Why I Oughta...

2024 was the year of the dahlia around here.  I went A LOT further with dahlia tubers in 2024 than I've done in the past - including pre-ordering them, starting the tubers indoors, planting them in the ground, trying to prune them/cut the flowers at the right time/place and....most recently....attempting to overwinter some of the tubers - both in Saran Wrap as well as in the ground. Since the pre-ordering thing went so well this past season, I figured while Longfield Gardens was having a sale on their Dahlia tubers, why not order a bunch to arrive in Spring. Last year, I ordered Melina Fleur and Cornell Bronze .   This year, I ordered three varieties:  Maarn Ball Dahlias Sweet Nathalie Decorative Dalias Pablo Decorative Border Dahlias. Below is a screenshot from my order: They arrive in April, but I'm already thinking about where to grow these Dahlias.  The Pablo tubers were a 'bulk order', so I will have a good-sized colony of these (if they're successful...eek...

Up front, in the IBDWs section, I planted a Cornell Bronze Dahlia tuber that I started indoors in a small nursery pot .  I put the sprouted tuber in the ground in mid-June and now, two-months-later it is showing its very first blooms.   This dahlia suffered some rabbit damage early, so I put a chicken wire cage around it in hopes that it would grow up/out and have a big bloom season.   That season of blooms is NOW upon us.  Below, you can see the first Cornell Bronze ball bloom tucked in below the top foliage.  There are more on the way. But, something *else* is happening on this very same Dahlia plant.  For SOME REASON, I'm seeing a purple bloom about to open up - at the very top of the stalk.  Yes...purple dahlia.  On the same plant that is blooming those orange ball flowers.  See below - for a most-certainly purple bloom about to open up: What the what?  Is this a mutation?  A pollinator-caused result?  I have no i...

Back in December, I ordered some Dahlia Tubers from Longfield Gardens and planned to try to both grow them this year AND (importantly) treat them as something that I'll pull out of the ground before the season ends and attempt to over-Winter in my garage.  I bought two varieties - Melina Fleur and Cornel Bronze Dahlias .  They recently arrived and I decided to start some of them indoors.  The Melina Fleur tubers come two-to-a-pack, so I grabbed six one-gallon nursery containers that I had laying around and filled them with a sandy homebrewed potting mix.  It is a mix of sand + potting mix that I normally use for succulents.  Here, below, is a photo of the Longfield Gardens dahlia tuber packaging that lists some specs (18" apart, 32" tall). After potting them up, I brought them down to the basement in the window well.  This is south-facing and while it *is* the basement, they get good light down there.  I put them on some trays that I had laying around ...

In my 2023 recap post, I included a list of ten 'lessons learned' or takeaways from the year .  They were a mix of looking back and a few looking ahead.  One of them was about flowers.  I wrote that " Flowers continue to be a little bit outside my comfort zone. Change that. I started this Fall, but plenty more room to grow/go. Countertop arrangements need flowers. Try some dahlias, too. " When I said that I 'started', that meant the late-season plantings like the Blue Fortune Agastache , a Pow Wow Wildberry coneflower , a pair of May Night Salvias and some purple foliage Pentstemons (all IB2DWS).    And, I've had a lot of fun with the Disneyland Roses - including in arrangements.   I've also done a little bit of dabbling with Dahlias over the years.  But, I've always treated them as annuals and haven't invested much in the tubers.  I grew Night Queens .  And some orange ones.  And Cactus dahlias, too .    ...

Like (almost) every previous growing season, I planted some Elephant Ear bulbs in our containers in an attempt to add a (slightly) tropical vibe to our patio.  These bulbs come from Longfield Gardens and are carried by Costco each Spring.  This year, I put a couple in both the wood box at the corner of the patio and the larger, glazed container.  And, both of them have put up leaves that are getting bigger by the day.  See below for first the wood container followed by the glazed one.  I'll monitor these for size - here's the mark to beat leaf-size-wise (from 2021) .

In Spring of 2021, I planted eight bareroot Bressingham Blue Hostas from Longfield Gardens along the edge of a new curve in one of our backyard beds .   The plan called for these to be 'Hadpsen Hostas', but I found and admired the Bressingham Blue variety, so I made the swap.   One year post-planting, seven-of-the-eight came back and were putting on their trademark blueish-green foliage.  This is what the Bressingham Blue hostas looked like in late May 2022 .  Started with eight.  By May 2022, there were seven.  Not bad. How about today?  See below for a photo showing these hostas.  The two in the 'back row' are still there. But, at first glance, it seems that there are (now) just four in the front row.   But, if you look closer, there are (strangely) two very TINY tucked in there.  The first tiny one is in the open gap - what becomes the 'second' from the left.  Below is annotated (and zoomed) version of the same pho...

Back in Fall of 2021, I planted some new (to me) Allium bulbs around the beds including 15 Bulgaricum bulbs .   They were bought on a whim - I didn't know much about them - but their photos were quite dramatic.  So, in my online shopping cart they went.  (That's one of the fun things about Fall bulbs, I guess:  you order them in the Summer and then kind of forget about them until they ship in the Fall.) Last year was their first year to bloom and I don't remember them very much.  They might have bloomed, but I think it was limited.  This year, though....they're putting on a little show.  See below for the Allium Bulgaricum chandeliers of flowers (I'm calling them 'chandeliers'.)   I don't count 15 of these in the garden, but I do see a handful of them popping up in different spots.    Would I put them in the same spots today as they are located now?  I'm not sure.   White Flower Farm has a product listing up for ...

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 f...

Last year, I planted a series of bareroot astilbes - Gloria purpurea - in our backyard around the base of one of the flowering pear trees.  I stuck them there without much thought and early enough in the growing season that not everything *around* them had grown in just yet.  At the time, it looks like I planted six bareroot plants .   I was out in the garden recently and had a look at these.  See below for a photo showing this little slice of the bed: By my count, I see THREE Astilbes that have made it.  As I think back, I'm *pretty sure* that I recall that some of the bareroot starts were small, so I tucked more than one in the hole.  Perhaps I doubled all of them up and ended up with just three? Whatever the case, I'm now seeing these crammed in amongst the tree trunk and a trio of hostas. Which, leads me to think I need to do something here:  transplant these astilbes to a different location. They need a bit of room to spread out. But, where?...

Last year, I planted a bunch of Drumstick Allium in different spots around the garden .  Some in front, some on the side, some in back.  Timing-wise, these are the *latest* blooming Allium that we have now.  All of other varieties have come and gone.  But these?  They're in bloom RIGHT NOW - mid-July.   I'm sure what I expected, but these are really lovely looking flowers.  Small.  MUCH smaller than a globemaster or Purple Sensation.  And, really tall.  Like, a lollipop.  I'm talking 30" super thin stems with a golf-ball-sized bloom on the tip.  That SUPER THIN stem plus the golf-ball-sized bloom means that these things are swooping.  They don't stand up straight.  They're swoopers.  I kinda like them that way and it is something that I can keep playing with planting-wise.  They're VERY informal, so not what I normally see when I see alliums popping up. Below, you can see a few of them 'swooping' across...

Last month, I ran through the success rate of some Bressingham Blue bare root hostas from Longfield Gardens.  I planted 18 and now have ten that have come back for year two.  55% success rate .  In addition to those blue hostas, I also planted nine Frances Williams bare root hostas at the same time.  These were planted in late April 2021 and were clustered around the Northern Red Oak tree (tree swing tree) in our backyard.   Last Fall, these Frances Williams hostas had emerged and were small, but mighty .  We recently had our mulch done and it seems that what started as nine hostas is now six plants.  You can see them below: I'm going to leave these as-is for this growing season, but if they bulk up by Fall, I think I need to dig up and transplant a few of them - as they're planted too close together.  The one that "looks" the best is the three-leaved one tucked in right by the trunk of the tree (in the shade).  It has the nicest colori...

I've planted bare root hostas the past few years and this season is no different.  In addition to the Aaron Caladium tubers that I recently planted, Nat also brought home this bag of six Longfield Gardens Sum and Substance bare root Hostas from Costco this Spring.  You can see the package showing the Sum & Substance variety below as well as a peek at the size of these Longfield Gardens bare root hosta: What are Sum & Substance Hostas? Monrovia calls them 'fast-growing' and 'Perhaps the largest and most popular of the hostas' as well as being Hosta of the Year, 2004 . What's that again?!?  These might be the 'largest' hosta out there?  I've been thinking a lot about giant or large-format hostas the past few seasons and added a set of three Abiqua Drinking Gourd Hostas last Fall back by the firepit that are billed as being a 'true giant' hosta.  Those seem to be back for the first full growing season, so they're NOT quite at matu...

Earlier this Spring, Nat brought home a package of Caladium tubers from Costco that I finally got around to digging into the beds.  These are Aaron Caladiums that I'm treating as annuals as I don't anticipate digging these tubers up to store for the season.   Aaron Caladiums are described as: "beautifully refined element to add to a shady site; luminous white leaves with feathered dark green margins; a great border accent that will tolerate some sun" .  Here, below, is a look at the Longfield Gardens packaging showing the twelve tubers and the individual bags. I decided to dig them into the south bed where they can sit in front of the Fanal Astilbes that run part of the border .   You can see the disturbed soil in the photo below.   #14 on my 2022 to-do list was to work some tropicals into the landscape, so this checks part of that box.  And #16 on that list was to add some shade annuals.  These, too, check that box.  

Last Spring, I planted a bunch of bare root hostas in a few spots around our backyard that Nat brought home from Costco.  I'll get to the Frances Williams Hostas in another post, but this one is about the Bressingham Blue bare root hostas from Longfield Gardens .   I planted eight in what - at that time - I called the 'focal curve' .  And six back by the Yew Hedge . Two by the downspout around the Screened Porch .   That's only 16, so I'm not sure if I planted 18 of them (sometimes...these bare root hostas are so tiny that I plant two in one spot).   I covered some of these last year showing their first year growth.  By June, I was seeing some of them emerge from the mulch .  And by August, it looked like seven of the eight in the focal curve had made it .  I don't seem to have documented in the [garden diary] the ones back by the Yews, nor the ones by the downspout.   So...one year after planting bare root hostas, how are...

Last Fall, I planted a variety of Spring bulbs in beds like I've done over the years.  I posted some photos and details of the various Allium that I planted , but I don't seem to have shared the details of the tulip bulbs that I also put in at the same time.  The problem with that is that I'm TOTALLY unsure of where I put all of the bulbs.  It appears - based on some photos I've found in Google Photos that I put in 100 Tulip bulbs.  See below for the photos - showing two bags from Longfield Gardens: I recall planting *some* bulbs down by the parkway - both under the Norway Maple and around the 'hard to grow' area IB2DWs.  But, I'm guessing I put them in elsewhere, too and will have to track the blooms as they come up.  But, guess what?  I'm seeing some of these newly planted bulbs peek up through the mulch.  That means...Spring is ALMOST HERE. First, around the Norway Maple tree in the parkway.  I don't know now many bulbs are here, but I re...

Last year, I started a series of posts that I tagged as part of my 2022 garden planning something I've been calling my 2022 plant wish list.  I suppose that's not entirely an accurate way to describe things, as they're not wished-for plants as much as the beginnings of a plant buying prioritization process.  In this post showing the four-season interest of these Autumn Ferns , I mentioned that I should add more.  Same with this post showing a few Arrowwood Viburnum that I picked up late in the season - and mentioned that I needed to find more.  But, the way I'm thinking about what I want to add to the garden this year isn't about wishing as much as it is about going through some logical progression of identifiying needs and prioritizing.  So, I think a better way for me to start thinking about this is more akin to the notion of 'getting to know' some plants for 2022.  That's a clear 'tip of the cap' to Roy Diblik from Northwind Perennial Farm wh...

Yesterday, I posted photos of the Allium 'Christophii' bulbs that I ordered from Longfield Gardens and planted in the various beds around the backyard.  In that post, I mentioned a few other varieties of allium bulbs that I also included in my Longfield Gardens order.   Here's a look at the two other types of Allium bulbs that I planted.   First, there are 50 Allium Sphaerocephalon Drumsticks .   Now that I think about it, I'm not sure that I actually planted Christophii bulbs near the Fanal Astilbes that I mentioned yesterday.  I'm now pretty sure that I actually planted THESE Drumstick Alliums there. Here's the Astilbe colony that I'm pretty sure has Drumsticks now below: Next up are 15 Allium Bulgaricum that I bought on a whim.   I stuck these in the ground around the pair of espalier'd Linden trees: And in front of some of the Summer Beauty Ornamental Alliums that are right next to the Lindens: In terms of total numbers, I planted 45 C...

Earlier this Summer, Erin the Impatient Gardener posted this reminder on her Instagram handle (it was spon con, but it still was useful) about ordering Fall bulbs and in particular, she called out ‘Christophii’ allium as a sport of Allium that she's a big fan of that she says 'steals the show' in her bulb blog post here .  I've historically bought my bulbs from big box stores or Costco ( Nat brought home these Pinball Wizard Allium from Costco this year ), so the idea of ordering direct from Longfield was something new for me.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by E R I N🌿The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) Back in September, I finally got around to ordering some bulbs from Longfield Gardens and close to the end of the month, they shipped them out.  I bought a series of Allium bulbs from them (just Allium this year) including 3 15 packs of these Christophii bulbs.  Here's their product listing .  When they arrive...

Most every Fall, I've planted bulbs of some variety.  The last few seasons, it has been tulip bulbs in the front and back beds.  But, I've also planted Alliums over the years including these Purple Sensation bulbs in 2017 and 2018.  This year, I'm going to be digging in a little bit of both - including some Tulips that Nat bought at Costco and some Alliums that both she bought (at Costco) and some others that I ordered online.  I'll post about the tulips in the coming days, but first up are these Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that came home from Costco.   This is a pack of five - and because I bought other types online, we stopped with just these five, despite knowing that you're *supposed* to plant bulbs in big masses.  The package (below) shows a little child's head next to some MASSIVE purple Allium flower heads.  The listing at Longfield Gardens shows them as a pack of two , but, they're the *full* bulbs, while the ones at Costco come as a pac...