Why I Oughta...

I've told this story before:  All the way back in 2018, we had some Lemon Coral Sedum in one of our patio containers .  One way or another, it managed to migrate from the container to the little, square bed next to our back stoop.   And, in a surprise to me, it managed to overwinter in that spot underneath a bed of snow.  I've since left it there and it has spread out each subsequent year.  I had not - up until that point - really thought much about groundcover.  But, then I saw this bed planted out front of the entrance of the Morton Arboretum in 2020 .  That inspired me to plant a mass of Lemon Coral Sedum up front in our front porch beds in 2021 .  It turned out really nice and created a carpet. With the success of the volunteer sedum in our backyard, I thought that I could replicate that growth and split up the front porch sedum and transplanted it in various spots - including IB2Dws and behind the large, Norway Maple in front.  All the while, the volunteer kept just sti

The past few seasons, we've had some Sedum Volunteers (or....maybe a better way to describe them is as a 'Survivor' instead of a 'Volunteer' because it has overwintered in place) in one of the small beds to the north of our back stoop where our Rhododendrons are planted.    If you look at this post from 2020, you'll see the beginnings of these Volunteers (they migrated from a container to a bed) and I was surprised to see them come back last year (2021).  In fact, based on the experience, I decided to transplant a bunch of this stuff from our front porch beds to various places in the hopes that it would survive the Winter.   Most of that stuff seems to have died over Winter.  But....the original set in back?  It seems that it might have come through once again.   Here, below, is a photo showing how some of it is green and happy. I'll monitor this set of Lemon Coral Sedum over the Spring to see if it bounces back and continues to live here - as a groundcove

A week ago, I finally had enough with a 'tough-to-grow-grass spot' in our front yard .  It a little section sandwiched on the ' in between two driveways ' island and right up against the sidewalk.  My thought was that part of the reason that the turf goes dormant here every Summer is because the heat radiates off the concrete on two sides and just dries the area out.  And, that's certainly part of it.  Not to mention that I don't water it enough.  But, last week, when I cut this new little bed in , I also discovered that there isn't much soil here.  Just a little bit of top soil - like an inch or two - followed by mostly gravel.   After I cut out the edge of this little bed and removed the turf, I ended up dumping a few bags of compost in the area to thicken up the area and provide a bit more organic material to allow for things to root in and (hopefully) grow.   I then looked around to see if I had any plant material on hand that I could transplant into thi

I was walking around the front beds and - once again - I'm struck by how I've had not a lot of luck with anything I've planted underneath our large Norway Maple tree that sits right outside of our front porch.  This large tree is in decline - likely due to the construction we had when we built our house in 2016 and 2017.  I've tried to attack *that* problem by having the arborists from Davey apply a growth regulator and a liquid fertilizer last year.  And, I'm hoping that the tree is on a path towards survival.  They'll come back this year to apply a second year of fertilizer - that I'm pretty sure (based on these photos) is working .   This year though, I lost a mature hydrangea - a Vanilla Strawberry (one of four out front) and my Lime Light Hydrangeas suffered some this year - and dropped a lot of their leaves in the middle of the Summer .  Here, below, is a top-down photo showing the dead hydrangea (very bottom, middle) and the proximity to the Norway Ma

When I put together my 2021 to-do list , I included as #3 the idea of working the 'in between two driveways' area.  I mentioned that I needed to add a layer of mulch and think about doing even more.  I did some of that - mulched AND added a trio of Serendipity Allium to the bed .  And, the Chanticleer Pear Tree (after some hard pruning) seems to be on track.  (I'm not sure that's a good thing...but that's for another day.) But that's the extent of the work over there so far. Revisiting what I wrote back in late February about this area, I mentioned doing more: Later on (after I published my list), I wrote a post expounding on this area and even had some thinking about the area and converting it from turf grass .  But, I never got around to doing that very thing. Why post about it now?  Because, after a hard Summer of sun beating down on it, I am reminded why this area is so problematic.  See below for what it looks like right now:  Hard, dry, brittle and brown. 

Earlier this Summer, we planted a mixed border of Lemon Coral Sedum and Red Begonias in front of our boxwoods outside of our front porch.  The inspiration for this pairing was the entrance planting at the Morton Arboretum last year and after growing a variety of annuals in this bed, I thought I'd give the idea of creating a 'carpet' of the sedum a try.    I ended up planting 20 sedum and 24 begonias .  The ones in the inspiration photo are taller begonias than the ones I bought, so I've learned something.  If you go look at this post from when I planted these in early June (scroll all the way down for the initial planting photo), you'll see how this started. Here, below, is how it is going right now.   The sedum has created that carpet and knitted together really well.  It is spreading out upwards - towards the begonias and creeping just a little bit towards the edge.  I'm really happy with the sedum.  The Begonias are doing really well, too.  Nice red flowers

Every year, we've planted annuals in our front bed to add a little pop of color to the front of our house - with mixed results.  Last year, we used 24 Devine Lavendar Impatiens in the bed .  The most plants we've put in this area.  The full progression looks like this: Our first full year - in 2018 - we planted some Ranunculuses - about eight of them.  In 2019,  we planted 16 orange marigolds.  +8 plants yoy. In 2020, we planted 24 Impatiens.   +8 plants yoy. The second goal (beyond the color) is to help improve the soil in this area as when I got started it was solid clay - from the foundation backfill.  I amended the soil with Gypsum and have added some biochar/humic acid to the area, too.  And, of course I've added mulch to these beds over the years.  First, with hardwood fines, then in 2019 and 2020, I laid down cocoa bean hull mulch .  The thinking here is that nothing aerates and breaks up clay soil better than roots growing.  Every year that I plant here will make t

 If you drive by the entrance to the Morton Arboretum last month, you saw a striking series of plants that include some bright colors including this ground cover that is almost highlighter yellow.   They planted a big drift of this stuff that made a carpet-like layout.   See below in all of the late Summer glory: I suspected that this was Lemon Coral Sedum - which I've planted in containers the past few years - but wasn't sure.  But, what is amazing (at least to me) is that the Morton Arboretum has something called a " Plant Clinic ".  What's a Plant Clinic?  From their site : The Morton Arboretum’s Plant Clinic helps homeowners, gardeners and landscape professionals throughout the Chicago region and the world have healthy, attractive, well-chosen plants. Trained staff and volunteers are available in person, by phone, or by e-mail to help with tree and plant selection, identifying and coping with pests and diseases, and other concerns. So, I emailed them to inqui