Why I Oughta...

I recently came across some #1 Hicks Yews on a massive sale (these were sub $5 each), so I grabbed seven of them (and some other items) you can see below.  These seven join the other ones that I already have in as a hedge across the back and the recently planted pair that I'm trying to grow into a topiary .  I've had good luck with all of the previously planted Hicks upright yews not having too much trouble with drought, but they've had a little bit of rabbit damage over the years. I took six of these upright yews and put them into a hedge that will span the back of this bed to the front and - when it grows - will be shaped into that 'swooping' profile that I'm chasing .  My thought is that this new section of swooping hedge will evoke the same feeling as the one in back and work to tie the garden together by repeating the look with upright yews.  Here, below, you can see some of the yews set up for placement below: For record-keeping purposes, here (below) is t...

 I bought a total of eleven All Gold Japanese Grasses from the Fall Plant Sale and put them in the ground in two locations with the aim of making two distinct masses of these grasses.  I put five in the front yard - and I'll post about that shortly.  And, I put six in the ground in the backyard - in between the largest Flowering Pear tree and the 31" Red Oak Tree on the north side.  These are in 'front' of the Apple Tree Belgian Fence .  You can see that location in the photo below: The grasses might be hard to pick out, so below, you can find an annotated version of that photo showing the location of these six grasses interplanted with some hostas and our lone Azalea.  This is a brand new - this year - bed.  You can see it as bare mulch here .   I supplemented the soil around these six with a couple of bags of composted manure to try to enrich the soil and give the grasses a good headstart.  I'm going to water these in every few days t...

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, matu...

We have no blue flowering plants in our yard - so when we came across a full shade, blue-flowering perennial at the Fall Plant Sale - Nat said that we had to buy them.  These are NOT on my plan, but since they're Full Shade, they can go just about anywhere.   We bought three of these (and one more for Nat's Mom) for our backyard.   Walter's Garden describes these as being complimentary to hostas and ferns:  This beautiful shade perennial will make you dance with its impressive spring flowers and unique foliage. Starting in mid-spring shortly after Hellebores are finished booming, dainty light periwinkle blue flowers cover a low, mounded habit. After the flowers fade, you can enjoy its dark green leaves that are lightly sprinkled with silver. This plant will thrive in part shade to full shade as long as you provide moisture. Pulmonaria is an underused perennial that grows well in shady gardens. It is especially attractive when planted among hostas, ferns, a...

Yesterday,  I posted about the purchase of a Red Fox Katsura tree from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale and talked about how it has a columnar habit and purple-ish leaves that turn green as they mature.  This is the 52nd tree that I've now planted on our property and the 17th of the year - matching the high-water mark of 2018 when I planted 17 trees, too.   This tree is VERY thin.  Like, VERY thin.  I was told it is a two-year old tree and has very little limb activity going on.  The top of it is so tall and thin that it is now drooping over in what you would think was a weeping habit.    Here, below, is a photo showing the tree with the top weeping over and the one branch that exists.  I dug a nice hole, removed the clay with the post-hole-digger and heavily amended the soil with composted manure.  I need to buy some bamboo and straighten out the top.   Below is the tag that shows the height (40-60') and spread (25-4...

At the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale, they had a series of trees for sale including some shade and fruit trees as well as large trees and 'understory trees'.  You know that I can't go to a nursery with a tree sale and not come home with a tree for our yard.  I couldn't decide what tree to buy (I was considering an Ironwood tree), but I asked the staff at the Arboretum which tree they liked the best and BOTH of the arborists that I asked pointed me toward a set of trees that had the fewest there.  There were just three of these Red Fox Katsura trees, but both arborists told me that this was the tree that they'd bring home.  You can see the price above ($24), so it isn't a budget buster. The description from the sign reads:   A purple-leaved selection of the Katsura tree, this specimen has a narrow upright, columnar growth habit and is relatively low maintenance.   Columnar?  Check.  Red?  Check.  And, turns out...it is Japane...

This is the seventh in the series of plant varieties that came home from the Morton Arobretum Fall Plant sale from last week.  The previous six - including some Japanese grasses, coral bells, a couple of hostas and some other shade plants can be found at the bottom of this post.  I bought these bright Evercolor Sedges based on the recommendation of the staff at the Arboretum.   From the sign at the top of this post, they describe these as having a 10-12" height and 16-24" spread.  But, also, they call out Full Shade - which is a key for me.  The rest of the description reads: Leaf blades are long, thin and arching, with a golden yellow hue.  Adds a burst of color to garden beds, borders and containers.  Mounding habit adds texture to many garden areas, especially when mass planted.  Best color in locations with morning sun.  Below is a photo of the front and the back of the plant tag - where they call this out as a Japanese Sedge.  ...

 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 ...

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...

One of the plants that I've been chasing for a while is a Japanese grass.  I posted a 'dreaming post' back in January of this year featuring something called "All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses ".  I wasn't the only one in our house that has had a little bit of plant lust as Natalie had snapped a photo of a neighbor close to Randall Park that has grasses in their yard and she said:  "I like these" when she texted me the photo.  So, imagine my delight when I went to the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale and came across a bunch of these All Gold Grass - Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold'.   The sign you can see below carries this description: A vigorously growing, all gold version of the Hakone grass.  A cascading habit makes it perfect for the landscape or container.  Spreads slowly through rhizomes.   I ended up buying quite a few of these and have plans to put them in both our front (side) yard and the backyard.   Here's what one of th...

The third variety of plant material that I brought home from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale last week is the second cultivar of hosta.  And it is (maybe?) even more unique than the Waterslide one that has ruffled edges.  This one is called Praying Hands Hosta and according to Walter's Garden , it is "unlike any other hosta."  It also was "Hosta of the Year" in 2011.   Here - below - is the plant tag that shows the height being 14-18" and the spread being 12-16".   Here - below - is a look at the plant that I brought home.  It is really interesting looking.   If you looked closely at the photo of my Linden trees that I posted a few days ago, you might have viewed this hosta at the base of one of them.  I've been watching the sun/shade patterns of that area to see if it is the right place to plant this hosta.  I'd like it in a spot that can be viewed and highlighted - so underneath those trees feels good right now.  I'...

 Yesterday, I started to share some items that I bought at the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale starting with a pair of Karl Foerster grasses and mentioned that I also came home with some other items.  Here is one of those: A Waterslide Hosta. They had a few different varieties of hostas that were unique - ones that you can't buy at Home Depot or most big box garden centers.  All of them were selected by the staff at the Arboretum to be good for Fall planting.  Of the six or so for sale, I ended up deciding on trying a few.  I mean...tell me that you could see a rack of these hostas and not want to buy one? Here's the tag showing the Waterslide hosta mixed in with some other more lime-colored hostas. And the back of the tag: The description on the tag reads: This beautifully ruffled hosta is a thrill to behold! Blue, rippled leaves hold their color all season long.  Lavender flowers appear on proportionate flower scapes. Here, below, is the sign that was ...

 Last week I went over to the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale and picked up a few things for Fall planting.  They had some items that I've come across before and others that were new to me - having not come across them at either a garden center or big box store.  I'll post about the groups of plants (and one tree) that I brought home over the next few days.   First up are a pair of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  I've posted about them over the years - and have a series of them planted outside of our kitchen windows in back , three of them planted by our landscapers between our front porch and driveway and one solo grass planted outside of our screened porch.  I bought six and only planted five by the kitchen windows, hence this other one being all alone. I really like these grasses as they provide a mix of coloring through the year - from green to purple to gold - and provide a lot of interest all year long - including Winter.   Back to t...

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...

Back a few Saturdays ago, we stopped by the Elmhurst Garden Club's annual plant sale which was held at the Park District's Abby on St. Charles Road . We didn't arrive too terribly early, but there was still a good selection available.  These sales tend to focus mostly on perennials with a few nicely planted annual pots put together. The prices tend to be pretty good and the variety was just fine for us.  They had things broken down into shade vs. sun perennials and a wildflower section.  I always gravitate towards the ferns in the shade  section, but either they only had a few or they were already picked over when we arrived as they only had Ostrich and Painted Ferns available.  Both of which we already have.  The Ostrich variety do really well for us, and we're on our second year with a Painted Fern and it came back well - even after being buried for a few days under mulch. We ended picking up two wildflowers and Pink Plox that the Babe picked out...