .   As part of buying some of the nursery stock for my Priority Area #2 , we acquired six Guacamole Hostas.  Three of them you can see in the photo at the top.  Obviously, this isn't in the backyard and isn't in Priority Area #2, but Nat has been commenting on our front yard and our need to add some additional plants.  I've placed these three Guacamole Hostas (they're big - and came from Hinsdale Nursery) alternating between the smaller Hadspen Blue hostas that are there already. Here's a wider view of the front bed including these three new Guacamole hostas placed. Three of the six are going to go in that front bed and that means that other three are destined f