Why I Oughta...

We have two Praying Hands hostas in our backyard shade garden.  They are both planted close to each other in the hosta bed underneath the large Northern Red Oak tree swing tree and tucked in amongst some other known varieties like Frances Williams and Christmas Tree as well as a bunch of other, unknown varieties - some variegated, some not.   I planted the first one of these in Fall of 2020 .  At some point, I acquired a second one.  I don't seem to have posted about this second planting, nor how I transplanted the first one, but those two things did, indeed happen.  I originally planted this back by the colony of Guacamole Hostas, but I moved it because there's a little path to a kids picnic table there and this was going to be trampled.   Here, below, is a look at both of them. First, the larger of the two.  I'm thinking this is the 2020 version below.  You can see ferns and other hostas in the photo.  As well as the tray of Kentu...

 In mid-September, I bought a series of perennials at the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale including one of a unique, vase-like hosta named Praying Hands hosta .  After putzing around the yard by placing it in various places, I settled on digging it in along the north bed - about half-way back in the yard.  It is adjacent to some of the Guacamole Hostas that I planted this Summer.   I watered it in a few times and now, as we head towards the end of the season, I mulched it in with woodchips.  You can see the current state of the hosta below: I'm hoping that the little bit of layer of protection the wood chips are going to provide will help protect this unique cultivar over the Winter.  Come Spring time, I'll apply a layer of hardwood fine mulch and keep my fingers crossed that it establishes itself and makes an appearance.

 A couple of weeks back, I posted a photo of a pretty unique hosta - called Praying Hands - that I bought at the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale.  Praying Hands is 'unlike any other hosta' and was named "Hosta of the Year in 2011".  When I bought it, I wasn't sure where I was going to plant it, but new it needed shade and I wanted to put it in the spot where I could enjoy it.  I thought about planting it close to our house.  In this post showing off our Linden Cordon Espalier trees , you can see that I was thinking of planting it beneath those trees.   In fact, I did a 'shade study' of that location.  Here, below, is a photo from 1 pm when I was trying to see if the spot stayed in shade during the middle of the day.  You can see that it is, indeed, in the shade.  But, I'm pretty sure that the sun is in a lot lower spot (already) than it is during the heat of the Summer.  So, while the Lindens are in shade in September....I'm not s...