Why I Oughta...

Back in June, I planted three (more) Sun King Aralias in the backyard.  Last year, I planted six of the same plant in the far backyard and they came back and are thriving.  So, at the Morton Arboretum Sale this year, I bought three more for the yard.   I tucked them into the other side of the backyard (southside) about half-way back near the Green Giant Thujas.  This is a spot where I previously had an Oakleaf Hydrangea (rabbits killed it) and these three bright-green perennials check a few boxes:  1.  Repetition.  With this second colony of Sun Kings, we now are starting to show a little bit of the notion of 'repetition'. 2.  Lean into what's working.  With the six (that I ignored last year) coming back, I knew these would work well in our conditions. 3. Japanese-inspired gardening. I mean...the plants are named Sun King Golden Japanese Aralias. 4.  Foliage gardening.  These don't flower.  Or, at least don't flower mean...

Last year, I put in six Sun King Golden Japanese Aralia plants in a 'garden edit' in what I call the 'nook' behind our Weeping Nootka Cypress tree in the backyard .  They're really bright pops of semi-tropical-looking plants that thrive in shade.  And...since we have plenty of shade, these feel like a made-for-us kind of variety.  I bought those original six at the Morton Arboretum plant sale and they did just OK for their first year.  They went dormant early, so I wasn't sure if they'd come back. I saw some new growth in early April, but still wasn't sure .  By early May, I saw all six were back , so that means...(at least to me) that these *work* in our backyard.   #15 on my 2025 to-do list is to 'lean into what is working' - so adding more of these checks that box. #20 on that same list is to focus on 'repetition' vs adding net-new.  So, check number two.  And, finally...#10 is to work on 'legibility'.  These bright chartreuse...

I've failed to post the installation of much of what we brought home from the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale this year.  I posted this 'highlights' of the sale post at the beginning of May, between then and now, I've planted a number of things that we bought at the sale.  The first set of plants are these three Godzilla Japanese Painted Ferns.   Athyrium 'Godzilla' Ferns.   Here's the sign from the sale that describes this fern as having 'epic proportions'.  How epic?  It says it can spread between four-and-six-feet.  That's B I G.    Also...note the 'rabbit resistant' listing on the sign.  I'm all for that feature in EVERYTHING we plant. I bought three of them and they looked good in their nursery containers: In the back, on the southside, I have three " Crested Surf" ferns that were planted in/around a Japanese Flowering Cherry Tree.  That tree...died, but the Crested Surf Japanese Painted Ferns - after getting e...

Back three weeks ago, I posted a photo and wondered if the Sun King Aralias that I planted last year were "back" for their second growing season .  I was concerned because I didn't baby these last year - and neglected them a little bit when it came to watering/irrigation and weeding.  I was so focused on the pizza oven that I fell-down a little bit in terms of garden maintenance.   I posted six (not five like I said in April) Golden Japanese Spikenard 'Sun Kings' in the back yard as part of a [garden edit].  I was seeing *some* growth by the stalks of last year's growth in late April, but today....I'm seeing foliage across all six plants. Here, below, is a photo from this week showing the six chartreuse-colored perennials that are putting on foliage and growing in early May: My plan this year is to pay close attention to these this season - in terms of watering and weeding.  I had them mulched in (professionally), so I'm hoping that will help ease the...

Last month, I went to the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant sale and was (surprisingly) restrained in what I brought home.  I'll get to posts about each of the perennials (and one vine) as they go in the garden, but I also wanted to share a few things that caught my eye at the sale.  As usual, there's far more at the sale than one could ever imagine planting in their garden.  Due to the conditions in our garden, I was more focused on trees/shrubs and (mostly) shade or part-shade perennials.   Here are a few things that caught my eye at this year's sale.   They had Shawnee Brave Bald Cypress trees for just $33.  This is an upright version of the Bald Cypress.  At $33, you might imagine they're pretty small.  But, a super unique tree. A tree that has been on my 'wish list' for a while noe:  Chamaecyparis Soft Serve - This is the 'Gold' cultivar - which makes it even more unique.  At $25, this is another rare evergreen tree....

Last season, I did a number of 'garden edits' - where I improved parts of our beds via selective editing.  In some cases, that meant adding MORE of something.  Or in other cases, it meant replacing hostas with something more appealing.  One of those 'garden edits' was the nook behind the Weeping Cypress tree on the north side of the far backyard .   I pulled out a bunch of hostas and replaced it with a few things: A row of Sun King Golden Japanese Spikenard - Aralia cordata . Some transplanted Summer Beauty Alliums A row of Dark Side of the Moon Astibles - along with transplanting a few that I already had on-hand. And, fronted with some groundcover. My #4 item on my 2025 to-do list is to 'finish the garden edits'.  I mentioned that I was pretty sure a bunch of the stuff I planted back here wasn't going to come back.  It had a hard Summer and I've been thinking that the Sun King Aralias and the Astilbes didn't have enough time to establish themselve...

Another sign of Spring:  one of (at least one of) the Brookside Geraniums has emerged from the mulch in the square bed next to our backdoor stoop.  These are growing in the shadow of the Spring Grove Ginkgos.  Planted in 2023 from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale , this will be their third full growing season.  They're the only Geraniums that we have growing, but that might be something I'll add this year via the same Morton Arboretum sale. Below is the green foliage emerging in late March 2025:  

Back in late April, I bought a single 1# nursery container of a stonecrop/sedum at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale that reminded me of eucalyptus.  I bought it on a whim and didn't have a plan for it.  When I cut and created the new Island bed in the front yard, I ended up tucking it into the backside of that bed - behind the Spring Grove Ginkgo.  I don't seem to have posted about it.  And, to be fair...I mostly forgot about it.   But, the rabbits didn't forget about it.  They've been gnawing at it all Summer.  But, it keeps growing back.   The name of the plant - October Daphne - would imply that it puts on a show in October.  But...perhaps due to the rabbit damage, that show has ALREADY begun - in early/mid-September.  See below for a photo showing the pink blooms on some of the tips: Here, below, is a look at the sign from the sale that describes the sedum (or stonecrop) - Sedum sieboldii 'October Daphne' - as a 'l...

I planted the third Emperor 1 Acer palmatum via the Morton Arboretum plant sale this Spring.  I brought it home in a small one-gallon container - and like the other ones - netted it with tulle to protect it from cicada damage .   The tree suffered a little dieback, but otherwise has been just trying to survive the summer heat.  Unlike the Emperor 1 I posted about two days ago , this one is in full shade all the time.    Now that we're back from summer vacations, I'll try to baby this one with a little bit more water than it has been getting and hope to put on some new limbs before dormancy arrives this Fall.

The basil that I've been growing for the past few seasons is named Italian Large Leaf Basil.  I've picked it up at the Morton Arboretum annual Arbor Day Plant Sale and have - for the past few years - tucked it into a raised bed along with some bush tomatoes.   Between summer vacations and improper pruning, my success with basil has always been middling.  I'd get plenty of leaves, but it always would bolt.  This year, I tried to be deliberate with pruning and taking it down to spots where it could 'bush out' a little bit.  And, when I see seed heads (those little clusters of basil) growing, I've either pinched them off or cut-off the plant BELOW that part.  That's lead to a good-sized basil plant this year.  And one that is producing a lot of, well...'large leaves'.   Here, below, is a look at the Italian basil plant at the beginning of August: It is healthy and happy and still producing a lot of leaves to use in the kitchen this Summer a...

I brought home a Giant Marconi Hybrid Sweet Pepper plant from the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale this Spring and - along with some other things - I stuck it into our Greenstalk tower.  It went into the bottom row in a deep pocket - and then I used the on-board tomato cage to sort-of train it up and give it some support.  The plant has thrown off one big pepper so far.  You can see it below.  Long, thin and (for now) green.  I'm going to see if it will redden-up on the plant. #19 on my 2024 to-do list is to keep going on vegetables .  I feel good about tomatoes in the raised bed and now add to things a nice-looking pepper and I feel like I've gotten back into the veggie game a little bit more this year.   The other thing that I'm remembering is that pepper plants don't produce A TON of fruit.  They take up space, but aren't productive.  That's ok, just something to remember.  

This post deposits two things into the [garden diary]:   the loss of a Japanese Maple and the planting of a different one.  First, the loss.  Last Summer, I planted a 2-gallon Japanese Maple that was mis-marked.  It was labeled as an Emperor 1, but was had dissectum or laceleaf foliage .  I marked it as an 'unknown' Japanese Maple - likely a Takukeyama.  That tree was purchased on May 12, 2023, so I had a decision to make.  By May 11th (this past weekend), the tree was not leaf'ing out.  The scratch test showed that the trunk was still alive, but no buds had opened up.  With the one-year warranty running out, I opted to yank it out and get the store credit.   This marks the second loss of trees this year - the first being the Silver Maple that I removed earlier this Spring .  Two trees lost, zero planted.  But, that is about to change thanks to the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale.  A few days ago, I posted about the ...

 The sign at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale reads:  2020 Perennial Plant of the Year!  A unique addition to your shade garden.  'Sun King' emerges mid-spring with bright gold leaves and reddish brown stems.   In heavier shade, the foliage ranges from chartreuse to lime green.  A hardy, tropical looking beauty that brightens up the shade.   It gets 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.   I've been thinking about Sun King Aralia for a couple years and I finally pulled the trigger and bought six of them for our backyard garden.   Here's a listing from Proven Winners that describes Sun King : A unique golden-leafed plant for the shade. The color will be brighter yellow in part sun, and more chartreuse or lime green in full shade. Tiny white flowers. After blooming, deep purplish black, inedible berries. Here's the plant tag below: And, here below is a look at the plant in the nursery pot: These are going into a 'Garden Edit'...

Last May, I planted a pair of Brookside Geraniums in the square beds on either side of our backstoop along with a pair of Spring Grove Ginkgos .  These geraniums were from the Morton Sale and I tucked them into the back of the little beds.  A month-after-planting, I looked-back-in on the planting and they were doing well - and in bloom by the end of June .   That meant that this past Winter was their FIRST Winter - and I didn't have any data on their reemergence.  We can now add these to the [garden diary] showing the Brookside Geranium foliage comes up in a small, dark-green clump in mid-March.    You can see the current state of this Brookside Geranium below: Last year, these sort-of 'spilled' out one side of the bed and didn't spread very much.  Perhaps this will be the year that these will fill-out a little more.  

I planted three Peachberry Ice Heucheras that I picked up at the Morton Arboretum Spring Sale last year and planted them around the border of the firepit in the back.  I've had mixed success with Heucheras in general, but these were pretty striking color-wise, so I opted to bring them home.    They seemed to do well in their first year and by late Summer had put on some size and were showing a nice two-tone set of leaves.  Here they were in mid-August 2023 .   I have left most of my Heucheras un-protected from rabbits over the past few Winters and never noticed that the (dang) rabbits went at them.  But...these must be different.  I was back there cleaning some things up when I brushed aside some of the leaf litter and saw what was left of the Peachberry Ice Heucheras.  See below for what they look like: I have no idea if these will come back this year, but because they lost so much of their mass, I'm not betting on it.  

This Spring, I planted a pair of new (to me) Merlin Hellebores that I bought from the Morton Arboretum plant sale and stuck them in the bed near the rest of the Lenten Roses/Hellebores.  They didn't take to transplanting very well and I've now lost both of them.  See below for the photo showing the remaining four: There's always 'next year' and that's how I feel about Hellebores and the Morton Arobretum plant sale.  Will I go to the sale?  Yes.  Will I buy Hellebores?  Yes.  

At the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale this year, I came across this sign (photo below) describing a Japanese Maple variety that was new (to me):  Inaba shidare.  It was listed as an Acer palmatum and the photo had red laceleaf foliage.  The sign describes it as "The best of the weeping red laceleaf maples for its leaf color retention in Summer, its scorch resistance, vigor and hardiness.  The lace-like foliage emerges deep purple in Spring, matures to purple-red by Summer and finally turns bright red in Fall."   I mean...what's not to love about that, right?  I had previously purchased a Japanese Maple from the Morton Sale - an Emperor 1 in 2021 - and have been REALLY happy with it in our garden.  So, when I saw this sign for the Inaba shidare, I wanted one.  The only problem?   They were gone.  Sold out.  Or...at least...sold out during *my* visit. Felt a little bit like a 'one that got away' sort-of-deal. So, ima...