Why I Oughta...

We have just ONE hellebores in our garden - bought during the height of COVID during a 'drive-thru' trip to the Growing Place.  Our plan calls for a couple of areas with MULTIPLE (like 10) Hellebores (or Lenten Roses) , but alas...we have just one.  And, yes... I (now) am aware that buying just ONE of any plant is a mistake, but I didn't know that then .  The problem (then AND now) is that Hellebores aren't cheap.  They're $20 to $30 a piece.  When I need 20 or so, that's a big budget number.  So, I'm going to say *that's* why I have just one (for now).   That one that we DO have in our garden is called a Sally's Shell.  Planted in May of 2020 .   In early March (9th), it was beginning to emerge from the ground .  And...  It bloomed for the first time last Spring in late March .   This year, that schedule has shifted back just a bit.  This is mid-March and it still looks like it is *just* emerging from the ground.  If you look at the photos below, yo

I was reading this post about what Margaret Roach from A Way To Garden includes in her September gardening chores each year and I was struck by one item:  she takes an inventory of late-blooming perennials as part of her critical look at the garden .  That made me pause.  And think about my garden.  And...what's in bloom?  The answer:  nothing. We're just BARELY holding on in lots of places.  But, not blooming.   Her post talks about thalictrums among others - that (now) have my interest.  One that wasn't mentioned was something that I, frankly, was unaware of until this past weekend.  I was also at Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin recently and came across this pink flowering perennial named Pink Turtlehead - Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips' that I *SHOULD* have bought when we were there.  Alas, I passed on them because I didn't know where to put them in our garden.  This is a late-blooming perennial that has the added bonus of being able to tolerate a little

I bought a bunch of All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses - Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' last Fall and then bought a few more this Spring - both times at the Morton Arboretum plant sale.   I planted six in the back and then after extending my beds dug many of them up and transplanted some to new spots .    After a Spring drought and a tough Summer, below is what this area looks like now.  The front row has six (photo only shows five) and back row now has just two.  Here, below, is a similar shot showing all nine back in May .  Green circles are the grasses.  I transplanted the back three closer it seems. The one that is dead?  (or in severe decline). The back row, furthest to the left.   See below - the red circle shows the placement.  What's the grass look like in that circle?  This - below.  Just one tiny shoot.  I'll baby it, but I think this thing is gone. I have another one of these out front that hasn't really sprung up too much.  For now, I'm calling these thi

Yesterday, I posted a [plant dreaming] post about a 'stunning' Hosta:  Brother Stefan - that I came across at the local nursery.  Today, I'm sharing another plant that found on that same shopping trip that has some congruency to the Brother Stefan hosta.  First...like hostas, I *have* a few different cultivars of this plant.  And second, it is a show-boat when it comes to foliage.  I'm talking about Epimedium wushanense 'Sandy Claws'.  Here, below, are a couple of photos from the plants at The Growing Place.  First, the foliage.  And second, the sign.  I have five (currently) Epimedium Amber Queen(s) planted already - hence thinking about this particular sport as a new (potential) addition.  I put in three last Fall and two this Spring and - so far - they're pretty slow to grow.  They're about the same size as they were when I put them in.  And, based on what I've read, that's pretty normal.  They are 'slow to establish' plants.   If yo

Nine months ago, when our yard and garden had gone dormant, I posted a 'plant dreaming' post about Toad Lilies that Erin, the Impatient Gardener had introduced me to via her Instagram handle.  "You should know Toad Lilies" she wrote.    I included a mention of Toad Lilies in my 2021 to-do list (#18) and came across them earlier this Spring at Hinsdale Nursery.   In early June, I had three of them on hand and planted them in the far back - behind the new fire pit area .  I've watered them in a little bit, but I'll say that they seem to be doing just fine without being baby'd.  Here, below, are a couple of photos of the trio.  First, you can see the variegated edge on all of them is really bright and clear.  Love that.  What's interesting is that the photo at Hinsdale Nursery shows a white edge , whereas ours are much more lime green.   I spaced these three out in a little cluster as I understand they'll sort of naturally colonize.   Below is anoth

I've talked about this before, but mid-Summer 50% off perennial sales are my love language.  That kind of sale typically happens at the big box stores garden centers, but it seems random based on the department manager.  Even at Home Depot - which we have three that I shop from regularly and a fourth that I pop into when I'm going to my parents - I've noticed that some stores do sales differently.  I'm talking hand-written signs vs the normal printed signs that you normally see.   When I come across a hand-written sale sign, I glom on to the stuff.    But, I also was turned on to a whole new thing recently:  Lowes.  We don't have a Lowes close to us, but I took the kids to a batting cage in a town a few over on a recent weekend and discovered that the cages/mini golf place is right behind a huge Lowes.  So, I went in, of course.  And I was surprised.  A step up from Menards, for sure.  The plant material was (mostly) taken care of and not all dried out.  They had a

Last year, I planted a couple of drifts of Allium angulosum 'Summer Beauty' and I've been really happy with them in our backyard.  I posted recently a look at both sets here .  Over the course of the past few months, I've been looking at them and reading about various hybrids including Millenium.  I think it was on YouTube where someone introduced me to Allium 'Serendipity' and called it "strap-y".  That descriptor stuck with me, so when I came across a trio of these on a big discount this Summer, I plop'd them in my cart and brought them home.  3 for $9.99 for 1# perennials is my love language. I put the three in different, various spots in the backyard and left them there to consider.  Each place I wasn't happy.  They'd work there.  But they weren't right.  I tried maybe four of five spots to place this cluster of three.  The tag lists this as 'FULL Sun/part Shade', so it gave me more options than I normally have with our bac

Mid-July is when the big box stores start to put some of their perennials on 50% off sales.  They have their trees and shrubs that have been picked over out on pallets with big 50% off signs, but they also begin to put some of the perennials inside the garden center, including shade plants on discounts, too.  On one of my trips to one of the Home Depots near us, I found some of these Jack of Diamonds' Brunnera in 1# nursery pots from Proven Winners that were marked down 66% - making them three for the price of one.   These are the second set of Brunnera that we now have in the yard with the first ones (a trio of three) were these Queen of Hearts ones that I planted in June of this year in the shade of our backyard .  These are new to me this year, but were on the list that Laura from Garden Answer published of her favorite shade perennials.   The Queen of Hearts Brunnera are planted in a border mixed with some hostas and they've done well this first year.  The leaves are getti

Last Summer, I planted a series of seven Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas .  Two dwarf versions and five normal ones.  These were contemplated as part of our existing landscape plan and I planted them along the fence on the southside in the bed closest to the kitchen nook window.   Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas are officially named Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice' (thanks Roy Diblik) is described by NC State Extension office as a shrub that puts on a white flower show that fade to pink.  From their post : Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Alice' is an erect rounded decidous shrub with showy white flowers that appear in early to mid-summer. As the flowers age they fade to pink. This shrub will reach a height of 5 to 8 feet tall and wide at maturity. Plant 'Alice' in the full sun to partial shade in moist well-drained soil. Mulch this plant in the summer to conserve soil moisture.   Like all hydrangeas, it needs to be pruned immediately after flowering as flower buds are produced on sec

We have twelve clumps of Summer Beauty Allium ( Allium angulosum 'Summer Beauty' ) in our backyard that were planted in 2020.  In two batches:  first a group of four , then eight more .  They're now placed in a colony of five and a colony of seven.  Odd numbers is what other gardeners always recommend. All of them have done well this year and I'm happy to see them about to burst open and put on their mid-Summer show.  They disappear over Winter, but put out this lovely dark green foliage that stays green at the tips.  Here's a look at them emerging from the mulch in late March of this year .   The drift of five is planted at the base of the Greenspire Linden horizontal cordon espalier - you can see them below.  The photo looks like there is four, but there's one behind #3 (from the left) in the back row against the fence.  Head here and scroll to the bottom of the post to see the original four plantings with one kind of 'behind' the others.  In the pho

 At the beginning of June, I posted a photo of the newly transplanted "Indiana Street Iris" that I received from my Sister Vic via her next door neighbor Wes and Suzie.  I'm calling it my Indiana Street Iris since it hails from Indiana Street.  After getting it in the ground, it surprised me by blooming pretty quickly - and you can see this purple bloom on the Iris in very early June - see the photo below:

The photo you see above shows a trio of Brunnera Queen of Hearts planted in the north side rear bed surrounded by some transplanted hostas in a sort of 'ring' or 'hoop' shape.  How these Brunnera got to my yard is a story about YouTube gardening and the influence of creators like Laura @ Garden Answer.   A few weeks ago, I watched this video where she talked about 15 perennials that every garden should have that included a mention of Brunnera .  So, it was suddenly on my radar.  And, when I found myself at Home Depot on a recent visit where I came across this Queen of Hearts cultivar, I grabbed three of them and knew where I'd plant them - despite them NOT being in our plan.  Here, below, is a look at the tag from the Proven Winners version and what it looked like in the nursery container: As I mentioned above, the plan doesn't CALL for these, but this area is what I called Priority Area #2 from this year - the woodland area.  These are now to the east of the n

A year ago, I planted twelve Fanal Astilbes in the backyard - in the south bed - according to the placement spec'd by our landscape plan.  They suffered some transplant shock and had a tough go of it for the first month or so.   I baby'd them for the rest of the Summer in hopes that they'd come back this Spring.  By April of 2021, I was starting to see them come back and emerge from their dormancy .  I knew that I planted these in the wrong spot, so when I expanded the new backyard beds, all twelve of these needed to be transplanted out closer to the border in May of this year .  I've been watering this area in pretty good this Summer because there are a series of things that have been transplanted (these + the Oakleaf Hydrangeas) and some new items ( Butterscotch Amsonia that I planted in May, too ). And, all that watering has paid off with these Fanal Astilbes as many of them have come up big and bold with red flowers and quite a bit of foliage.  See the photos below

Last Fall, I bought my first ruffled hosta - a Waterslide Hosta - from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale.  At that time, I hadn't really come across ruffled hostas, but was struck by this one.  Unfortunately, I made a very common gardening mistake ; I bought just one of them. I planted it in the canopy of the Japanese Kanzan Flowering Cherry tree and the green foliage lasted a few weeks before going into dormancy for Winter.  This Spring, this Waterslide Hosta has come back and is quite healthy and full.  This growing season, I've had my eyes on finding a few more of this cultivar, but so far no such luck.  The Morton Arboretum Spring Plant Sale was sold out.  And I haven't seen them at various growing centers.  There are LOTS of Whee hostas (which are VERY similar, but not quite the same) at Home Depot, but so far, I've resisted buying those.  I'd like to add a few more of these to a drift or ruffled hosta colony. In terms of hosta cultivars, here's what I

Yesterday, I got started planting.  With the big Elephant Ears bulbs that I tucked into some containers and a trial in a bed.   Today, I'm posting about how I made my first move with the bare root perennials from Costco - planting some of the Bresshingham Blue hostas .   In that post from March, I wondered where to put all of the hostas. Here (below) are a few of the places that I mentioned back in March of places I could tuck them in.  And...called out with the red arrow - where I started my planting this year:  on the corner of the screened porch:  Our plan calls for Blue Hostas (Hadspens) paired here on the corner of the house: Here (in the photo below) are the tips of the two bareroot hostas that I tucked in around the drain pipe below.  I'll keep an eye on these to see if they mature enough this year to put on a show:

Last Summer, we bought and planted a dozen Fanal Astilbe #1 containers in the south bed of our backyard .  They immediately struggled as we went up to Wisconsin and they dried out.   When we got back, I baby'd them with a brand new soaker hose and hoped for the best that they'd all come back.  Well, this Spring, I'm seeing some good news:  All twelve are back.  Some are more vigorous than others.  But, they're all showing some purple/maroon little growth coming from the mulch. I've mentioned this before, but one of the projects that I have slated for this Spring is to set the final edges of our backyard beds in a curvilinear layout .  A month or so ago, I laid out what I called the "Order of Operations" with the backyard that details the steps that I intend to take: remove the wire (done), extend beds, transplant, clean up, plant new stuff, mulch, and lay down the wire again. As part of the 'extend the beds' project, I wanted to be sure that the c

This post is another in the series of documenting the Spring re-emergence of the various plants that I bought at last Fall's Morton Arboretum Plant Sale.  I first shared photos of the trio of Twinkle Toes Lungwort that emerged first in mid-March.  Yesterday, I posted some photos of the Chocoholic Black Snakeroot that has some lovely lacy leaves that are standing on top of purple stems in this first Spring.   Today, I'm posting a photo (below) about the All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses that I planted in the backyard around the Tree Swing Oak tree.  Formally named Hakonechloa macra "All Gold", there are six of these planted (mostly) in a drift between the tree and the fenceline interplanted with some hostas. Here's one of them peeking thru the mulch (and the wood chips that I added in late Fall): In the photo below, you can see where these six are planted - currently mixed in with some of the tulip bulbs that I planted last Fall. It is hard to tell (exactly) wher

One of the many plants that I bought at last Fall's plant sale at the Morton Arboretum was one (yes...I know.... it was a mistake to buy just one ) of these Chocoholic Black Snakeroot plants .  It is a shade plant and gets between four and five feet tall and 2.5' to 3' wide.  So, I planted it in a spot near the fence, thinking it could be one of the 'back' pieces of a layer puzzle where our plan calls for some shade-oriented hydrangeas.  Last fall, it has these beautiful white flowers on some long stalks, so I was hopeful when I bought it that it would add some new drama to this side of the yard.   Well, this Spring brings good news that this plant has come back for the first full season.  That makes the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale plants 2-for-2.  The Twinkle Toes Lungwort popped up a couple weeks ago and today, it is even flowering.  Note to self:  I should take some current photos.   Here's what the Chocoholic Black Snakeroot looks like today below.  Some pu