Why I Oughta...

Spring time always brings some anticipation of watching our perennials breaking through the ground and beginning to show themselves.  Starting last year, that was occurring both at Equation Boy/Man's house (where we are living) and Nat's folk's house (where we had placed our orphan'd plants). I chronicled our orphaned hosta last year starting with their emergence and then followed up with a full glory photo later in the season. Recently, we were out in Naperville and I went to check out the fosters.  Sure enough:  they're coming back in year two.  Above, you can see the buds of the giant hosta emerging in the middle of the photo.   The smaller hostas as well as the ferns and peony plants are all coming up and I'll post about those soon. But, now the question becomes:  when do we move them?   This post indicates that there's 2 shots per year: early Spring and later in the Fall.  It looks like we'll miss the Spring window, but should we try in

Going to document this here on the blog, so I can track the changes with this succulent that is perched on top of the hvac unit in my office on the 64th floor.  This didn't start as *my* succulent.  Nope.  Someone on my team had one of these plants at her desk, but it wasn't getting much light.  So...she moved it to my ledge.  Having a bit of history with cultivating succulents from cut ends, I gave it a shot.  Cut off four little guys and planted them in their own pot. I paid attention to keeping them wet and after a bit, they took off.  Now the four main plants are huge and gangly.  They're laying over the sides of the little pot and even throwing off their own little buds near the base that are, just PRIME for cutting and replanting.  I spy four of five that I could cleve off and transplant to keep the succulent mojo going.  Off to Menards I go for a few little pots and some dirt.

I found myself in California recently and even though I've been there numerous times, I am always in awe when I look at the landscaping and see succulents just about everywhere.  These were in a corporate office park in Southern California.  Hens and Chicks or Chicks and Hens?

Earlier this Spring, I posted about our 'fostered' Ostrich Fern and giant Hosta that are currently being housed at my in-law's side/front/back yard (I don't know what to call it.  It is kinda all of those things:  the front, the side and the back.   Weird, I know, but if I showed you the area, it *might* make sense.)   Here's the post on the ferns .  And here's the post on the hostas . The good news is in that photo above.  I took that over recently when I checked in on them and gave them a little bit of water.  They look to be THRIVING, which has me excited.  We transplanted them late last year in late July/early August and they looked terrible.  The fern, in particular looked awfully wilted and I wasn't thinking it was going to come back.  But, these are hardy plants it seems.  And that means that I'm thinking if we're in a spot to transplant them as early as next Spring, they'll be ready to go.  And after they arrive, it won't take lon

Umm...yes please?!?  While out at Menards over the weekend, I came across this variety in the garden center.  If only, we had a place to plant it, right?  Maybe they'll have them again next year and we'll actually have a place to put something like this into the ground.  A guy can hope, right?

Yesterday, I posted about the Cinnamon Fern that we picked up at the Elmhurst Garden Club Plant Sale that I planted at my sisters house but today I'm sharing the details of another plant that we bought:  the Hosta Venusta. This one, however, isn't going to go in the ground in Elmhurst.  Nope...it's fate is destined for Naperville where we can tuck it in next to our other orphans like the giant hostas that we transplanted last year. Here's a better look at the Venusta Hosta plant.  It is classified as a 'miniature'. Based on the  reviews of the ladies selling these things in Elmhurst, this sounds like one of the very few miniature hostas that you can actually plant in the ground and it *will* come back.  Around the web, you can find people commenting that they're ' very hardy ' and ' spread just like bigger hostas' , so that's good. So, this weekend when we're out and about, we'll make a stop in Naperville and get thi

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

If you ever come across Milk Thistle, don't - as I did - reach down and try to feel the leaves.  They sure look interesting, don't they?  Well...they're covered in little, super-sharp thorns.  Lesson learned. This was one of a bunch of plants/flowers that they had set up in a little medicinal garden during Epcot's Flower and Garden show. They also had pineapples!  Yeah...look at this little cute tree/plant that has a big pineapple coming out of the top of the thing: You can spot the Milk Thistle in the upper right corner of this photo for placement in the medicinal garden.

The Annabelle Hydrangea plant that I put in a few years back is really popping this summer.  It has a partially sunny spot on the north side of our backyard landscape beds.  It is sitting right up against the fence and has filled in the spot really nicely.  We have a few 'Incrediball" varieties close to this Annabelle that are doing well this year, too.  I lost one of them two summers ago, but the other two quickly filled in the space.  *Those* blooms, while not as many as this one, are much more spectacular.  They're currently running a little big behind but will catch up by mid-July, I'd think.

Found this label for this plant " Dianthus Kahori " on a perennial at Costco recently.  That font! Had to snap a photo and then try to do some research to figure out if the plant had *any* connection to Disney and/or the parks.  Alas...it doesn't appear to be anything other than a lazy designer passing off the Disney font to the guys at the nursery who raised these plants.   I could actually see this becoming an extension for Disney products/consumer products some day, right?  Imagine having some sort of uniquely-bred set of perennials that they plant in the park and they highlight in some way.  Could be at the Flower and Garden show.  Could be throughout the year.   They could license their name to some nurseries to grow them that particular plant and get it to the market at scale through places like Home Depot.  I'd buy a 'piece of Disney World's' flowers for a small price.  I'd probably buy a few of them!  Wouldn't you?

I was cooking pizza for a little dinner party with our friends from the city a few weeks back so I took a trip to Angelo Caputo's for Chellino Scamorza , some hot soppressata , and a few other items.  I usually pick up a little container of basil to top the pies, but they had these containers of potted basil for $0.99, so I figured with the price being less than the container, I couldn't loose. I could use the basil that night for the pies and then plant it and harvest all summer.  I usually buy a basil plant each summer anyway, so why not start early. Well, that plant sat in our kitchen for two weeks, but I finally got around to planting it in a big pot.  One of the lead stalks cracked off during transport home from the store, so we only have one big stalk and a halfie.  I gave it some organic plant food and with a little bit of sunshine and some water, I think we'll be basking in sweet basil glory for all of our KettlePizza adventures all summer .  

I put down three of these Sedum plants behind the fireplace in the backyard this past weekend.  Marking the spot here to document when/where they were put in.

Last week, we went to Menards to pick up some plants and I'll be honest:  we were a little disappointed with their selection.  They don't seem to have given a lot of care to the plants and many were already dried out. In the shade section, however, they had some nice hosta varieties that were thriving.  I picked up three kinds - mostly so I could have a firm grasp on the differences between the ones in our yard. First is the Brim Cup Plaintain Lily.  Has nice yellow tips.   Planted a few of these on the west side of the fence on the northside of the house in the shade of the Cleveland Pear Tree and south of the walk.   Next is the Great Expectations.  Light green variations on the center of the plant.  Planted these on the northside, both east/west of the fence.  One in particular is right on the walk in the backyard on the north of the walk. Finally, is the Fragrant Blue Hosta.  We have some of these around, but I wanted to add a new one for comparison.  This

Back in the fall of 2010, we planted this Anemone plant in our sideyard (southside) after Nat's mom bought a few for a project.  I documented the blooms in 2011 and was surprised that it survived. I don't think I took a photo of it last year, but when I went out to plant our pumpkin seeds last week, I was amazed at how big the Anemone had gotten.  With the blooms, it is 3+ feet tall.  And the blooms?  You can see that there's TONS of them.  It clearly is happy in this spot.

Looks like our Hydrangea tree that we planted in very late May is happy with where we put it.  It was billed as a "Pinky Winky" tree with the label, but the buds sure don't look pink to me!  Guessing this was mis-marked at some point?  The blooms are linear-shaped, so it isn't something that we have around here currently - which is nice.

Putting this hear so I remember *exactly* when this thing went in the ground.  I picked this bush/shrub up on a whim at Home Depot.  It was $4.99 so I'm not expecting much.   Have you ever grown blueberries?  I have heard two things, but don't know if they're true: 1.  You need two plants to fruit. 2.  You need sandy soil. Confirmation from anyone?

Last week, we picked up one of these Baptisia Australis plants at Luurs Nursery last week.  It is commonly known as Blue False Indigo.  We bought because we liked the look and the fact that it was named Perennial Plant of the Year didn't help.   According to Wikipedia , the Cherokee Tribe used it to create blue dye. I planted it in our front yard and Nat quickly said that we should go back and buy a few more.   It seems to have taken root and the rains we've had the past few days have certainly assisted it finding a home in the bed.

Last week, we stopped by a nursery in Hillside and found a nice Pinky Winky Hydrangea Tree that we loved.  The only issue was the price.  It wasn't cheap.  On Saturday, I took both girls over to Menards and while out in the garden center, I saw the same variety and about the same size, but for less than half the price.  Into the cart this thing went. Our plan calls for something like this as a way to add some height to our northern set of beds along our walkway from the garage to our deck.  I put it in the ground yesterday after I cleaned up the one sucker near the bottom and gave it a big drink. I've had mixed results with hydrangeas so I want to stay on top of this one water-wise so it has a good chance at establishing itself this summer.

I picked up two S piked Gayfeathers at the Elmhurst Garden Club Plant Sale a week or so back. They grow tall and provide some height in a perennial garden and they do well in full-sun, so they'll - hopefully - do really well in the backyard right to the West of our family room.  I put them in and the greens are doing really well even though the Babe stepped right on one while she was chasing a wiffleball.  Which...as her father is a GREAT excuse for trampling my plants, btw.

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.  Of course,