Why I Oughta...

Just yesterday, I posted some photos of the first tulips that I was able to spot in our front yard beds (in between two driveways down by the sidewalk) and mentioned that I wasn't sure if there were going to be more up by the house.  We took down the large Norway Maple tree and replaced it with a Triumph Elm last Fall .  As part of that process, the crew ground out the stump and with it (I presume) a bunch of the bulbs that I planted around the base on the tree.   But, life finds a way.  See the photo below that shows the trunk of the Triumph Elm up on a bit of a berm.  But...at the very bottom of the photo - in the middle - you'll see some tulip bulb tips: And, so too, have the tulips down around our parkway tree emerged.  See below for a few photos:

Just a few days ago, I posted photos of what I think is the earliest emergence of the tips of Hellebores in our backyard and talked about how I'm not sure what is driving this early Spring .  When I was out front, I noticed that there are other things *already* moving in the garden.  Specifically...some tulips.  Down in the little bed wedged in between the sidewalk, our driveway and the property line are some tulips that were planted in Fall of 2021.  Last year was their first season and I noted their emergence in early March .  So - just like with the Hellebores - this is about three weeks earlier than last year.  Here, below, is a peek at some of the tulip foliage that has sprung up.   H ere's a look at where these bloomed last season .   These are MOST LIKELY going to need a little protection from getting trampled by the kids and neighbors and their dogs.  I looked in a few other spots - around the parkway tree and underneath the Triumph Elm that we planted last year and I d

The Orange Big Box story has their Spring bulbs already in stock in their greenhouse.  That means, Peonies and Dahlias and Elephant Ears and Gladiolas are packed in sets and ready to go home.  Of course, I couldn't help to go over and see what they had on hand and came across this six-pack of orange Tiger Lily bulbs for $9.98. Tiger Lilies are both familiar and foreign to me.  I feel like I know them, but the reality is....I don't really.  I went online to find a few listings for bulbs and learned a bit - like... these are 'downward-facing' and good for cut-flowers .   But, one of the things that I wasn't sure of is how these are treated:  as annuals (like a Dahlia tuber that is left in the ground) or as a perennial (like an Allium bulb)?  Based on this listing from Longfield Gardens, it seems they're 'hardy down to Zone 4' , which leads me to believe they can be left in the ground and come back year-after-year like an Allium bulb?  The label claims: &qu

Over the past few weeks, I've posted a couple of times about how I went about digging up, dividing and transplanting various mature perennials like hostas, ferns and even alliums .  At last count, I had created 32 new, 'free' plants this Fall through divisions .  #12 on my 2022 to-do list was to focus on adding plants through division .  I'd say that 32 count as completing the task.  But, there's another item on that same to-do list that I wanted to cover:  #4.  Enhance the In Between Two Driveways Strip .  The intersection of plant division and IB2DWs is how I went about trying to check both boxes.  Over the past few seasons, I've focused my Fall dividing on the various Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses around the front and backyard.  A few larger ones suffered from 'center rot' and NEEDED dividing, while others were just simply large enough to divide into new plants.   That's the plant - Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass - that I divided and plante

October is Fall bulb planting season.  Most years around here, that means tulips.  And last year, it meant planting some new (to me) Alliums like Christophii .  This year, I'm not doing tulips up front because we're doing some work with the large (but declining Norway Maple).   But, I did pick up two six-packs of Allium bulbs at Costco from Longfield Gardens. These are Gladiator Alliums.  And they're new (to me).   MichiganBulb has a product listing and provides some guidance on where to put these : Gladiator allium stand up to 60" tall in flower beds of all kinds, and are delightful when these ornamental garden onions are planted in the back of the border. Back of the border.  Got it.  There are more clues on the back of the packaging from Longfield Gardens.  They compare these Gladiator Allium to a few other ones - including some I have - like Christophii, Drumstick and Purple Sensation. When I bought these, I didn't have a plan for where to put them.  I found th

Four years.  That's how long it took for our Bald Cypress tree to go from a thin, wispy nursery pot tree to a mature-enough tree to bear fruit.  I bought this small tree at the orange Big Box Nursery back in September of 2018 .  I planted it in the IB2DWs section and followed Ralph Snodsmith's advice by giving it a " Five Dollar Hole " and hoped for the best.  By Fall of 2020 (two years after planting), we were seeing plenty of needle growth .  Same with a year later (September 2021) when the tree seemed to have 'leaped' up .   Just earlier this month, I captured the caliper dimension (6" from root flare) at 3.47" .  Up from 1.21" in February of 2020 .   This tree is CLEARLY at the head of the class in terms of all of the plantings we've made of small trees.  It is growing tall and wide .  And is likely getting ready for the first real limb'ing up of the tree as it begins to encroach on driveways.  (remember...it is located IB2DWs after

One of the things that I've been meaning to do this growing season is to get out and capture a full caliper measure of all of our planted trees.  I didn't get to it last year, so the existing data I have on the trees size-wise is from 2020.  On this year's to-do list, I included a mention of 'capturing the caliper measures' , so it has been on my mind all season.  Have I measured all the trees?  Nope.  But, I did measure one (so far).  And it is the Bald Cypress that has grown massively over the past few growing seasons.  That growth is why I started with this tree. What does the tree look like today?  It is tall and stout and I'd consider it the best/most-productive tree that we've planted.  See below for the current state.  I have not pruned one branch off of this, but the time is coming.  See that driveway on the right side of the photo?  That wasn't there when this tree was planted, so this will now need to get limb'd up so it doesn't rub on

Up at Northwind Perennial Farm, my middle child picked out this Lamb's Ear from the bench and said that she thought we could use it in the garden.  Like everyone else, we're drawn to the feel of Lamb's ear, but haven't planted any in the garden to date.  That changed with this variety - Helene Von Stein.  See below for the sign from Northwind: The sign calls out the size of the foliage.  And so do every listing on the Web.  This one from Bluestone Perennials calls it 'the biggest leaved Lamb's Ear around' .   Because of the uncertainty around *where* this should go (note:  it is NOT in our plan), I made one of the biggest gardening mistakes:  buying just one .    We ended up planting this in a little section of the garden that the middle child is (now) calling her own.  It is on the northside, in between some of the Viburnum.  See below for our (for now) solo Helene Von Stein Lamb's ear: I'll watch this one for a bit, but I'm already thinking tha

I planted a trio of Cat's Pajamas Nepeta (along with some Blue Fescue) out front in the bed IB2DWs this Spring and it was the FIRST Nepeta that I've planted.  One of the features of Nepeta is that it can take a haircut after the first bloom - to both push a second flush of flowers but also to keep the plant neat and tidy.   In the online gardening world, you'll hear people talk about the ' Chelsea Chop ' - where you prune things back in late May to get that second flush.  More here on the Chelsea Chop .   I went ahead and pruned back these three Nepeta.  You can see that in the photo below showing the three pruned and cleaned up along with the pile of plant material that I pruned out laying in the middle of the photo - to show how much I took off these perennials.   From a purely technical perspective, you might be wondering:  Is this a " Chelsea Chop "?  The answer?  Maybe?  But, probably...Not really.  I think the goal of that move is to delay blooming.

Yesterday, I posted some photos showing the series of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses around the garden .  I also acknowledged that some folks consider them VERY basic.  But, I guess they're a guilty pleasure for this gardener.  In that post, I mentioned that I was planning on doing a follow-up on the IB2DWs bed that featured some of these same ornamental grasses.  Here, below, is a view of the IB2DWs bed.  Consider this the early Summer "State of the IB2DWs Bed". And, here below, is an annotated version of that photo.  Orange = five Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses White = Bald Cypress tree Red = two Serendipity Alliums  Blue = Prairie Dropseed Green = Peony Purple = two of the three Green Velvet Boxwoods that I planted a few weeks back Yellow = the trio of Blue Fescue grasses and Cat's Pajamas Nepeta from this season The bed is starting to fill-in this season, but it still needs some work to add some layers.  I'd like to try to plant some additional grasses

Yesterday, I showed the backyard location of one of our two Prairie Dropseed native grasses that we bought at the Morton Arboretum Annual Plant Sale.  Today, (below) is a photo of the location of the other one:  IB2DWs.  Prairie Dropseed - Sporobolus heterolepis - is a 'tough' native grass and ground cover.  That means that this planting works two-ways on my 2022 to-do list .  #4 on the list was to 'enhance the IB2DWs strip' and #5 was to 'fall in love with ground cover'.   This grass (planted as a single grass for now) is close to the driveway and the bluestone chip gravel path: A few things to note about the photo:  first...the seeds from trees (those yellow things) are flush this season.  Also, if you look closely at the area where the Prairie Dropseed was planted, you'll see A LOT of clay soil.  Related to that clay, if you look at the top left of the photo, you'll see the Chanticleer Pear tree that was replaced and is living in a clay bowl.  This

Back a couple of weeks ago, I scrambled a bit to buy and plant some shrubs ahead of a professional cleanup and mulch job that we had going on in our yard and garden.  As I've said a few times in the past few months, shrubs are where my focus has been this planting and growing season.  In this post back in early March, I outlined a series of garden 'slices' and how I needed to prioritize the planting of shrubs to both provide the necessary structure and (in some cases) four-season interest.  To that end, #1 on my 2022 to-do list was to "Focus on Shrubs" .  And, over the past few weeks, I've tried to pay that goal off.   The most recent shrub-related post was about the pair of Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas that I planted from the Morton Arboretum Spring sale .  In that post, I ran through a mini-inventory of what I've added including 9 new flowering shrubs and six upright evergreens.  Full list: Six upright evergreens - Green Giant Thujas. Technically t

When I did the series of posts showing off the various plant materials that I brought home from the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale, I forgot to include a couple of plants that I bought.  I showed the Little Honey Hydrangeas , Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas and the three Ivory Prince Hellebores .  But, I also brought home two grasses:  Prairie dropseed - Sporobolus heterolepis.  Here (below) is a look at the two grasses: And, here below, is the sign from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale where they describe Prairie Dropseed - Sporobolus heterolepis as "Prairie native grasss that is extremely tough. Makes a great natural addition to the home landscape with beautiful, dense and arching clumps of fine textured leaves.  Flowers have a unique fragrance." The University of Wisconsin Horticulture Extension Office has a page on Prairie Dropseed that provides a few more details : It was was named a Plant of Merit by the Missouri Botanical Garden in 2005 and was selected

I've posted a series of times about the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that we have in our landscape and how I've been digging them up, dividing them and transplanting them to various spots of our beds to provide that notion of a cohesive design with repeating patterns of specific plants.  I started doing this last Fall and then did even more this Spring after realizing that the ones I divided last Fall were just fine.   Last week, I showed how I made eight new divisions in the backyard and planted them in various places in the backyard.  The final Karl Foerster grass that I needed to dig up and divide was this large one in between our driveway and front walk stoop.  It was left there as a hedge - but is suffering from some center rot.  It needed to be divided.  See below for the 'before'.  The two further back were divisions from last Fall and are showing some new green tips this Spring: After digging that one out and dividing it up, I put one of the segments back

Last Fall, I went around and started to divide up a bunch of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that were either suffering from some 'center rot' or simply just large enough clumps to warrant division.  There were two sets: one in between our driveway and front stoop that had three and another set out of our kitchen window that had five. As I look around the yard today, I have good news:  All of the divisions were successful and the grasses have come back for Spring.  For now.  First, let's start with the kitchen window grasses.  I hedged a little bit and decided to dig up and divide just TWO of the five.  I left the back three in place.  Below, you can see those three remaining and in front of them a couple of divots where the other two came out. Where did I put them?  I divided both of them into three new grass clumps.  I put the first three on the corner of our patio - you can see below.  These three are happy and green. The other one that was divided up into thirds was

I've been giving the " in between two driveways " strip some thinking lately - how to edge it ( boulders ), how to extend the beds to have them make more sense, looking at what worked/didn't work there since last year and what a color palette for this area could/should be. Frankly....I don't have a TON of flowers in any of my beds - as I've been MOSTLY a foliage gardener up there up to this point.    It is #4 on my 2022 to-do list:  "Enhance the IB2DWs Strip" .    I already have some purples with the Serendipity Allium and the five BIG Pinball Wizard bulbs that I planted last year .  And, taking what I've learned from Amy at Pretty Purple Door about color combinations, one path forward is what she calls an 'analogous color scheme' - that includes three adjacent colors on the color wheel.  In this case, it would be using the three colors of:  purple, violet and blue in those front beds.  And, maybe beyond - like under the Norway Maple -

We have a bed that lives *right* on the property line in the IB2DWs area that has never had a real, proper edge other than the one that we dug with a spade.  The issue is that there's a little bit of elevation change - by design - between the two properties.  My plan for this season is to make that bed feel a little bit MORE finished by removing some sod, shaping the bed a little bit and edging it along the property line in some way.  This bed runs up against a tiny strip of grass next to my neighbor's driveway, so I'd like SOMETHING to keep the mulch from running/floating over onto their driveway. I've thought about using the green metal edging that I used for our gravel paths.  But, Nat doesn't love it.  She wants something that works with the existing gravel, so I decided to start to keep my eyes open for edging that works to divide mulch beds from gravel and hard surfaces.  It wasn't long until I saw something like this below: And, then...something similar l

There are signs of life emerging EVERYWHERE around our garden.  Here's a few photos of things that are bringing me a little bit of Spring joy in beds around our garden.  First, the IB2DW bed - which has (now) five Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that were planted last year .  Below, you can see the red-ish tips of the foliage emerging from the mulch.   On the south side of the house is an Iris that my Sister Vic gave to me from her Indiana Street (Elmhurst) neighbor.  I call this "Wes' Iris" .  It is coming alive as I type: Under the troubled (in Decline) Norway Maple out front are some *new* (to me) tulips that have arrived for the first time (below).  I planted these last year .  They're DIFFERENT in that the foliage is variegated and has a pink(ish) stripe down the edge.  And, here below, are a BUNCH more tulips that I planted down near the sidewalk in that troublesome spot.  Should note (to myself) where these are and how to augment them this Fall. Below is a peek