Why I Oughta...

In the Spring of 2022 (17 months ago), I undertook what I called (at that time) the Lilac Replacement Project where I dug up and transplanted a number of Lilacs.  And replaced them with some upright evergreens.  Those upright evergreens were three Green Giant Thujas that I bought at the orange big box store .  I planted three in this spot and three on the other side.  Two of those died, leaving me with four of the six originally planted remaining.   When I look back at the photos of those Green Giant Thujas right after they were planted (April 2022) , it appears that the top-tip (apical meristem) of them is right around the top of the fence.   Today - they're at least a foot over the top of the fence height.  See below for the current view - with the Green Giant Thujas in the back against the fence.   That's (obviously) not the only thing happening in this photo, so I'll document some of the other changes in this post - for the gar...

I wandered around the beds for the first time in a week recently and noticed a few things have come back for the 2023 growing season and wanted to document them - and their timing - here in my garden diary.  I'll do that over a few posts in the coming days.  First up?    Three Jack of Diamonds Brunnera that are planted in the southside backyard bed .  Below, you'll see the early, curly foliage that is coming up front the hardwood mulch: I planted these three in Summer of 2021 , so this will be their third growing season in our garden.   Here, below, is a wider-angle look at the three of these shade-tolerant perennials. They're pretty hard to see in that pic...so....below is an annotated versions;

Mid-July is when the big box stores start to put some of their perennials on 50% off sales.  They have their trees and shrubs that have been picked over out on pallets with big 50% off signs, but they also begin to put some of the perennials inside the garden center, including shade plants on discounts, too.  On one of my trips to one of the Home Depots near us, I found some of these Jack of Diamonds' Brunnera in 1# nursery pots from Proven Winners that were marked down 66% - making them three for the price of one.   These are the second set of Brunnera that we now have in the yard with the first ones (a trio of three) were these Queen of Hearts ones that I planted in June of this year in the shade of our backyard .  These are new to me this year, but were on the list that Laura from Garden Answer published of her favorite shade perennials.   The Queen of Hearts Brunnera are planted in a border mixed with some hostas and they've done well this first y...