Why I Oughta...

Last Spring, while the world was pretty well shut down, The Growing Place nursery got creative and held a 'drive thru' shopping experience.  You couldn't get out of your cars, but you could drive thru the areas with the plants, shout out to the staff who would grab something for you and toss it in your trunk.  We ended up buying a few things that were part of our plan (Summer Beauty Allium) and some that weren't ( Harry Lauder's Walking Stick contorted tree ), but were things we wanted.  One of the other items we bought was our first Lenten Rose (or Hellebores).  We picked a Sally's Shell and planted it in Spring .  It was flowering when we bought it and I was careful to watch it all Summer. Notice, I said "a" Sally's Shell.  Which, upon reflection, is a very common gardening mistake:  buying just one of something .   Our plan has a couple of spots that call for drifts of Hellebores - and one of them is this season's "Priority Area #2&quo

 Last year, I planted (in two sets) twelve Summer Beauty Ornamental Onion (Allium) on the south side of our backyard in two different spots.  First, I put in four underneath one of the Espalier'd Lindens , then seven more further down (and one more by the Lindens) all in a cluster that will, hopefully, grow up and out into a nice drift of alliums.  This is my first Spring with them and I'm happy to see that they're showing a lot of nice, new green growth coming out of the ground and seem to be one of the first movers of the season.   My count shows that all twelve are (right now) showing signs of life, so I'm thinking they all are coming back.   I threw down some wood chips on top of these to shelter them from the cold last Fall and I'm thinking these might have helped in some way.  But, they sure take on a messy look once Spring comes, don't they?  Have a look at three of these Allium covered with Fall wood chips below.  These need a new, fresh coat of hardwoo

Last Fall, we went NUTS at the Morton Arboretum Fall plant sale.  Bought all sorts of stuff - some that made sense, some that didn't - base don our plan and priorities.   And, some of the decisions kind of landed in the middle.  They sorta made sense.  But sorta didn't.  One of THOSE was the trio of Twinkle Toes Lungworts that we bought and planted on the south side of the property .   Buying those didn't make sense because they're NOT in our plan.   But, buying them *did* make sense because of a few things:  they're blue.  And they grow and flower in deep shade - which we have tons of - and they flower in Spring - after Hellebores and before annual flowers show off.   After planting them, I mulched them initially with some wood chips and then left them alone.   There's some good news - in that it seems that all three are back this Spring.  Here's the little bit of green foliage that has emerged from the base of these plants: You can see the fuzz on the dea

This is the third in a series of four posts based on the garden things that Nat brought home from Costco recently. The first one was a set of Frances Williams hosts for the backyard .  The second was two packs of Bressingham Blue hostas that are destined, too, for the backyard.   3rd post.  first two hostas.  Today is another shade-loving perennial that pairs well with hostas that we got started with last season.     And that would be astilbes.  Here's the bag of six Gloria Purpurea Astilbes (below): And, here's the back of the package showing a 20" spacing requirement and saying they get about 24" tall.   As I mentioned earlier, we started with Astilbes last year - buying 12 of them and planting them in June .  Timing was off and some of them suffered some transplant and drought stress, so I'm not certain how many made it, but it isn't all twelve. The area where we planted them - on the southside in front of some new Oak Leaf Hydrangeas - calls for 15 of t

I mentioned in yesterday's post about the new set of two-toned Frances Williams hostas that Nat also brought home some other shade-loving plants from her trip to Costco.  The next set are also hostas, but this time there are two bags of them and they're blue.  Officially: 18 Bressingham Blue hostas. Here, below, is a look at the back of one of the bags that details 40" spacing and hardiness (down to Zone 3). It turns out, I've bought these before and have some of them in the yard.  But, I'm not sure, exactly.  In 2018, I bought a (then) 10 pack of them and stuck them in the ground somewhere and didn't document the locations.  Having good photos of mature Bressingham Blues now (thanks to this bag), I'll have a look around late Spring and see if I can pick any out.  I'm thinking that they went in on the north side of the house, but will effort to identify them. Back to what these are.... The Chicago Botanical Garden has a page up about Bressingham Blue

Last year, I added five Guacamole hostas to our backyard - three larger ones, two smaller ones.  In two different spots .  The plan that we're working from calls for Guacamole hostas in a couple of different spots including in what I've called "Priority Area #2" for 2021 - this woodland garden section .  Here's a look at part of that section that highlights the hostas.  Green = what I planted last year.  Yellow = what is remaining. In terms of cultivar, Guacamole Hostas have a lovely color that resembles...you guessed it...guacamole. It has margins on it and is a two-toned green.   And, 'tis the season for impulse buys, right?  Well, Nat was at Costco recently where they're selling packages of perennials like hostas and other-what-have-yous and, well, I couldn't help myself.  She sent some photos and I ended up pulling the trigger on a different variety that I think will complement the trio of Guacamole hostas.   Say hello to Frances Williams Hostas. I

Last year, I planted one (yes, I know, I know...it was a mistake to buy *just* one) Lenten Rose (or Hellebores) in our backyard that we picked up at The Growing Place .  It is a cultivar called Sally's Shell and it was in flower when we bought it , but quickly planted it in the backyard right where the plan called for a series of them in what I've called the 2021 Priority Area #2 .  That area calls for ten (10) of them, so I have some more to buy to get close to that coverage this year.   But, before I turn to adding MORE this year, I wanted to figure out how it weathered the Winter.  And, it didn't take me long to identify this beauty as you an see a purple-ish ball of foliage that has emerged from the mulch/wood chips - that you can see below: Stepping back a little bit, you can see (below) how it sort of just fades into the wood chips, but there are some of the stems and leaves that survived the Winter associated with the little purple package in the middle.   This is in

 This is the first season of this trio of Amber Queen Epimedium (Barrenwort) in our yard.  I planted it late this season - in September - and mulched it in ahead of winter with wood chips.  The grouping is just to the west of our largest Catalpa tree and with the wood chip mulch, I feel like I've protected these as best as I can before their long winter's nap that is coming. Here, below, is what they're looking like in early November: I'm quite hopeful that they'll do ok this Winter as they've shown NO SIGNS of stress after being planted.  They haven't shown much in terms of growth, but I'm thinking that they're satisfied in terms of water as they prepare to head to dormancy.  Fingers crossed that come Spring, we'll have three come back and put on their first yellow-flower-show in the Spring.

 Last month, I bought a series of Coral Bells (Dolche Cherry Truffles) from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale and planted them in a brand new bed that I established this Fall to the north of our driveway.  Some of them are pretty close (within two feet) of our property line.  How are they faring?  Some of them are showing some new growth and seem to have navigated the transplant shock.  You can see that new growth below:  But others?  The two that are closest to the property line were trampled by the guys doing the driveway concrete.  Here's one - below - that I think might recover.  But, here's another that has no leaves left on it.  I put the yellow stakes and sprinkler spike next to these the day after they installed the driveway so the guys could see where they were stepping.   This bed is (currently) mulched in wood chips , but it needs a layer of real mulch laid on top. Since it is in the front yard, you know what that means?  Cocoa bean hull mulch .  To match the res

Back in late September, I posted some photos and details of three Twinkle Toes Lungwort plants that I bought at the Fall Plant Sale .  These are pretty interesting plants in that they have hairy foliage, are variegated and throw off blue flowers.  All while being shade plants.  I got around to planting them in a mass right to the yard-side of the Dwarf Albert Spruce tree - that is having some stress right now.   You can see them below:   I'm going to keep watering these in every few days to try to help them get established and hope that they'll stick around come next Spring.  ( Note:  I labeled this planting in September, yet the date of the post is October. )

This post is about the 10th variety or cultivar of plants/trees that we bought at the Morton Arobretum Fall Plant Sale .  At the very bottom of this post, you can see a list of all ten of them - including one tree, two varieties of grasses and a some shade-tolerant plants.  That list now includes another shade-tolerant plant called Amber Queen Barrenwort.   This is an Epimedium - the first we have in our garden - that is described at Walter's Garden like this : A dazzling unique Epimedium that will catch your eye-it certainly caught ours! Epimediums are uncommon in the market and in high demand. The airy, delicate-looking flowers have bright yellow spurs with orange-red centers, looking light orange from a distance. Flowers are produced along the length of the flower stems, which are up to 24" long. Bright green leaves have a blush red color close to the crown. ...Epimedium are one of the few plants capable of surviving in dry shade. Although slow to establish, mature plants

 The sixth variety of plants that we bought at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale is a set of five Coral Bells.  Specifically, DOLCE Cherry Truffles Coral Bells.  These aren't the FIRST Coral Bells that we have in our landscape as I planted one (not sure of the cultivar) in a container in 2019 and transplanted into a foundation bed in the Fall.   By August of 2020 (a little bit over a year ago), I checked in on the plant and it seemed to be doing well.    In that post , I mentioned that the best practice is to divide these things every three to five years.  2019 = year one, 2020 = year two.  Next year is year three.  Come Spring, I'll take a shot at dividing it.   Here - below - is the sign for this variety - DOLCE Cherry Truffles Coral Bells from the plant sale. The description reads: Beautiful bright red, heavily ruffled leaves form a low, mounding habit.  In Summer, the bright color persists, maturing to a rich mahogany red.  Dark burgundy stems hold light pink flowers and da

The next up in my purchase(s) at the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale is one of these Chocoholic Black Snakeroot (Actacea 'Chocoholic' ).    The sign from the sale is below, but for the short-hand reason for why I bought it?  It flowers in Full Shade.  And, like it or not, I'm a shade gardener.   This snakeroot grows to 4-5' tall and a three-to-four foot spread.   The description from the sign reads: Bronze purple foliage is a welcome addition to the shade garden.  Rich mauve-pink flowers lighten to white as they age.  Forms a dense, upright clump.   Below is a photo of the full plant showing the current height and clump size.   I haven't thought about Snakeroot before, but when I saw this one flowering, I couldn't pass it up.   The ball-like flower buds have started to explode into white flowers.    The Chocoholic Version is one of many versions of Snakeroot.  Walter's Garden thinks highly of this cultivar : This lovely native cultivar adds wonderful textur

Back in the end of June, I planted eight additional Summer Beauty Ornament Onion (allium) on the south side of our property in the bed that runs from east to west.  We picked them up (or...had someone picked them up) from Hinsdale Nursery and I put seven of them in a staggered planting.  When they went in, they were just green foliage, but today - if you look at the photo at the top of this post - you'll notice that they're all flowering some lovely purple sphere-shaped flowers.  Each of them have multiple flowers, but ALL of them are leaning to the East.  Looking at this photo, one thing that I'm noticing is that the mulch that I put down (delivered in mid-April this year) has already broken down quite a bit.  This area - and these Allium could use a mulch refresh.  That leads me to ask a question:  do gardeners mulch twice a year?  This post recommends both a Spring and Fall mulch ?  You should add mulch whenever layers thin out for any reason. You’ll also want

The pair of Limelight Hydrangeas that sit to the south of our front porch are just about hitting their stride this season.  They're tolerating the heat and are presenting a pleasant shape and nice color. This pair has consistently performed the best of *any* of our originally installed landscaping.  I've tried to keep tabs on these over time here in the garden diary. One year and one month ago (Early Summer 2019) - They were just getting started for the season. October of 2019 - they bloomed and were drying out.  And just 45 days ago - getting started on the growing season. This pair has put off some HUGE blooms the past few years and I've tried to tend to them with some late Winter pruning in an attempt to give them some shape.  You'll also notice some rocks on the left of the photo.  Those are new this season and were placed there to try to control some erosion as there is a downspout pop-up located in this bed.  That plentiful source of runoff water m

I don't seem to have posted about these yellow perennials in our front yard, despite them being planted before we moved into our new house back in 2017.  We started with three.  All of them didn't make it that first year and were replaced.  Today?  Just one of those replacements is still alive.  The rest of them - which are situated underneath the large Maple tree - haven't come back.  The oldest post I can find that shows these is this one from 2018 when I can see two of the replacements still alive.  That Maple tree - which provides some shade for this remaining Bottle Rocket Spike Ligularia is the same one that I posted about having some stress in the canopy .  I also think have a theory that the Maple tree is competing for resources with everything within it's dripline and that's one of the reasons these Ligularia haven't fared well.  I've haven't posted any of these in the Garden Diary, but I did mention them in some of my backyard plannin

This photo above shows seven new Summer Beauty Ornamental Onions (Alliums) that I planted just to the West of the Fanal Astilbe border .  I planted eight total with one other new one joining the previous four that I planted earlier this Summer .  These eight (well...7 + 1) are part of " Priority Area #1 " that I wanted to plant this year that called for 12 total.    I planted these about mid-way back in the bed with the thought that I could - maybe next year - supplement these with a border (closer to the edge of the bed) of annuals in front of the Allium.  If you zoom in SUPER close to the photo above, you'll see that there appear to be some flower buds that have shot up in the middle of the clump.  So, I'm thinking that we'll get *some* flowers this first growing season.  Have a look at the red arrows for the 'curl'ing up' flower buds that are emerging:

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some photos of a series of Oakleaf Hydrangeas that I planted in "priority area #1" - that included both traditional and a pair of "Munchkin" variety.  I've been trying to get these plants to get over their transplant shock by watering them pretty frequently.  And now, we've been rewarded with some year-one flowers on both of the Munchkins.  You can see one of them in the photo above - that shows off a series of flowers. And below, is a close-up of the other one - further to the West - of the flowers that are opening.  They're a really nice lime color right now that ( based on the nursery tags ) are likely to be turning a bright white. With the heat of the Summer coming on - coupled with some travel to Wisconsin - I'm thinking that I'll have to add a new soaker hose to these along with a timer to make sure they don't take a step backwards.

This is an early June look at a pair of hydrangeas - on the left is the smaller Everlasting Revolution Hydrangea.  And on the right is our Tuff Stuff Hydrangea.  At the bottom of the photo are a couple of still-nursery-potted Fanal Astibles that I put on the soaker hose to keep from drying out. The last time I posted a photo of these two hydrangea was last September (2019) , when they were still green and happy.  They did NOT flower last year.  In terms of size, the Tuff Stuff is/was bigger in September - after a full season of growing - but not by much.  So, I'm hopeful that we'll see that one continue to grow up. Before that, I posted a photo of these two in August of 2018 . And right about two years ago, I posted photos of both the Everlasting Revolution (it was barely green) and the Tuff Stuff (has always been *ahead*).  They were planted in October of 2017 and were shipped to us by Nat's Mom as an anniversary gift.  They were small . That means, we had the

My top backyard priority was to get the southern fenceline planted with a series of new perennials.  Back in February, I called it "Priority Area #1" and showed a schematic of what would go where.  You can go back to that post and see a photo with a sketch on top of it showing a "head-on" look at the area.  Below, you can see a portion of the landscape plan that was developed that shows the plantings here.  You'll note that it calls for bookend'd Summer Beauty Alliums, a series of Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas and a strip of Fanal Astilbe up front.  On the far right, you'll also see the esaplier'd Lindens and they show something as "Existing", but I don't know what that is because there really wasn't anything in that spot when we built the house. That part of the plan calls for: 15 Fanal Astilbe 12 Summer Beauty Allium 7 Oakleaf Hydrangea I also posted about how I wanted to add a larger Canadian Hemlock tree or another co