Why I Oughta...

The Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas on the southside of our backyard in the 'kitchen curved bed' are holding on to their greenish/purple-ish leaves this late into the year.  Below in the photo you can see a number of them lined up along the back/middle-back of the border that are droop'ing, but...holding their large leaves: Also note...the leaf litter in the photo all across the beds.  I've cleaned these out a handful of times, each time trying to cut up the leaves with my mower and blowing the scraps back onto the beds.  

In the Fall of 2021, I was on a "Hicks Yew High" - where I planted these tiny shade-loving evergreen shrubs all over the backyard.  I put six of them in the south bed with designs to 'replicate' the undulating hedge from the back border .  Here are the six in winter when the contrast with the snow shows how small they really were in January of 2022 .  In Summer of 2022, I did a 'garden edit' where I pulled out some Lilacs and replaced them with some Green Giant Thujas.  At at that time, I also relocated three of the Hicks Yews .   Three remained.  Set on sort-of 'an angle'.   I set up my wine barrel 'water feature' next to them.  And, haven't thought about them much at all.  (that is the wine barrel that I've turned over for the winter in the photo...) Have they grown?  Yep.  The photo at the top shows their current state.  I'm hoping that - with time - the gaps will close and a small 'hedge' of sorts appears here....

More Yew posts.  At least...I have a few more Hicks Yew posts to document the current state of the garden.  Next up - today - is a pair of Hicks Yews that are planted along the fence in the firepit border on the south side of the gravel pad.   I last posted about these in Summer 2023 , when I discovered that I had NOT posted about their planting.  I'm going to guess that these went in the ground in 2022.  That means they have had that same 2.5 growing seasons under their belt. In the photo at the top of this post, you can see the current state of the Yews.   Slow and steady it seems.  In the shade.  Even without irrigation.   This is part of the Yew update series of posts that are documenting the various shrubs in our yard.  I've posted about the  Brown's Yew , the  hedge of small Hicks Yews (for an undulating hedge)  in the far backyard,  the Hicks Yews that I planted *behind* the Oakleaf Hydrangeas ...

I have a little cluster of Carex Montana that I planted in Summer of 2023 along the beginning of the impromptu flagstone path along the south entry of our house.  I picked them up at Northwind Perennial Farm and they were just plug-sized .  I put them in next to the Boxwoods that are under the Linden trees and allowed them to anchor the 'corner' of the path.   These things stood-out to me so much this season that I posted about them just a month-or-so ago when I said they were thriving in this deep-shade location .  In that post, I mentioned that I "should plant 12 more of these along the path".   With Fall Planting season here, I decided to try to divide some of these Carex Montanas to get a couple of free plants.  Like I've done with other divisions - when I haven't divided said plant before - I hedged and left one of the three intact.  I didn't touch the one in back.  But, I dug up and divided the other two - which were a little bit ...

Back in 2020, I discovered Toad Lilies and set about trying to plant a few of them in my woodland garden in the far back .  Like a lot of other things, these were shared by Erin the Impatient Gardener, who shared them in her own garden.   Come Spring 2021, I planted a few small containers of them in a little drift in the southwest corner of our lot .  The variety that planted are called Gilt Edge Japanese Toad Lillies and they were IMMEDIATELY destroyed by the (dang!) rabbits .    That's when I installed some rings of Chicken Wire to protect them.  I've left those rings in place for three-plus years now and because of that (I think), well....we *still* have Toad Lillies.  Not a lot of them.  But, they're still here. I posted the VERY SAME photos last year - about a year ago.    Here, below, are a couple of photos showing the remaining Toad Lillies.  These get ZERO supplemental water, so they're just doing their thing on their...

I planted the third Emperor 1 Acer palmatum via the Morton Arboretum plant sale this Spring.  I brought it home in a small one-gallon container - and like the other ones - netted it with tulle to protect it from cicada damage .   The tree suffered a little dieback, but otherwise has been just trying to survive the summer heat.  Unlike the Emperor 1 I posted about two days ago , this one is in full shade all the time.    Now that we're back from summer vacations, I'll try to baby this one with a little bit more water than it has been getting and hope to put on some new limbs before dormancy arrives this Fall.

Back in May of 2019, I planted a number of very small, one-gallon Canadian Hemlock trees .  A few of them were destroyed by rabbits.  And a few died from drought.  But, two of them have managed to make it to today.  In terms of growing seasons, that: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and now...in the middle of their sixth growing season:  2024.   After the rabbits ate these things up, I began to protect them with chicken wire.  The past few seasons, I've just left the chicken wire rings in place.  And the trees have just kept-on-growing.   I heard from someone on the blog about the hemlocks and they wondered how they were doing.   Here's a couple of photos that show them - although...they're *hard to see*.   The first photo shows both of the trees - one on the left and the other on the right - split by that narrow tree trunk in the middle.  The second photo shows a close-up of the chicken wire ring. I'd say that ...

The pair of Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas that are planted near the Dawn Redwood tree are in bloom.  Late July.  With long, slender bloom heads that are turning from light green to pink.  Below are a couple of photos that show both of them.  There's also an Alice Oakleaf Hydrangea that I relocated here, but that one isn't as advanced as these two.  Planted in May of 2022, these Ruby Slippers are a dwarf variety of Oakleaf Hydrangea that I bought at the Morton Arboretum annual plant sale .   In the photo above, you also can get a peek at some of the recently-planted Sun King Golden Aralia (Japanese Spikard) that also came from the Morton Arboretum sale .    The last time that I peeked at these in the [garden diary] was about a month ago when I revisited this 'garden edit' .   I feel good about the border and the little slice of the garden that fronts this, the part *behind* the Nootka Cypress - sort-of adjacent to this - is anoth...

We bought a small, unique hosta named the Hacksaw Hosta at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale back in Spring of 2022 and planted it in the backyard.  The (dang!) rabbits ate it up, but it came back for year two - 2023 - and put on some growth .   This year - the third growing season (two years since planting), the Hacksaw hosta has sort-of spread out.  And has thrown up a one fully-formed hosta and a third tiny sprout.   See below for the current state showing the two hostas and on the right...the start of a tiny third one: Part of my 2024 to-do plan is to keep going on the 'Hosta Replacement Plan'.  When I think about replacing hostas, this Hacksaw isn't one of them that needs to go.  It is unique and worth highlighting as a specimen in the shade garden.  

It is finally time to call a couple of dead trees:  Three Japanese Maples didn't come back this Spring.  They tried - leaf'd out from the graft - but now...they are foliage-free.  Two of them are from Mr. Maple - the upright Seiryu Japanese Maple and First Ghost - back by the firepit.  Both...are now on the LOST TREES list.  The Seiryu is one that I really was keen to see grow as I planted it in the shadow of the dying Flowering Cherry Tree.  That tree died last year, and now the JM is gone, too.  That leaves a big empty opportunity for a shade-tolerant tree.    The last one was the Inaba Shadire high-grafted tree.  Below are a couple of photos showing the skeletons of these Japanese Maples.  First the Seiryu followed by First Ghost.   Sadly...these are the fourth Japanese Maples that didn't make it just this year - with the unknown laceleaf tree from the orange big box store was pulled and replaced by an Emperor 1 earl...

Late Summer 2021, I planted the first three Hakonechloa Macra Grasses (the standard, green ones) from Northwind Perennial Farm in the border right around our tree swing tree.  I had some All Golds in the ground prior to 2021, but I read about the green ones online and when I saw them, I bought them as one-gallon nursery pots.  The All Gold variety have been slow growers (for me), so I wasn't sure what these would do when they matured.  I documented them in their first Spring ( May 2022 ) and then one year after planting ( August 2022 ) - when they had put on some growth. Last Summer, I added four more (behind the tree) and this Spring, I moved them (a garden edit) to sit next to the three original ones on the border.  Those four are two seasons behind and the move set them back with a little transplant stress.  But the three original?  They're starting to fill out the space and REALLY shine in the garden.   Below is a look at the three original ...

First came the Ostrich Fern.  Then, I realized there were BETTER ferns that I could grow in my garden.  The one that I seem to be drawn to most?  The Autumn Brilliance Fern .  I planted three to start and then each Fall, I've added more small ones.  Unfortunately...most of them don't over winter that first year, so I end up having far fewer than I start the Fall with in the backyard. But, where do we stand today - late Spring - in terms of Autumn Ferns? First...the three originals - they're all here today.  And looking mighty fine in their Springtime splendor: In the Fall of 2022, I planted 12 (yes...twelve) small Autumn Ferns.  I thought ALL of them died, but turns out that four remain - all in front of the Hicks Yew Hedge in the back.  Two photos below show two apiece.  These are, well....small.  But they get very little supplemental water back there. That makes seven so far.   Last Fall, I planted five more quart-sized Autum...

Last year (2023), I bought three one-gallon Japanese Maples from Mr. Maple and planted them in mostly-shade spots in our backyard .  Of the three, two of them died back almost all the way to the graft.  One of them had a lot of die-back at the top, but re-emerged this Spring with enough foliage to consider it 'alive'.  That one - that survived the best - is the Firefly Japanese Maple.  Acer plamatum 'Firefly' .   Firefly has what is known as 'reticulated variegation' and that's showing this Spring. See below for a couple of photos: In that second photo, you can see the dead stems that rise above the foliage.  I'd say that more than HALF of the tree died-back, but based on the foliage, this CERTAINLY is NOT the grafted rootstock producing leaves.  This *is* Firefly.   I can't say the same thing for the Seriyu and First Ghost Japanese Maples from Mr. Maple dot com .  Despite giving them 'Five dollar holes', baby'ing them with water a...

Last month, I wrote about how 2024 might end up being the year of the great "Garden Edit" for our backyard .  I collected my thoughts about what I was drawn-to garden-wise and that boiled down to a few things:  planting in masses, focused on plants that work for our garden, have some appeal foliage-wise and have some four-season appeal (or at least 2 or 3 season).   I outlined a few places that I thought about editing including around the tree swing tree, the kitchen curved bed, IB2DWs and the 'hosta replacement project' on both sides of far backyard.   The first "Garden Edit" that I took on was the tree swing tree .  Where, I reorganized some things and pulled the Hakonechloa Macra (green ones) Grasses to the front and plan on carrying that drift further back.   The second "Garden Edit" was the southside Hosta Replacement Project/Stumpery .  I pulled out a number of hostas and transplanted the All Gold Hakonechloa Macra grasses from the...

This post deposits two things into the [garden diary]:   the loss of a Japanese Maple and the planting of a different one.  First, the loss.  Last Summer, I planted a 2-gallon Japanese Maple that was mis-marked.  It was labeled as an Emperor 1, but was had dissectum or laceleaf foliage .  I marked it as an 'unknown' Japanese Maple - likely a Takukeyama.  That tree was purchased on May 12, 2023, so I had a decision to make.  By May 11th (this past weekend), the tree was not leaf'ing out.  The scratch test showed that the trunk was still alive, but no buds had opened up.  With the one-year warranty running out, I opted to yank it out and get the store credit.   This marks the second loss of trees this year - the first being the Silver Maple that I removed earlier this Spring .  Two trees lost, zero planted.  But, that is about to change thanks to the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale.  A few days ago, I posted about the ...