Why I Oughta...

I've written about my list of 'favorite plants'.  I started as a shade gardener on our current property which meant foliage gardening.  I've evolved in my tastes over the years and have come to appreciate a list of plants that work in our garden.   My list (right now) looks something like this:  Ferns (Autumn, Ghost, Japanese Painted, Godzilla, etc), Flowering Perennials (Nepeta Cat's Pajamas and Chartreuse on the Loose), Foliage Perennials  ( Alchemilla Lady's Mantle , Shredded Umbrella Plant), Groundcover (Ajuga and Carex) and Grasses (Hakonechloa, Seslaria Autumnalis, Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses).   That last one - Karl Foerster Grasses - were some of my very first grasses planted here in Downers.  And, over the years, I've divided them and spread them around.   They put on a really lovely show and are in particularly fine form in mid/late June.  I've written about "peak form" on Karl Foerster Grasses in June 2022 her...

The best 'show' yet has taken place this past weekend on our Saucer Magnolia tree with pink and white blooms all over the tree that was planted in 2017.  It was REALLY SHOWY this year and it doesn't appear that we lost hardly any flower buds at all this Winter - which....was super mild cold-wise.   The tree - in the photo below - really put on some mass the past few growing seasons and now stands out in the front yard and even obscures some of the house from the sidewalk as you walk by in Spring.  This will leaf-out soon, but for a few days (from April 13 --> April 17), this thing was P E A K.  Also...that dark green lawn looks pretty great this time of year, too.  

Early Sumer is peak Sweetspire season.  We have a trio of Little Henry Sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Sprich') planted in a little border by our front walk.  I posted a VERY SIMILAR photo almost exactly one-year-ago when these were in bloom in June 2021 .   Below, you can see the peak bloom season for these flowering shrubs.  And, you'll also see the Saratoga Ginko that we planted last month peeking out in the middle . Last year, I applied some fast-acting iron to help darken these up and if I have that bag on hand, I'll do the same this week.  These were planted in 2017 as part of our pre-move-in landscape planting.  That means they've had five growing season with 2022 being the sixth.