Why I Oughta...

Starting in the Fall of 2022, I have added one type of groundcover every year - Ajuga 'chocolate chip'.  I think it was Plantsman Roy Diblik who first turned me on to the plant (in one of his videos) and I stuck a few plugs into the island bed in between our front stoop and the driveway .  A year later, I was calling these a success as they had grown and filled out some of the space .   By last July, the groundcover was peeking out over the driveway and filling in space all around the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses in the bed.   But, over this past Winter, we had a setback.  There was some serious die-back on the entire bed.  Everything shrunk down and some of the plants didn't seem to come back.  I also lost ALL six of the Island Bed plugs that I planted last year, too .  This wasn't my first Winter of decline for some of the Ajuga.  I've posted this 'Ajuga Hits and Misses' post in Spring of 2024 that talked/showed some of th...

One of the thing that's been on my mind over the past few months is the concept of 'legibility' in the garden.  I wrote up a post about it - when I first came across the concept.  I also included it in my 2025 to-do list .  Part of legibility are 'entrances'.  Entrances to garden spaces.   One of the primary entrances to our garden is along the side of house via the boardwalk.  In my 2025 to-do list, I mentioned 'planting up the boardwalk' as something I wanted to get done.   Over the past few years, I've planted a few things there - but nothing has worked.  Ferns.  Hostas.  I think it is too dry and too dark.   But, I'm trying again.  This time...with an Ajuga.  Bronze Beauty Ajuga.  Here's the six-pack of groundcover that I bought: Along the screened porch, there's a long, thin bed.  Below is the before/after of planting these six plugs: I watered them in and they looked flat that first day....

The Angelina Sedum that is planted as a groundcover in the square beds on either side of our back stoop are looking really good with the thin layer of snow (and ice) that is blanketing our garden this week.   I've noted this particular Sedum in previous Winters.  Here's a post and photo from a year ago - January 2024 .  Here's how MUCH brighter it gets by late Spring:  Have a look at May 2024 .  Something to think about in 2025:  Digging up plugs of this to transplant. 

Fall Planting 2024 keeps rolling right along with the planting of a six-pack of groundcover plugs.  These are something I've used WIDELY in my garden: Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'.  #3 on my 2024 to-do list was to keep going on groundcover (or...as I want to call it "living mulch"), so these six help that cause .  I've had some 'hits and misses' with Ajuga , but have learned a little bit about it over the years.   I opted to put all six in the newly 'extended' Island bed in the front yard.  I decided to plant the Skylands Spruce tree in the back of that bed, so I had to add a good amount of mulch to extend it back.  I figured that was a good spot to put down some groundcover.   Below you can see four of the Ajuga Chocolate Chip planted on the northside of the bed - but right at the feet of the new Skylands Spruce.   I put the other two in a little bit more of a 'protected' area - under the canopy of the Northern Glow Korean Maple.  I...

At the end of May - just about 90 days ago - I planted a series of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs around the beds including a border of six right in front of some well-established Fanal Astilbes.  They went in small and have put on some size in the Summer as you'd imagine. I recently posted about a different set of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' in our front yard that had grown to fill in the bed .  Those, however, had a six-plus month headstart because they went in the Fall of 2022.  The six in the backyard can be see in the photo below.  They're not near touching each other, but they've put on that two-toned foliage and look good at the front of the border: Last Fall, I added a bunch of Autumn Ferns (only some of which made it over-winter ), but it sure feels like if I come across a good late-season deal on Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip', there's like...I don't know...a dozen places I could plant A LOT of them:  the front porch beds, sideyard(s), in the fr...

The last plant that my middle child planted in her garden from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm was a result of me advocating that she try something that Roy has (I think) made famous:  a sedge.  Or...a Carex.  She picked out a Carex Albicans . Here, below, is the sign from the nursery table up in Wisconsin: It reads:  "Perennial sedge that grows in dense, mounded tufts. In late spring, interesting scaly flower spikes emerge.  An excellent selection for dry, shaded sites." Below, you can see where she planted her Carex Albicans plug - just adjacent to the Helene Von Stein Lamb's Ear - Stachys byzantina that she planted in July of this year .  By my count, I (now) have 12 sedges in our garden. 5 Everillo sedges  - planted in 2020 and 2021 2 Carex Pensylvanica under the Hornbeams - planted in 2021 4 Carex Bromides by the Astilbes - planted in Summer 2022 1 Carex Albicans in the Bird's garden - planted late Summer 2022 I also have a pair of Prairie...