Why I Oughta...

In October of 2021, I bought and planted a single Shenandoah Red Switchgrass down by the sidewalk - IB2DWS .  It was an end-of-the-season #FallPlanting purchase and I put it in that spot because the description said that Panicum are well-known for being 'drought tolerant' .  This was a VERY hard-to-grow spot with harsh conditions:  hot concrete on two sides, competitive mature tree roots and gravely soil.   It went in and hasn't done super well, but...persisted.  There's something to be said for persisting in a spot like this was planted.   In the years since, I've left it alone.  But, as I've learned over the years, ornamental grasses need to be tended-to and do well to be divided every few years.  They will end up with 'center rot' and will get rejuvenated when they're divided.  I've typically done my ornamental grass dividing in the Fall, so this past weekend, I decided to divide a few - starting with this Shenandoah Switch Grass...

Day three of Zinnia-mania IB2DWs.  Yesterday, I posted the details of some common orange Zinnias that I planted as bedding plants .  A day earlier, I planted a larger, further-along Uproar Rose Zinnia from the nursery.   I have been trying to push myself past the discomfort around flowers and this new Zinnia from The Growing Place certainly is there: out of my comfort zone.   As I walked around the nursery, this Zinnia jumped off the bench.  Zowie Yellow Flame Zinnia.  See below for the sign.  It reads: "This stunning cultivar will stand out in any setting with its 3' - 4' bicolor blooms of golden yellow and magenta orange."   This was the MOST expensive Zinnia that I have bought, but it was a 6.5" nursery pot: And, that meant that I really bought TWO zinnias.  After having them sit on the driveway for a couple of days, I noticed the foliage was drooping.  That evening - after work - I dug them in to the conifer garden....

Last Fall, I planted a pair of variegated sedums -  Sedum kamtschaticum 'Variegatum' down by the sidewalk as a drought-tolerant groundcover .  They managed the conditions of the Winter and emerged this Spring.  I posted about them in March when very little else was growing in our garden .  They had been eaten a bit by the (dang!) rabbits, but otherwise were in good shape.  Today - in early June - they're putting on some yellow blooms.  One of them (the one on the right) is a bigger clump, but they're BOTH beginning to flower.  See below for a few photos.  Just above them are the recently-planted Dusty Miller annuals (that are being invaded by some turfgrass that didn't get properly smothered.   It looks like I didn't post about those (yet), so I need to get them into the [garden diary]. They're likely candidates to divide in a few years - once they've spread out a bit.  

We've had a VERY mild Winter.  There was a span of about three weeks when it was brutally cold and it seemed like it snowed every.single.day.  But, overall...it was mild.  And that's likely turned a number of gardening variables on their ears.  Emergence.  Bloom time.  Exposure to late Frosts.  And, more, I'm sure. One of the 'mild Winter' related change that I saw VERY early in January was that the tulip bulbs that I had planted around the parkway tree had ALREADY come up, out of the mulch.  By January 5th.   J A N U A R Y. That seems VERY early.  It was BEFORE that three-week spell of 'brutally cold' weather that I mentioned above.  But, tulips being tulips, the foliage didn't mind the weather.  (or...the snow blanket was sufficient insulation.) I'm *very* aware of mulch volcanoes around trees and worry that every year - when we add another layer of mulch - that I'm burying things and creating problems.  Everyone sa...

Beyond the pizza-oven build, my mind has been thinking about the front yard for 2024.  I went ham on the IB2DWs extended bed last Fall with my new conifer garden , but I've been reading and watching things on the Web that have me thinking about the rest of our yard.   If I'm being honest, our front yard isn't bad. Not at all.  It is, however...traditional.  It is what everybody in the suburbs has: a foundation bed with a corner tree and a stretch of front lawn from that bed down to the sidewalk.  Followed by a turf parkway between the sidewalk and street.  Over the years, I've done a few things:  planned for some tree planting .  Tucked a Saratoga Ginkgo , some Stachys Hummelo and Sesleria Greenlees into the small island bed by the driveway.  And extended the front porch bed a bit this past year .   The rest is a blank canvas.   Some of the things that I've come across/influenced me a bit include this piece from Gar...

Last month, I created a new bed , down by the sidewalk that has historically been turf that has ALWAYS gone dormant in a big way during the Summer.  Currently, it is small - like about 24" wide and spans the space between our driveway and the large Hackberry tree in the corner of our property.  I knew that I had to think about some drought-resistant plantings down there due to the history of the site and upon excavation, I now know why:  there was a half-inch or so of topsoil standing on top of gravel.   My plan started by transplanting some of the Lemon Coral Sedum that we had in our front porch bed down there in late September .  Doing so, checked a big part of the box for #3 on my 2021 to-do list to work the 'in between two driveways' section.   I also wanted to add something else to the bed before things went dormant for the year, so on one of my trips to the Home Depot, I came across an ornamental grass that sounded interesting.  At 50%...