Why I Oughta...

Proven Winners has come out with their 2023 plants of the year recently and the list includes a few things of note (for me) that are worth getting to know a bit. Before I run through the ones that standout to me, I thought it was important to remind (myself) what Proven Winners uses as their criteria.  Now...Proven Winners is in the business of selling A LOT of plants, so what they say are their 'winners' are grounded in that:  commerce.  But... here's what they say are their criteria :   Easy to grow Iconic Readily available Outstanding landscape performance Easy to grow...for who?  Them...in their greenhouses?  Or, me the intermediate gardener with a shade-filled yard that lacks irrigation in Zone 5b?   Readily available speaks to their ease of growing, so they're really saying 'easy to grow' twice. That last one:  outstanding performance.  This one is the key.  Again...performance of what?   There are other groups who name X of the year - like the Perennial

Over the weekend, we popped into Lowe's to find that their entire garden center (aside Fall things like mums and kale) has been marked down 50%.  Lowe's isn't super convenient for us, but one of the things that I've noticed over the past couple of seasons is that they do a nice job with their garden center and usually carry things that are not normally sold in the Orange Big Box store nursery.  Last year, I planted a couple of purple Heucheras that I bought at Lowes that were 50% off and they've done well in the garden .  Those Purple Palace Coral Bells/Heucheras have all managed to survive this growing season and have put on growth.  This post shows all three of them and talks about the decline of another variety - Dolce Apple Twist .   My experience with those two - the common Purple Palace doing well and the more exotic Apple Twist not so much - was front and center when I came across a couple of plants at Lowes 50% off sale.   As I was walking down the nursery

Last Spring - May of 2021 - I bought and planted three lime green heucheras named Dolce Apple Twist and planted them along the border in the south beds of our backyard.  I quickly transplanted some found hostas around them, filled them with ferns and a few months later added three companion (yet contrasting) purple heucheras named Palace Purple .  I interplanted these two by alternating the Apple Twist and Palace Purple.  That meant that last year....there were six coral bells (or Heucheras) in a little cluster.   This post is about the Dolce Apple Twist varieties.   These were from Proven Winners and bought at the orange big box nursery.  And, you can see in the photo below that there's just ONE left.  That means two have died and are gone.   I've long thought about doing an 'In Memoriam' post at the beginning of every Spring that lists everything that didn't make it.  I should add these to the list.  Heck...maybe I need to do a list like that in the Fall, too.  

Yesterday, I showed a couple of photos showing three new Green Velvet Boxwoods that I bought and planted IB2DWs - right by the gravel path.  In that post, I ran through the 'shrub math' and compared my initial priority list with what I've done (so far).   Here, below, is the initial list with annotations on what has been done so far.   5 Oakleaf Hydrangeas.   Planted and done.  8 Viburnum.  4 treeform bought.  3 planted in back.  1 in front.  Call it 5 remaining. 3 Little Lime Hydrangeas.   3 Tardiva Hydrangeas 1 Panicle Hydrangea.   Planted one of the Doublefile Viburnum here.   6-8 upright evergreens   Planted six Green Giant Thujas in two spots. 6-8 boxwoods and/or Yews - 3 Green Velvet planted IB2DW .  (at least) 3 left.  This post is about how I found and brought home three Little Lime Hydrangeas.  Here, below, is what the three of these 2# Little Lime Hydrangeas at the big box nursery. These were $29.98 each and were on a lower rack, kind of tucked-away so they seem

Earlier this month, I posted a couple of things that I'd like to reference here.  First...was the post talking about 2022 Garden Trends and how - like high fashion - the trends we see in the garden center or local nursery emerge years prior at places like the Chelsea Flower Show .  In that recap post about trends, one of the design direction that was a big takeaway from Chelsea this year was the idea of 'organic ovals'.  It is one of the big, macro trends mentioned in this piece cover last year's Chelsea show .   The other thread I'm pulling at is the idea of a ' Getting to Know ' plant series that is part of my ongoing self-education.  I started by talking about Eucomis (Pineapple Lillies) and how I ordered a handful of bulbs to try in containers this Summer.   Part of these "Getting to Know X" posts is about getting myself a little more familiar with unique plants and cultivars.  Things that not everyone has in their garden or yard.   When you c

Last year, I planted a couple of drifts of Allium angulosum 'Summer Beauty' and I've been really happy with them in our backyard.  I posted recently a look at both sets here .  Over the course of the past few months, I've been looking at them and reading about various hybrids including Millenium.  I think it was on YouTube where someone introduced me to Allium 'Serendipity' and called it "strap-y".  That descriptor stuck with me, so when I came across a trio of these on a big discount this Summer, I plop'd them in my cart and brought them home.  3 for $9.99 for 1# perennials is my love language. I put the three in different, various spots in the backyard and left them there to consider.  Each place I wasn't happy.  They'd work there.  But they weren't right.  I tried maybe four of five spots to place this cluster of three.  The tag lists this as 'FULL Sun/part Shade', so it gave me more options than I normally have with our bac

The photo above is from the plans at Gardener's World that were our inspiration Back in April of this year, I published a list of seven additional or addendum items in my Spring/Summer To-Do List that included: "Work out the patio container situation" .  We had a hodgepodge of containers in our back patio and Nat wanted to do something about it.  She shared a few photos of planters that she liked and we came across this plan from Gardener's World that featured a simple timber planter .  You can see it above and how it features a two-tiered planter with three sections. After noodling it a bit and altering the plans a little, we ended up trying our own hand at making a similar patio planter.    Off I went to Menards and I ended up coming home with a van full of 2x3's of treated lumber. That 'altering' of the plans included Nat's decision to lop off the top level and just make it a flat-topped planter.  Here's how it ended up: Because I

I came across this Lemon Coral Sedum from Proven Winners in this video from Garden Answer.  I really liked the way it looked in her video, so when I came across it (at the garden center at the Jewel of all places), I had to bring it home.  I put it in a few spots including this wine barrel planter that we have set on our patio.  Like a lot of other sedums, it is drought tolerant, but this one has a neat chartreuse-y color along with those pretty yellow flowers.  I planted this one and it immediately began to establish itself, stretch out and put on this show.  Tucked right in next to the Night Sky Petunia that continues to bloom all Summer long, this part of the pot is doing exactly what I was hoping for in this spot.  The only *miss* in this pot is any sort of mid-level structure/height, but it is getting close to time to rip out those Pansies and replace them with something more fit for the heat of Summer.  Opportunity, right??? This wine barrel container (for now) is on the no