Why I Oughta...

This is the fourth in the series of different snapshots of our emerging landscape plan for our #newoldbackyard.  The other three are here and are worth visiting to get a sense for the overall plan.   Here's a look at part of the southern fence line .  Includes a set of hydrangeas, some hostas and ferns, allium and some Canadian Hemlocks.  I got a little bit of a headstart on this section last Fall when I planted some hydrangeas that we were given by Nat's Mom.   Here's a look at part of the rear foundation planting areas.  This one is right outside our breakfast nook/kitchen .  It includes some grasses, boxwoods, a rhododendron and some hostas.  This is right where our bird feeders are located, so the grasses are perfect.  Also, I harvested some hostas/ferns from our neighbor's house down the street late last season and got those started in their spots.  Hoping they'll come back this Spring.  Unfortunately, I also planted our Disneyland Rose there, so

For the first time in a while, we spent an afternoon out in Naperville with Nat's parents.  And that means that I took some time to wander in Nat's Mom's garden where I marveled at the size and span of her hydrangeas but also was able to peek at the plants that she is fostering for us.  Above you see both the giant hosta on the left and the dried out ostrich fern laying on it's side on the right.  The fern ran it's course and dried out.  That is normal.  The hosta is nearing the end of it's season, too, so that's why you're seeing some dried spots.  Critters are the likely cause for some of the missing pieces of leaves.  The last time that I checked in on these plants was early this Spring.  Here's a photo of the hosta emerging from the mulch .  Here's what this hosta plant looks like when it is a bit further out of the ground but not unfurled quite yet .  Love this time of year.  So much to look forward to and so many gardening expectations

Last month, I posted about a few of our 'foster' plants out at Nat's folks' place in Naperville including the giant hosta that had emerged this Spring and Nat's Great Aunt's peonies and the miniature variety of Hosta Venusta that came back to my surprise.  But, there was also a big bunch of Ostrich Ferns that we transplanted into foster care.  Just about a month ago, on May 2nd, 2016, I posted this photo showing the ferns emerging from the ground  and in June, I posted this photo showing the giant Hosta and the Ostrich Fern all unfurled in their full glory.  They were doing so well last year, so I never thought for a minute that they wouldn't come back this year. That photo above is what they look like now:  they've not only sprung up ahead of last year's pace, they're also big, vibrant and strong.  How nice to see them doing so well.  I'm not surprised, because a few years back, we divided some of our ferns and gave them to Nat'

Over the weekend, I posted this photo of a handful of 'survivor' ferns in our new backyard and mentioned that they deserved a shot at being transplanted because they're clearly hearty souls.  Having been able to thrive without anyone tending to them in years means they'll likely be easy to care for, right?  That's what I'm going to assume.   Plus the experience I've had with these ferns before make me love them. I ended up bringing out the spade shovel and dug up a few clumps of them ahead of the landscaper coming out to grade the backyard.  I ended up sticking them in with a bunch of other salvaged plants in the rear of the yard.  Here, in the photo below, you'll see them mixed in amongst the hostas that I took from the front yard as well as a few of the variegated hostas that we picked out of our old neighbor's compost bin in the back. I'm thinking that this isn't likely their end destination (my current thought is to put these on

The work over at our #NewOldFarmhouse has begun to shift to include the outdoors areas as the project continues to come together.  That means hard surfaces, grass and landscaping.  In the back, we're going to tend to a good chunk of the yard, but there is going to be the back portion that we won't be getting to out of the gate.  That means, we'll be leaving it in it's natural state for now. The whole thing is kind of in it's 'natural state' for now, meaning there are clumps of weeds and trees and ground covering scattered all over the place.  The landscape crew that is coming in to straighten things out will be clearing some of this stuff out.  But, check out the photo above.  See what is in those red circles?  That's right?!?   Ostrich Ferns.  My favorite .  I've covered them extensively including this post where the University of Illinois Master Gardener confirmed the species and I even transplanted a good set of them out in Naperville to be

Earlier this Spring, I posted about our 'fostered' Ostrich Fern and giant Hosta that are currently being housed at my in-law's side/front/back yard (I don't know what to call it.  It is kinda all of those things:  the front, the side and the back.   Weird, I know, but if I showed you the area, it *might* make sense.)   Here's the post on the ferns .  And here's the post on the hostas . The good news is in that photo above.  I took that over recently when I checked in on them and gave them a little bit of water.  They look to be THRIVING, which has me excited.  We transplanted them late last year in late July/early August and they looked terrible.  The fern, in particular looked awfully wilted and I wasn't thinking it was going to come back.  But, these are hardy plants it seems.  And that means that I'm thinking if we're in a spot to transplant them as early as next Spring, they'll be ready to go.  And after they arrive, it won't take lon

That screenshot of an email, above, is the note I received back from "The Master Gardener" at the University of Illinois Extension office in DuPage County.  And...now, I think we can put this mystery to bed:  we have Ostrich Ferns.  Confirmed. Yesterday, I posted a few photos of them at my mother-in-law's house and those are the photos that I supplied to the Master Gardener. No more guessing about Cinnamon vs. Ostrich ferns for all the ferns that I have in Naperville.  But, what about the one I bought at the plant sale this year ?  It was marked as a Cinnamon Fern, but could the gardener who brought it in be confused like I was?  Time will tell.  But, that one is planted in Elmhurst at our temporary home, so it won't be transplanted anywhere else to get confused going forward. I feel good about this.  And, I feel really great about the Master Gardener.  What a resource!  I'm going to use it whenever I have a gardening question going forward.  And you shou

That's a shot of Nat's Mom's backyard where she has a - now - pretty sizable stand of ferns.   They look really great.  But, what *exactly* are they?  Take a close look at the fern fronds below: They look A LOT like these that are called Ostrich Ferns, don't they? But, what about these ? They're labeled as Cinnamon Ferns.  They look pretty right on, too, don't they? I'm starting to think that we do, indeed, have Cinnamon Ferns after all.   This map shows where Ostrich Ferns are present in Illinois .  I think this indicates wild versions, but my hunch is that if they're that 'rare' in terms of presence, we don't have them.  But, at the same time, when I look at the photos of Cinnamon Ferns as they grow , they don't look like what we have.  Weird, right? And over at Dave's Garden, it sure seems like we have Ostrich Ferns after all?  Might need to bring one in to the University of Illinois Extension office for clarification?

The Cinnamon Fern that I mentioned in yesterday's post about our trip to the Crestview Ladies Garden Sale in Elmhurst has found a new home: on the southside of the yard of our current place. I put it right next to a few hostas that my sister has planted and just past their hammock setup. It is a pretty shady spot and based on what I *thought* I knew about Ostrich and Cinnamon Ferns (which....based on this being a Cinnamon Fern, I may know NOTHING!), I know they like to stay pretty wet and out of the sun. When I planted this after work, it was totally shaded and based on the trees overhead, I'm thinking this will be in the shade most of the day.  Look at those hostas behind it:  they don't seem to be drying out/burning out in the sun.  So, I'm thinking we're safe. In the past, these ferns have multiplied pretty rapidly.  I would have one set of shoots come up and by the end of the season, there'd be two or three more.  Planting this one in mid-May, I

Over the weekend, we stopped by the Crestview Garden Club Annual Plant Sale on St. Charles Road by York High School and despite the weather (it was cold!) we wandered through the selection and picked out a few plants. I wrote about the same plant sale three years ago here on the blog . This time, shopping was a little different because we don't have our own house right now.  So...we were there to buy some plants, but with a mind of either planting them to add something to my sister's yard or something that we can plant in Nat's Mom's garden with the hope of being able to transplant them next year or beyond. I went there seeking out a fern that I could plant here in Elmhurst and came away with two ferns:  one for my sister's yard (the one on the right) and one that we'll plant in Naperville (on the left).  The one on the right is listed as a ' Cinnamon Fern '.  Which...I think I've confused with Ostrich Ferns !  This is a pretty profound mom

Last week, I posted about the giant hostas that we transplanted over at Nat's parents' house during our move and mentioned that we also moved a few other items at the same time.  One of them is pictured above peeking out of the mulch:  my ostrich ferns. I dug up a few of these clumps of ferns and brought them over late last summer and Nat's mom found a nice shady spot for them to hang out.  I've split up these ferns in the past and had given a few to Nat's mom in the past, so having these come back and survive wasn't our top priority because I knew that we could always split up some of hers. But...when we were over there recently, I spotted the little green parts starting to poke through.   Here's a bunch of the posts about these same ferns over the years here on the blog and you can see how they kind of un-curl as they grow.   These things spread out and multiplied like crazy for me at 274, but how we got them is an interesting story.  Either the ol

Here's a look at one of the masses of Ostrich Ferns that are curling up and through the mulch.  They're finally and firmly established in their new spot in the beds. Here's what they looked like in 2013 .  And this photo from 2012 shows how many of them there were/are when you pull back. These have quickly turned into my favorite plant in the entire yard/garden.  They started out with a leftover fern in the far back corner of our yard that I *think* crept over from our neighbor's yard.  He has some ferns over there, so I'm not sure which sprouted which.  Ours gave him his.  Or his gave us ours? Either way, I took one of the ferns from the back corner and transplanted it in the middle part of our beds.  They've quickly flourished there.  So much so, that I was able to split a few of the heads of these guys and added them to the north side of our yard and even gave a few to my mother-in-law. Here's some of my post from 2012 that talks about what a

See those green things popping through the mulch?  Those are my favorite plants in the whole yard:  our ostrich ferns.  What started as some left-overs from when the Wicked Witch moved out of our house and took with her what she thought was ALL of the perennials, became a few hostas and two of these ferns.  They're multipliers, so we now have about eight bunches of them and I've even managed to give one away. They've quickly become my favorite plant in the garden and I can't wait for them to spread out even further.

I've been drawn to ferns for as long as I can remember.  Perhaps it started with my mother and her ability to craft a shade garden.  We grew up on a heavily wooded lot that saw little direct sunlight.  That didn't stop her from going crazy with hostas.  They grow great in the shade and as a perennial, come back every year.  Things couldn't be easier. When we bought our hose, the wicked old lady who owned it before us, dug up all of her plants and took them with her when she left.  I wasn't happy at the time as there were quite a few peonies and hostas that were mature and we saw during our inspection.  But, thinking back, that harvesting of her plants turned out to be a good thing.  We basically got to start over.  We re-dug and edged new beds.  We put down mulch where there wasn't any mulch.  And, we planted new stuff that *we* liked (and....that was usually on sale at Menards or Home Depot.) But, in the back corner of our lot, right next to our neighbor'

This is a (basically) abandoned house a few blocks away that is right next to my sister's house.  Nice little shade garden.