Why I Oughta...

One month ago, I posted a 'Getting to Know" post about the Northern Glow Korean Maple and talked about the features of the Korean Maples (More hardy, but look like JMs and can handle sun) vs. their cousins.  I mentioned in that post that I bought the tree and brought it home.  It took me a little bit to figure out exactly where I wanted it to do - backyard, near the patio or....the front yard.   I've posted some front-yard landscaping inspiration in the past and talked about how I can transform from a traditional turf yard to include more beds and conifers.  In some of the photos, they've mixed conifers and Japanese Maples to create a screen of sorts .  I also talked about how I *start* that transformation.  Do I start down by the sidewalk?  Do I eventually want a path through the front yard (yes??) ?    I know that I won't have EVERYTHING to plant at once and the material that I buy is usually small, so it can be awkward to plant thin...

Last Fall, I planted a number of small containers of Ajuga Chocolate Chips that I brought home from Lowes and their year-end sale.   I put some in the back and stuck three of these groundcover plants into the little island bed that is tucked in between our driveway and front walk/stairs/porch.  I don't seem to have posted any photos in the garden diary, but I ended up taking one.  But, in the photo I have from late October 2022 (below), there's only two Ajuga Chocolate Chip in this bed.  You can see that they were pretty small and green. That was very late October.  So, what do this groundcover look like nine-months later?  See below for an update.  And.....surprise!  There's three of them.  (I guess that I ended up planting a third here???) They've spread out and filled in some of that space.  They're doing exactly what they're supposed to do:  fill out that bed, cover up the mulch to make more of a 'living mulch', reduce the...

The past few seasons, I've planted (at least) one container with an annual flower pattern that we first saw in the beds at Luxembourg Gardens in Paris a few years back.  Here's one example - showing a combination of red, orange/yellow and blue/purple with Blue Salvia (Salvia farinacea), a yellow Zinnia and in front a red Wave petunia.  I've used marigolds in lieu of Zinnias in other years like the corner box last year .   I've drawn other inspiration from this very same garden - from chairs to edging to using cocoa bean mulch to the use of London Planetrees to falling in love with  the orangerie box to espalier of various forms .  One of the things that I was surprised by (not sure why) was that they have updated their annuals and the patterns they were using in their beds around Luxembourg Gardens in Paris this Summer (June 2022).   In the more sunny section of the garden - around the big fountain - they're now showing a series of beds tha...