Why I Oughta...

Last Summer, one of my big-box-nursery white whales was the Crested Surf Japanese Painted Fern.  I saw them a few times, but always wanted to wait until they went on sale.  Then they started to disappear from the shelves and I figured it wasn't meant to be for our garden.  Right after the 4th of July, I found three of them on sale and decided to plant them in the little Japanese garden-inspired section on the south side of our backyard .  Two of them seemed to be fine, but one suffered.  I watered them and watered them.  And they still went into decline.  That first year is always tough.  I figured I lost one or two of them.   And, so imagine my delight when Spring comes around and all three of them have fronds that begin to unfurl.  You can see them in the photo below, planted in a triangular shape around a hosta: I really like these double-tipped ferns, so my plan is to give them as much water as they need this Spring/Summer.  My experience is that if I can get a Japanese Painted

The Cherry Blossoms are in bloom.  At least in our backyard.  The photos below show our Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Tree in bloom with pink flowers and red-to-maroon foliage.  Those leaves turn out ordinary - green-colored - as the Spring and Summer wears on.   This tree was bought in Mid-May in 2017 as we were still building our new house.  We planted this ahead of our occupancy and had to baby it as the heat of Summer arrived .   For the full tale of the tape, here's the history of this tree below.  It has bloomed five of six years with 2019 being the only year we saw no flowers.   2017: Bloomed (when purchased) in mid-May . 2018: Bloomed that first Spring after being planted in mid-May . 2019: No blooms. Looked like it wanted to in mid-May . 2020: Bloomed (during the pandemic) in early May . 2021: Bloomed in late April (photos in this post were taken on April 28, 2021) 2022:  Bloomed in mid-May. (photos taken on May 11). 2021 was the earliest (late April), but the other four

I was going through some of my draft posts from earlier this Summer and I  noticed a draft post about a Japanese-inspired concrete garden object that I saw in a garden on the border of McCollum park in downers.  I thought I'd bring it up-to-date and publish it here as a marker towards some garden object-inspiration.  Here's what I saw in a garden in Downers Grove below - a short, stout object that looks like a lantern.  They are called a toro .   I've posted about being drawn toward Japanese-inspired gardening and even have a visit to Gotenyama Garden in Tokyo as inspiration where they have a large Toro (or at least that's what I *think* it is).  From that post : I also went to the Chicago Botanic Garden late this Summer to visit with a friend and colleague and while there, we tool'd around the Japanese Garden .  It was really lovely.   Here, below, is a photo I took with my phone as we walked towards the Japanese Garden section from the main entrance.  In that sam

Back in May of this Spring, I planted three Autumn Ferns - Dryopteris erythrosora - that I picked up from a big box nursery in an area of the backyard that is becoming a little Japanese-garden-inspired section with a dwarf Japanese Tamukeyama Maple tree anchoring the bed. I took that photo this morning and it is striking when compared to EVERYTHING else around our yard.   Those three ferns are seemingly UNAFFECTED by the frost and the onset of Winter.  Everywhere else I look, my ferns are gone.  Ostrich ferns?  Gone.  Japanese Painted Ferns?  Gone.  Ghost Ferns? Gone.  Lady Ferns?  Gone.  But, these?  They're tall, proud and....GREEN.  What the heck is going on?!? When I planted them , I referenced this listing from the Missouri Botanic Garden that talks about how they are "semi-evergreen".  I noted that in the original post, but I didn't think MUCH about it.  I suppose, I should have because this is a pretty great feature.  One of the things that I'm thinkin

Things aren't looking good for the Pinus Parviflora 'Glauca Nana' - the dwarf Japanese White Pine tree that I picked up at Home Depot in mid-Summer after it had lingered in the lot for quite some time .  I was really excited about the tree and hopeful that it would put down some roots and establish itself this Summer.  But, unfortunately, it seems that it is fading.  And fast.  Here's what it looks like right now - in the photo below.  It is brown, orange and certainly NOT green. But, when I inspect the tree closer, I see tips that are *still* green with small needles.  Like the section you see below: And, using the old 'tree health test' of scraping away some bark with a fingernail to see if the limbs are green underneath reveals (at least *some*) sign(s) of life.  See below for a little spec of green that I revealed under the bark: Could this be normal behavior?  I'm pretty SURE it is not normal and this tree is in decline and will not be green come Spring

When I posted last week about the replacement (tiny) Ginko tree that I planted 'ib2dw', I mentioned that the Ginko wasn't the last tree for the year.  There are a few more coming this week - starting with my very first Dogwood tree.  When I bought the small Chinkapin Oak tree from the Conservation Foundation in late September , I also bought another small native tree:  A Cornus alternifolia (Pagoda Dogwood).    Below, you can see the tag for the tree. This dogwood is different than the ones I've seen in the big box nurseries where I typically see Cornus kousa and Cornus florida.  You can read up about those various cultivars around the Web - but the main takeaway is that florida is the standard that has been around for a while, but kousa is a new(er) sport that is more disease resistant.   The dogwood tree that we selected is known as the Pagoda Dogwood.  Morton Arboretum has a tree listing up here for the Pagoda Dogwood - Cornus alternifolia . They describe it an '

I have an idea for a garden-related project that has been knocking around my head for a number of years.  Well...there are tons of those kind of projects, frankly.  But, for this post, I'm talking about one of them specifically.  This one...involves trees.  And...I haven't moved on it - for a variety of reasons including shifting priorities, lack of need, the right nursery stock and the opportunity.   It starts with this post about Hollywood Junipers in 2018 where I posted a photo of a tree in a wooden box for a container .  And, was likely rekindled during one of my trips to Tokyo where I saw all sorts of container'd conifers.  Like this one from House of Bonsai below: Via House of Bonsai . This is not my photo. And, even more recently, I came across a couple of striking conifer trees by the bus stops down at Disney Springs.  They were relatively new (newly planted) and still had their tags on them. Here's a shot of them below: And, below, is a look at the tag reveali

The last time, I posted on our toad lilies that I planted this Spring was earlier this month when I shared some photos of the buds that were about to burst and show flowers for the first time in our yard.  Fast forward to today and when I was out in back, I noticed that ALL of the flowers were gone.  Cut right off below where the buds were located.  I say 'cut', but what I really think I mean is 'chewed' right off.  By whom?  I'm guessing rabbits.   I planted these in late Spring . See below for a photo showing how these toad lilies were clipped/chewed right off.   This means that we didn't get ANY flowers from these.  Or at least, I didn't SEE them.   Note to my future self:  protect the toad lilies with some pest-fencing next year.  Maybe with some poultry wire to ring these up?  Seems like the critters like the buds and not the leaves.

I bought a bunch of All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses - Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' last Fall and then bought a few more this Spring - both times at the Morton Arboretum plant sale.   I planted six in the back and then after extending my beds dug many of them up and transplanted some to new spots .    After a Spring drought and a tough Summer, below is what this area looks like now.  The front row has six (photo only shows five) and back row now has just two.  Here, below, is a similar shot showing all nine back in May .  Green circles are the grasses.  I transplanted the back three closer it seems. The one that is dead?  (or in severe decline). The back row, furthest to the left.   See below - the red circle shows the placement.  What's the grass look like in that circle?  This - below.  Just one tiny shoot.  I'll baby it, but I think this thing is gone. I have another one of these out front that hasn't really sprung up too much.  For now, I'm calling these thi

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

I have been eying the addition of some Japanese Painted Ferns to our backyard all this growing season.  I have one that I planted on the north side of the screened porch in 2018 .  It is a Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum' and it has done really well on it's own over there mostly being left alone.  Here's what it looked like last Fall/late Summer in August of 2020 .  And in Priority Area #1 from this year , I was thinking of using Japanese Painted ferns instead of the (currently) spec'd Ostrich Ferns.   When I was at the Morton Arboretum Spring Sale, I came across these painted ferns and I ended up buying four of them to add to the backyard.   Here's the tag (below), which shows these aren't the same "Pictum" ferns that I had already, rather they are called Ghost Japanese-Lady Ferns.  Athyrium 'Ghost' and they're described as a 'hybrid with the best qualities of Japanese Painted and Lady Fern'.  Kinda great, right?  I have one Lady F

Back about a week ago, I posted a preview of where we were going to put our firepit area in the backyard with a little gravel area surrounded by some beds and (eventually) linked with a little path from behind the Northern Red Oak tree.  One of the new things that I'm planting in the border bed between the lawn and the firepit is a new tree.  And it isn't just *any* tree.  It is a tree that I've been thinking about for a while - based on my musings about how I should add a couple of Japanese Maple trees to our yard .  In that post , I included both the traditional (and widely available) Bloodgood Japanese Maple and mentioned that there had been a tweak to that cultivar to make it even more Cold-weather-hardy (for our Zone 5b) with something called the Emperor I Japanese Maple tree.  Ever since then, I've been looking for an Emperor I tree.  I've come across a few - in various sizes and costs, but they were all too expensive for me.   As is the way with MOST Japanes

I recently planted our first Japanese Maple Tree (Tamukeyama) and a trio of Autumn Brillance Ferns in the newly expanded south bed.  The plan in this area called for Ostrich Ferns, so I was able to scavenge five of them from the north bed - around the Dawn Redwood - and transplanted them in a little drift or colony to the east of the Maple.   You can see this little fern section come to life below.  Autumn ferns in the middle.  Ostrich Ferns on the left.  These are survivor ferns as I've not bought Ostrich Ferns in Downers Grove.  These came with the lot and even after being cut back and buried under sod, they...ummm...survived.   They spread out, so I'm hoping that these five make it through this growing season and (if they do), that means we'll have more than five here next year.