Why I Oughta...

On Saturday we made our normal run to Kirsbaum's for doughnuts in the early am hours when we came across the Western Springs Garden Club Plant Sale which was taking place under the big tower on the Village Green. This species will find a home in our plan in our backyard as it can tolerate some heat.  There are two spots that it would work:  on the southside by our butterfly bushes and in the front yard by our anemone.  I'm thinking it would work well in the front.      If you ask some gardeners, they'll tell you that this is an allergy attack waiting to happen.  Good news:  they're wrong.  Consider me the Snopes.com of Goldenrod.   From the source : Don’t worry about it causing long-lasting sneezes, either. Goldenrod is often blamed for aggravating hay fever, but the real culprit is ragweed, which blooms at the same time.

Last summer, per the recommendation on our landscape plan, I moved a small perennial plant called "Baskets of Gold" from the front yard - on the south side, to the back yard on the north side.  I moved it some time after it had bloomed in the spring and it didn't like the move too much.  I wasn't sure if it would make it though the year.  To my surprise, it came back this spring and bloomed already.   This little plant is a spreader and sounds pretty versatile : Basket-of-gold is one of those plants that loves to grow in the least likely of place -- cracks between paving stones, the edge of gravel paths and patios, rocky outcroppings, between the stacked stones of a retaining wall, and more. It loves a baked spot with excellent drainage but will struggle in hot, humid areas and tends not to do well in the South.   But where it does well, it's a showstopper. It will reseed prolifically in little cracks, filling an area each spring with dazzling neon yellows.

Last year, I planted just one Golden Hops vine in our sideyard.  It didn't bear any fruits, but that was anticipated.  Year two is supposed to be the year where we can start to see the vine shooting upward and bearing fruit.   I'm hoping we can actually harvest enough hops to have my brother-in-laws brew something with them! With Spring barely sprung here, I'm happy to see the vine peeking through the mulch this morning. I have to get the larger trellis behind this small one because it looks like it will be moving fast.

In a sure sign that I need to get going on the yard cleanup, most of our Peony plants have their red tips popping through the mulch.  I've chronicled this moment in 2010 , 2011 , and 2012 . Seems like they're right on track.  One year, they were up in early April.  One year they were up in early May.  This year?  Mid/Late April.

In addition to the shade bulbs I'm going to put in the ground , we also grabbed this 'container garden' set of bulbs that includes Golden Balcony Begonias, White Christmas Caladium, and Wide Brim Hostas.  I've had Caladium in the past and I *think* that I put them directly in the ground one spring.  They bloomed, but never came back.  Based on their hardiness, I'm thinking that by putting these in a pot and bringing that pot into the garage over the winter might be helpful to having them succeed.  I think I'll go that route with all three, but I'm tempted to just put the hostas in the ground like I've done with every other hosta I've ever dealt with in the yard.

Earlier this week, we picked up a few different bags of bulbs including this one which includes three varieties of shade perennials from Costco.  This one includes six Bressingham Blue Hostas, five Ostrich Ferns, and seven Federsee Astilbe plants.  These will go on the north line of our yard, both in front of and behind the fence/gate that separates our yard.  All three of these are called out in our landscape plan , so once the ground thaws, we'll move some dirt and get these going for the year.    I'm guessing that we won't have much luck with them in year one (this summer), but my experience with transplanting hostas says that we'll have strong plants in year two.

Took a few days, but we finally got the rooted hydrangea "Incrediball" cutting in the ground .  Have to stay on it water-wise to make sure it establishes itself properly.  I give it a 1 in 10 shot.

Took a few months, but we finally have some real roots on a hydrangea cutting I took earlier this summer.  I clipped off the big leaves and am going to plant it outside in the next few days and watch it closely....

Our Boxwood Basil has really taken off this summer in the giant pot we placed it in near our fence. I think if I bring it back under the pavilion near the garage we can create a little micro-climate and it *might* survive the winter?  But....that's not for discussion for another few months, right?

It has been in the ground just one year and it has gone crazy.  What was maybe a plant that stood 18 inches off the ground and 18 inches wide is now four-to-five feet tall and wide.  I guess we planted it in the right spot?  It is very happy with it's current location.  Can't wait for early next Spring when the it blooms!

It was just a few days ago that I posted a photo of our Golden Hops vine shooting upwards on the trellis.  Taking a look at the photo above, you can see that the vine has almost doubled in height.  Just counting the number of whole 'diamonds' just to left of the center point on the trellis, we can see that the vine has shot up the height of five full 'diamonds'.  It was at 3 full 'diamonds' on Monday.  It is listed as a fast-grower, but the conditions must be right this week. The only disappointing part of this whole experience is that the gratification is going to be delayed.  FOR A YEAR.  That's right....everything I've read says that we shouldn't expect to see any hops until the 2nd year after the vine has been established.  Coupled with the very late planting date I put this in the ground, and we have to cross our fingers that by late next summer, we'll be swimming in golden green hops.

Came home to find my aloe plant had taken a tumble and the pot cracked down around the rim.  The pot was a McCoy and I *think* came out of my Dad's collection.  Bummer. Now...Nat's never been a huge fan of my Aloe plant, but I don't think she had any hard feelings toward the pot.  If she did and there never was a storm, we could have had a "Ralphie's mother breaks the Leg Lamp" type of situation here. " Not a Finger !"

Less than one month ago, I planted a Golden Hops vine on the north side of our house right under a new trellis.  Then we went on vacation for more than a week to Michigan while we were in the hottest part of the summer.  When we came back home, the Hops vine was sad and brittle.  I've since given it a  lot of love (and water!) and we're now seeing it climb right up the center of the trellis. Everything I've read says that we won't get much in terms of a Hops harvest this fall, but in year two, we'll be loaded with some green beauties that my brother-in-laws can turn into a Christmas Ale.

I picked up a Humulus lupulas 'Aureus' Golden Hops vine and planted it on the north side of our house along the fence.  These are the same hops that one would use in the beer making process.  Everything I've read tells me that this season's harvest will be very limited, but by next fall, we'll have a bumper crop of hops that I hope I'll be able to turn over to my brother-in-laws to process into their latest batch of home brew.

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.

I've been poking around the Mosquito Magnet site for the past few weeks trying to figure out if the investment is worth the expense.  It seems that I am going to wait for the end of the season and see if I can snatch one up on a deal because with July already moving along, it might be too late in the season for them.  Because, I (like most people I'm assuming) thought that the Mosquito Magnet would just "work" immediately, I was hot to trot after one of them.  Our backyard is where I want to spend A LOT of time n the evenings, but the bugs are crazy.  Turns out, the Magnet is more of a 'life-cycle disruptor'.  Over the course of three or four months, it will drive down the population in the area by getting the young and aging bugs.  It will NOT pull or attract every mosquito in instantly.  Rather it is more of a long-term solution that appears to NEED to start right in the Spring. Because of the time-frame, we opted for a much lower-tech solution:  A ser

Sweet corn isn't the only seed that I planted 10 days ago.  I also sowed a handful of Zucchini seeds - officially called 'Summer Squash'.  These are Burpee's Fordhook variety and they're already very lively. These are always easy to give out to family and neighbors, so getting three or four of these plants to fruit is my goal.  The beetles that arrived by my cucumbers last year took over some of the buds of my Zucchini plants last year so I'm going to try to plant them as far part as I can this year. 

This was attached to one of new Hydrangeas - the (apparently Trademarked) Incrediball Hydrangea.   Strange isn't it?  I haven't seen any warning like this before on anything we've purchased, but maybe grafting of some sort is common for a special variety of flower like these? The Increciball Hydrangea are billed as having the "enormous" blooms with very sturdy stems (to support said enormous blooms) and grow fast.  We bought 5 gallon container ones - which were on sale at Menards - instead of smaller ones because Nat wanted them to have impact right away.  I always error on the side of cheapness and buy smaller plants hoping that they'll grow into something spectacular over a number of years.  Hopefully these Incrediballs will be the best of both worlds: big blooms this summer with a long, healthy, vibrant life over the next few years.

Today was a yard day.  After a quick trip to the store to pick up a few plants, both Nat and I got dirt under our fingernails and planted a bunch of different varieties in both our back and front yard.  Out of all the new plants we bought, I think my favorite is something called a Jacob's Ladder . The photo doesn't do them justice - but the leaves are really quite pretty to see and are very delicate.  We planted two of them near some of our ferns on the north side of our yard right near our deck.  I'm very hopeful that they'll thrive there.  They're called 'part shade' plants, but they flower, so I'm wondering how much sun they actually need.