Why I Oughta...

On my walk back to the train at Union Station, I wandered through the riverwalk plaza at Riverside Plaza.  There are a pair of companion buildings at 10 and 120 S. Riverside Plaza that have been going through a renovation of both their interiors (I think) and their exterior/outside plaza spaces .  The riverwalk portion appears to have wrapped up last Fall and was planted before Winter.   The space is a series of linear, raised beds.  And certainly feels like they've taken some inspiration from places like the Highline - that have a more linear nature.   The beds don't have any trees (unlike the Highline), but are multi-level raised beds full of perennials.  I'm pretty sure this area gets full mid-day sun, but due to the tall buildings all around, is probably in the shade in the morning and later in the afternoon. What jumped out to me this week were the dormant grasses in the bed.  There were A LOT of them.  Planted in a mass.  And....

I've had a weed-burning torch for a couple of seasons and I've used it in various ways - mostly to burn-out weeds on the patio and in the lawn when I didn't want to use a herbicide.  But, starting last Spring I introduced trying to do a tiny bit of a 'controlled burn' in some of our beds.  Here's a post from just a couple days over a year ago showing the 'controlled burn' of some of the leaf litter left behind from Fall and carried over through Winter .   I also burned up some of my compost bin last year, too .  I don't think I'll be doing that again. But, I am going to keep going on some of the bed burns.  I started this weekend by burning out some of the area at the corner of the patio.  This spot is home to three Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  After cutting those down to their crowns, I used the torch to burn up some of the leaf material and the dried blades of the grasses.    You can see in the photo that I didn't let this fire...

The last time I checked in our compost bins was late last Fall when I was filling the left bin (holding bin) with the last of the Fall leaves that dropped in our yard .  At that time, the 3rd bin (the fully-mixed bin) was overloaded - above the top of the bin.  That's because compaction occurs and that material will settle as it continues to decompose.  The 'middle bin' was only half-way full and the last bin - on the left - which is the 'holding bin' was piled to the top of leaves.   Over the past few months, some of that compaction occurred and the level of the leaves in the 'holding bin' dropped enough to allow for the addition of garden (and kitchen) waste.   The past few days, I posted some photos of how we've begun to cleanup the backyard by taking down/clipping some grasses - Muhly Grasses , Karl Foerster Grasses and the little colony of Hellebores - where I took off last year's foliage .  For each of those clean-ups, I brought the materia...

Yesterday, I showed the three Muhly Grasses that I cleaned-up for Spring near the boardwalk .  Today, the photo below shows the small bed that borders the screened porch that included a number of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  This bed is also home to some Angelina Sedum that I transplanted from the other side of the patio last year.  And, like the Muhly grass clippings, I took these grasses back to the compost bin instead of using the chop-and-drop method.  As you can see in the photo above, I did leave some material behind including the grasses and a bunch of leaf litter.

The three Ruby Muhly Grasses that are planted at the end of the boardwalk seemed to do fine last year.  When you look back at them in September, the thing that jumps out THE MOST is the lack of space in teh bed .   Late last Fall, I attempted to change that by doing a 'lazy bed extension' using the cardboard method to smother the turfgrass .   This Spring, that newly extended bed will need to be cleaned-up and edged and topped with a fresh layer of mulch.  With the warmer temperatures recently, I decided to continue to do a little bit of garden cleanup by pruning back the blades of these Muhly grasses.  Below is a before-and-after of the three grasses that sit right at the landing of the boardwalk: Unlike the the Autumn Moor Grasses in the front yard , I hauled this yard waste back to the compost bin.  I'll post an update on that situation in a couple of days.

'Tis the season for the start of garden cleanup.  Well...it is probably too early to do MOST of the cleanup, but I did start with a few 'chop and drop' experiments. First, I cleaned up a couple of Autumn Moor Grasses in the new front porch bed extension .  Then, I moved on to the raised vegetable bed on our back patio .   The most recent little slice of the garden that I started clean-up on was hinted in this post showing the tulip tips from earlier this week .  Those tulips are down near the sidewalk in the IB2DWs (extended) bed.  That's also where we have (now) two Panicum grasses ( I divided one that was struggling last Fall ) and the 'mystery' blue-ish Moor Grass that I moved out from the front porch bed .  I clipped off the grasses at the ground and cut them up into smaller pieces.  And, like the other areas of the garden, I left them in place to provide a light mulch layer.  See below for a couple of photos showing this area:  Thi...

Yesterday, I posted photos of how the (dang!) rabbits had removed the bark from the ground all the way up about 18" on all eight trunks of the apple (fruit) trees that I planted in 2020 as part of a Belgian Fence espalier .  The removal of bark by rabbits during Winter is called "Girdling" and essentially kills the tree.   I said that it is time to 'play for keeps' with these rabbits and the first step took place today with the removal of - what I think - is their hiding place.  These Miscanthus grasses that are in front of the Belgian Fence. See below for the current state of these grasses: They provide a TON of 'Winter Interest' - so like all the other ornamental grasses, I've left them up.  But, that's also provided a place for the rabbits to shelter during the Winter. Now...pay no attention to the fact that we are a Certified Wildlife Habitat.  In fact....look away, please. Because I'm taking these grasses down to the ground and removing t...

Fall Dividing is rolling on with some Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses being divided in Fall.   Like most other ornamental grasses, Karl Foerster grasses suffer from center rot and require division every three-or-so years.  I found a large clump that is planted close to the Bald Cypress tree IB2DWs that I dug up and divided into three.  I replaced 1/3rd back into the existing hole.  And then....took the other two divisions and placed them further down IB2DWs along the property line.   See below for the two new grasses - via division.   I have a few more of these that I need to divide that I'll get to this week.  This gave me a +2 plants (or grasses) via division.   #11 on my 2024 to-do was to 'focus on fall planting' .   These two divided clumps of Karl Foerster grasss find me running my total up to 20 'new plants' for 2024.  That feels pretty good.  Here's my math: +2 trees, +2 John Greelee Grasses, +6 Aj...

Yesterday, I showed how I moved out a 'mystery' Sesleria to the IB2DWs bed down by the sidewalk.  That left a hole in the front porch bed that I wanted to fill with what was already there:  Autumn Moor Grass.  These things are THRIVING, so it was easy to pick up and divide it. I ended up dividing a clump into three pieces.  I put one back into the original hole, one in the newly created hole (via mystery sesleria transplant) and I tucked the third one into IB2DWs - next to some Serendipity Alliums.   Below are a few photos - first the two smaller divisions: far left and second from the right.  I tucked them in with a combination of compost and biosolids.   And here below is the third from the division - in the IB2DWs bed about half-way down the driveway: This gave me a +2 plants via division.   I need to total up all Fall:  +2 trees, +2 John Greelee Grasses, +6 Ajuga = +10 planted.  And...+1 red swtichgrass, +1 mystery gra...

I planted three Miscanthus sinensis 'Adagio' - Dwarf Maiden Grasses in the backyard back in 2021 sort-of near the tree-swing tree.  They were - at that time - part of a layering that was going on over there with Hakonechloa Macra All Gold Grasses in front, these Dwarf Maiden Grasses in the middle and some dwarf Little Lime Hydrangeas in the back.  I posted about this 'slice' of my garden last September.    But...now...the pizza oven has happened.  And it is close to this spot.  I already moved the All Gold grasses out.   Now, with #FallPlanting here, I've turned my attention to these grasses.  They have done a lovely job of growing these past few season.  And...now it sure feels like they're good candidates for dividing. See below for current state of these dwarf Maiden grasses: I see a few spots for these: In back:  around the patio - to layer with Karl Foersters.  Or, on north end to anchor that corner. In front:  paire...

Last Fall - as part of my #FallPlanting sprint, I dug in three Ruby Muhly Grasses right at the edge of the boardwalk (that I installed last season).  I bought them in Late Fall - when they were on an end-of-the-season sale at The Growing Place and were container-bound.   This is an area of Full Sun during the hot part of the day and despite not baby'ing these, they seem to have done just fine this year.  I last posted about them in mid-August; about five weeks ago .  At that point, they were all blades.  A blue-grey thin, whispy set of blades of grass that sort of splayed from side-to-side.  But, at that point, no seedheads.  And...the seedheads of Ruby Muhly Grass - Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' - which I think are called "panicles" are the real star of these grasses.   These went in as quart-sized grasses, so they still need some time to mature, but have a look below at what they look like right now.  They're showing off t...

Last Fall, I planted three root-bound quart-sized nursery containers of a new (to me) ornament grass:  Undaunted Muhly Ruby Grass .  I put them in right at the edge of the boardwalk and sort-of created a new, tiny bed for them.  They were (mostly) going dormant by the time I planted them, so there wasn't any growth last year.  But, this Spring, they came back and have thrown up three masses of fine - but lazy - blades of grass.  All three are still around, despite not being deliberately watered at all.  The bed they're in is far to undersized, so the edge of the turf grass is running right up against the bases of the grasses.  But...all of that doesn't matter.  Because THEY'RE STILL HERE.  Below is a look at the three grasses: The headlining feature of these grasses are the plumes of seedheads that are created at the tips of the grasses.  So far...mine haven't produced ANY plumes, but they're ALSO not struggling.  A good reminder on...

As part of an earlier 'garden edit', I moved a bunch of stuff around near the tree swing tree and pulled four Hakonechloa Macra (the green ones) Japanese Forest Grasses that were planted in the back of this bed to the front border.  That was in late April .  Today?  The four are still hanging on.  But, are clearly struggling.    Below is a look at them: These have been getting A LOT less water than they would normally get - but that's because they are now near the pizza oven site.  So, I've been holding off on watering anything that well over there.  With the heat of August bearing down on us, I'm going to try to keep them watered-in.

The hedge of Sesalaria Autumnalis - Autumn Moor Grass - is throwing off a fireworks show of seed heads in our front porch bed.  I planted these last year - in front of the existing boxwoods.   And...they've done a really great job of getting established and putting on some size.   A look back at late Fall last year (October 2023) and you can see that they're not quite touching each other and were spaced appropriately.  This year?  They've butting up against each other side-to-side.  Pretty nice.  See below for the current view from our front stoop looking south: I split this front bed between these Autumn Moor Grasses and Summer Beauty Alliums.   The post I put up a few weeks ago showing the full front porch view really shows the difference between the Alliums and these grasses .  The alliums are MUCH more showy.   I'm thinking about a garden edit up here - removing the Summer Beauty Alliums and replacing them with ev...

Late Summer 2021, I planted the first three Hakonechloa Macra Grasses (the standard, green ones) from Northwind Perennial Farm in the border right around our tree swing tree.  I had some All Golds in the ground prior to 2021, but I read about the green ones online and when I saw them, I bought them as one-gallon nursery pots.  The All Gold variety have been slow growers (for me), so I wasn't sure what these would do when they matured.  I documented them in their first Spring ( May 2022 ) and then one year after planting ( August 2022 ) - when they had put on some growth. Last Summer, I added four more (behind the tree) and this Spring, I moved them (a garden edit) to sit next to the three original ones on the border.  Those four are two seasons behind and the move set them back with a little transplant stress.  But the three original?  They're starting to fill out the space and REALLY shine in the garden.   Below is a look at the three original ...

I bought and planted a couple of Prairie Dropseeds ( Sporobolus heterolepis ) in the Spring of 2022.  They're highly sought-after from all kinds of gardeners - native folks, new perennial movement people, even more formal gardeners.   And they did...nothing.  Like..nothing. They looked like a short clump of Kentucky Blue Grass that was out of place in a garden bed.  That's how they looked in their first year (2022) and their second year (2023).   This Spring, I cut everything back to the ground and suddenly...the Prairie Dropseed is showing itself with a lot more growth and a bunch of seed heads.  Here, below is the one that I can identify - IB2DWs.  Looks lovely: I can see the appeal in these now.  Can they be divided?  I hope so.

I'm racing the Cicada clock on a few projects;  the pizza oven foundation.  And...some of my proposed 2024 Garden Edits.  I wrote a post about a number of 'garden edits' that I want to make and started with the Hakonechloa Macra grasses (the green ones ) around the tree swing.  And, this past weekend, I made another large 'garden edit'.    My mantra for 2024 is 'editing' what I have - and that means a focus on planting in mass (larger quantities of the same varieties) that meet three criteria: 1. They work in our yard. Meaning...they thrive, not just survive. 2. Are appealing (to me). Foliage and Texture are key. 3. Have some four-season appeal. I don't want my garden to be 'empty' in Winter. This edit is on the southside.  And this bed - and in particular - the border/edge of the bed have been a hodge-podge.  Mostly hostas to fill-up space.  And, while I put up a few stumps in my new "stumpery" , I didn't plant anything in t...

I was feeling pretty good about my prescribed burning of tiny piles of leaves and some perennial litter from last season.  I posted the details of it yesterday .  Over the weekend, I went out and did a little bit more burning.  I used my small hand rake to pull together a pile of (mostly) oak leaves - creating a little burn break from other leaf litter - and use my small propane torch to light-it-up.   But, I think I got a little too cocky.  Burning and burning and burning.  And feeling good about returning the carbon to the soil via little ash piles.  All the while...cleaning up the beds a bit.  I was puttering around the beds making little piles and burning them.  They light up, then expire on their own when they exhaust all the material.  A little smoldering for a minute or two, then the piles of ash go dark.  And leave behind some white, burned out material.   I found myself back by the compost bins, where I recen...

Yesterday, I shared a round of photos showing the first (for this growing season) load of municipal biosolids that I added to our perennial garden beds as a topdressing .  The goal is to improve the soil and feed the trees and plants.   I also used these biosolids in a different spot:  as a compost bin amendment.   I've done this in the past - here's a post from March of 2023 - when I dumped some biosolids in as a sort-of accelerant/enhancement to my bins due to them being overloaded with 'browns'.  I thought the biosolids - full of Nitrogen - would help balance out the blend.   Right now, all three of our bins are F-U-L-L.  The clean-up that I did recently of all the ornamental grasses produced an enormous amount of material.  I posted some photos back a couple weeks .    For this round - I added a 5-gallon bucket (filled 2/3rds of the way) into my 'storage bin'.  The one with the "Feed Me" compost bin sign .  ...

A couple of days ago, I posted in my [compost bins] diary a look at the current state of my bins now that I've topped them off with a lot of ornamental grass material - reeds, canes and blades.  I tried to chop the material down into smaller segments in an attempt to break it up a bit and speed decomposition.    While I was cleaning up the grasses, I also went into the front porch bed and clipped off and cleaned up the front of the bed.  That included a number of Dusty Millers and all of the Seslaria Autumnalis (Autumn Moor Grass) .    Here, below, is a look at this bed after I trimmed up the Moor Grasses - but left behind some of the Fall leaf litter that has accumulated over Winter:  I also have three large Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses in the island bed between our driveway and front walk.  I pruned all of those ornamental grasses and cut them off an inch-or-two above their crown.  That island bed after the ornamental grasses have be...