Why I Oughta...

I've long admired the Purple Smoke Trees that I see in gardens and landscapes.  I've thought about planting one for a number of years, but each time I come across one, I opt against it.  Until...this week.  When I found a 'Royal Purple' Smoke Tree at the end-of-season sale at the orange big box store.  It was too good of a price and I've been wanting to add some red to contrast the newly planted dwarf conifers in my new IB2DWs Conifer Garden. So, I bought it and stuck it in the ground closer to the sidewalk and pretty far back in the bed.   You can see it in the photo below:  Is this thing a tree?  Or a shrub?  It is referenced either way, but I'm calling it a tree - mostly due to the name.  The tag says 'shrub', but... This becomes the last tree of 2023 and...amazingly...the 21st planted for the year.   As for keeping score on a few fronts, let's first start with the Fall Planting Tally.

For the past few years, I've been a 'stick to the plan' gardener.  That plan was a layout/design, but it was also a plan in terms of sticking to plants that I know and understand how they'd perform.  It also was VERY limited on flowers.  I've talked about foliage gardening and thanks to our deep shade yard, I've mostly had foliage plants over the years. But, this #FallPlanting season, I felt a little moved to step out of my comfort zone and decided to buy a couple of things at the various end-of-season sales including a number of new (to me) flowering perennials.  The first one that I put in my cart was 'Midnight Masquerade' Penstemom or Beardtongue.  That's the 1# container at the top of this post.   It is a Proven Winner and here's what Walters Garden has to say : This Penstemon will help fill the gap in your lineup for a taller, attractive foliage option. 'Midnight Masquerade' produces a sturdy clump of deep burgundy purple leaves. The

Earlier this Summer, I bought a small, grafted Emperor 1 Japanese Maple from the orange big box store (for $35) and planted it in the border of the kitchen curved bed in our backyard.  I had a previous Emperor 1 and figured that the price was right on this one, so I added it.  That lead to a (pardon the pun) Waterfall of Japanese Maples being planted this season.  The most recent was the high-grafted Inaba Shadire; the sixth JM of the season .   The small Emperor 1 appears to be doing just fine in the spot where it gets a mix of shade and some early-day sun.  It is out of the sun during the heat of the afternoon, but gets a little bit of early and late morning sun.   Here, below is what it looks like currently - it has a split set of leaders that I'm leaving as they are (for now): The reason for this post is not to document the current form (as...it is *mostly* the exact same shape/form/height) that it was when I put it in), but rather tho share a peek at some new growth.  Below,

Dark foliage is something I've been chasing for a number of years.  I'm a foliage gardener.  And that mostly means greens.  Light greens.  Dark greens.  Glossy greens.  Dull greens.  But, starting last year, I was turned-on to the idea of being deliberate about dark foliage.  Guessing it was Erin the Impatient Gardener who talked about dark foliage.  I included it on my 2022 to-do list.   And have done a few things in recent years: purple heucheras , a Chocoholic Black Snakeroot , and t his silvery Coral Bell that I planted late last Fall and hasn't quite emerged just yet.   So, when I saw that sign (above) at the Morton Arboretum Plant sale, these were the FIRST things in my box.  I grabbed three of them.  Should have bought even more.   I stuck them into the southside bed -  behind the Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (I moved these closer to the front of the border last Fall ), and sort of weaved in next to some Summer Beauty Allium.    Below is a photo showing their initial si

I've talked about this before, but mid-Summer 50% off perennial sales are my love language.  That kind of sale typically happens at the big box stores garden centers, but it seems random based on the department manager.  Even at Home Depot - which we have three that I shop from regularly and a fourth that I pop into when I'm going to my parents - I've noticed that some stores do sales differently.  I'm talking hand-written signs vs the normal printed signs that you normally see.   When I come across a hand-written sale sign, I glom on to the stuff.    But, I also was turned on to a whole new thing recently:  Lowes.  We don't have a Lowes close to us, but I took the kids to a batting cage in a town a few over on a recent weekend and discovered that the cages/mini golf place is right behind a huge Lowes.  So, I went in, of course.  And I was surprised.  A step up from Menards, for sure.  The plant material was (mostly) taken care of and not all dried out.  They had a