Why I Oughta...

Every Fall, I've gone about protecting our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) from Winter using an insulation method of laying Fall leaves around the bush.  Typically, I take a small ring of chicken wire and create a ring.  Anchored by a bamboo pole, I erect the chicken wire ring around the rose and fill the center with leaves that I pick up off the lawn.  Some of those leaves are chopped up with the mower, some are just raked up and piled in there. This post from November 2022 shows how I set up that Winter Protection for roses last year .   H ere's another post showing Fall 2020 that shows similar chicken wire rings and leaves that I used to overwinter the crowns of our Disneyland Roses. That system seemed to work just fine.  It wasn't elegant, but (*knock on wood*) I haven't lost a Disneyland Rose yet.  But, my roses are starting to get large and unwieldy.  That has made the chicken wire rings more challenging every year.  So, I went off on the Web to see if there

The last few Falls, I've divided a great number of Summer Beauty Alliums .  This year, I didn't get to all that many, but I *did* add a few 'free' plants.   There was a pair of them flanking the Baby Blue Spruce in back that were getting pretty big.  You can see them below - on the right in the first photo and more in the middle in the second: I dug them both up and divided each - then replaced them in their spots.  Those two new plants - via division - went in on that side of the garden.  One behind the fence - Hosta Replacement.  The other by the Disneyland Roses. Two 'free plants'.  That I KNOW perform.  That's like free money, right? With these two, I BELIEVE that I've wrapped up Fall Planting posts. What's the total from below?   Holy crap.  I planted 68 new things.  Created 26 new plants via division.  Adding 94 total things to the garden in a four-week sprint.  30 ground cover plants make up almost 1/3rd of the 94.  Wow. 94 things in the garde

100-or-so days after planting a 5-gallon Climbing Hydrangea ( Hydrangea anomala petiolaris ) back by the firepit, we're seeing some real upwards leader growth.  Or...what I plantsmen call "aerial rootlets".   We have this climbing, flowering vine going up a Hackberry tree and the R O U G H bark sure seems to be helpful in giving those aerial roots something to grab on-to. See below for the current mid-Summer form of our Climbing Hydrangea:  There are a few, sparse blooms on it this year, too.  So, that's kinda nice, right?   I'm hoping that this will wrap around (and not injure) the tree, so that it can be viewed from all angles. This also has me wondering:  where else could I plant one?  I've long talked about espalier'd trees along the garage, but maybe this is a better answer there, too?  Or...what about both? Last year, I saw one of these at 50% off the end-of-year sale at the Growing Place .  I'll have to pop back over there again this year. 

The three Disneyland Roses (Floribunda roses) that are planted in full sun on the south side of our house are currently in the midst of their second bloom cycle of the growing season.  The first set of blooms this season were in early/mid June .  Now, about six-weeks later, we're seeing the next flush of pink/orange/salmon blooms.  See below for a look at some of the Disneyland Roses in mid-Summer: Here, below, is a look at the three Disneyland Roses (along with the pair of Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees that are in espalier) along the side of our house: In 2022, I saw four bloom cycles - June, August, late September and again in early November .  Yes...November.   My plan is to feed these this week and then one more time (September) before putting a stop to the seasonal fertilizer for the season.  

As far back as Summer of 2017 (the Summer we moved into our house), I've been posting, talking, dreaming and planning for the 'entrance' to our backyard along the northside of our house.  This post from July 2017 shows where we started - a small, narrow strip of land between our screened porch and our fence that has a grade down from our house .    In the six (yes...SIX) years since then, I've looked at this problem a ton of ways.  I've had pros come up with designs .  I found inspiration on YouTube that included a waterfall .   And, I began to address some of the issues with this spot.   What were those issues? 1.  Privacy.  We needed to add some screening along this fenceline to make our patio and screened porch usable. 2.  Access.  Getting from our driveway to our patio has been tough - the grade has been the biggest pain. 3.  Size.  It is narrow in there.  4.  Cost.  How can I accomodate the right mix of materials and construction to make the costs work. Now...

Our Disneyland Roses (at least the ones that have been planted with southern exposure a few seasons back) get their first flush of flower blooms in early June.  They bloomed in early/mid June in 2022 and in early/mid (10th of the month) June in 2021, too .  This year is no different as the first sets of blooms have hit our Floribunda roses.  Below are some photos - first showing some of the flowers that I clipped off and have put in a vase in our kitchen. The Disneyland Rose - in Zone 5b - get at least three full flushes of blooms.  June (now) is the first.  And the last one is in October.   There is another one in-between in August or so.  At least...that's what I think happens.  Perhaps they get four flushes?  I'll have to observe more closely this year.  While the bloom schedule is right on track, I'm seeing something that is new to me:  leaves being eaten up and destroyed by SOMETHING.  See below for a look at the tattered foliage: Pest?  Fungus?  Slugs?  Roseslugs?  A

Our Indiana Street purple Iris is blooming (again).   I posted a photo showing the pointed foliage tips emerging from the mulch early this Spring .  And now, we're getting a purple flower show on the side of our front porch.  The Iris came from my Sister who dug it out of her (and our...for two years) neighbor Wes' garden before it was destroyed by a teardown.  Wes (and my sister and us) all lived on Indiana Street.  Hence...me calling this our "Indiana Street Iris". We don't have too many flowers in our garden and I think I've been conditioned to think of irises as a flower that would be in 'your grandmothers garden' and something pedestrian.  (note...I also don't know the difference between Siberian and Bearded Irises...) I suppose I put them in the same category as Daylilies.  Something that I'm sure is fine for YOUR garden, but not something I need in mine.   I'm not totally sure why I feel that way.  But, I'm starting to think diff

Planted in the early Fall of 2021 , this pair of Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees are starting to show a bit of espalier training form with four levels on very young trees.  One year ago ( post here ), all four layers weren't really quite established.  Today?  All of them are *started*, with the inside, bottom layer the smallest.   See below for a photo showing these flowering crabapple trees in mid-May 2023. My plan is to turn the tips up by pruning them off and driving new growth.  The 2nd-for-lowest limbs are probably the closest to being ready for that hard prune.  I recently pruned off the apical meristem in an attempt to drive new, thicker growth down the tree.  I've also left on a trunk-thickener branch at the bottom that I don't intend to train, but am using to thicken-up the trunk. 

They say that roses are 'heavy eaters'.  That means that - if you have them in your garden - you should feed them every 30 days or so.  And that's what I've attempted to do over the past few growing seasons.  #16 on my 2023 to-do list is to continue with the seasonal projects - including feeding.   I'm trying to get to know these floribunda roses a bit more this season; starting with a hard prune a few weeks back .  I had a little bit of leftover Rose Food from last year, so I split the bag three-ways and sprinkled the granules at the base of the three roses on the side of the house.   If you look closely at the photo below, you can also see (in addition to the rose fertilizer granules) some signs of new, green(ish-red) growth from the canes of the floribunda rose. Here, below, is the brand (Vigoro) that I had on hand.   If the garden diary is any guide, it seems that I have seen a flush of blooms about 30 days after feeding.  With this being the first stage, I'

With the days getting longer and me itching to get outside and work in the yard and garden - but recognizing that it is *still* too early to cleanup, I've been finding tasks that I *can* do.  Now.  Like...pruning shrubs.  I posted about the hydrangeas up front that received a haircut .  Today, I'm showing the before/after of the three Disneyland Roses on the southside of our house.  First...(of course) is the 'before'.  A series of three photos are below that run from west-to-east.  The first is the smallest Disneyland Rose that is closest to our gate.  The last one is the one closest to the front yard (the one by the gas meter).  They all look the same.  Naked and alone.   In past years, I've done a light pruning of these floribunda roses.  This year?  I followed what I did with the Hydrangeas.  And went ham.  A few things to note in the photos below:  First...the leaf litter.  That's from their Winter protection.  Second...there is *some* green.  Third:  I'

Back a few years, my sister gifted me a clump of purple bearded (I think) Iris that came out of her (and...for a couple of years...MY) neighbor's garden . His name was Wes and he had a couple of rows of Irises that lined his driveway.  Wes and his wife moved away and his house was torn down for a McMansion to go up on the property.  But, before the bulldozers arrived, Vic dug up some of the Irises.  I planted them on the side of our house and they flowered that first season .   Last Spring - in early April - I posted a walkabout that showed early foliage including these Iris tips .  Looks like these are about three weeks ahead of 2022.  See below for the tips: Wes' garden might be gone.  And, we might have moved off of Indiana Street.  But, with this plant, I can say that little bit of Indiana Street (and Wes' garden) are alive and well over here in Downers. 

A few days ago, I yanked out the chicken-wire cages that held a heavy leaf blanket on top of our three Disneyland Roses.  Those leaves were there to help insulate the crown of the roses from the harsh Winter conditions.  With the warmer temperatures (and...shorter periods of sub-freezing temps) here, it was time to let the roses breath a bit.  I still have to clean up all the leaf litter (see below), but for now, these Disneyland Roses are on their course for 2023.   I removed the cages around mid-March last year , so I went about a week earlier this year.   I'll start feeding these in April and then hit them every month to keep them happy. 

I wrote about how I was seeing some Wild Onions appear and looked at the soil temperature tool to find out that the soil temp currently in my Zone 5b is higher than the historical averages.    I also showed how I was seeing the Daffodils emerge this past week, too.  Those seem normal.  Or close to their history in my garden diary. But, an Allium showing up this early? Last year (2022), I was documenting the tips of Allium bulbs emerging in early April .  This year?  See below for a look at some of them that sit on the side of the hosue at the feet of the SugarTyme Crabapple Trees: Now, these were planted in 2021, so last Spring (2022), was their first shot at growth.  Perhaps they were just delayed.   I'll have to get out and have a better look around to see if other Allium bulbs are emerging early, too. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to create the chicken wire ring to help protect one of our Disneyland Rose bushes (They are a Floribunda Rose) on the southside of our house.  I picked - at that time - the middle one of the three to protect.  I've done this a number of years now and I'm NOT certain that it does anything really.  But...it doesn't take much effort and I'd hate to lose these flowers, so I decided to do all three this year.   That's what you see below:  all three Disneyland Rose bushes now protected by a ring of 2' tall, 1" chicken wire.  Then, filled with leaf litter to help create (hopefully) an insulation blanket for Winter.    I still have a tiny bit of leaf collection/pickup/mulching to do, but I'm hoping these 'settle' a bit so I can put more leaves in the bins. 

Hard to believe that it is mid-November and that we're still getting roses off of our Disneyland Roses.  Here, below, is a little set of flowers and buds that I cut off yesterday morning - right as the weather around here is beginning to turn towards Winter.   This past week, we've had temperatures in the 60's and 70's during the day, but now we're facing the harsh reality:  Winter is arriving.  This Disneyland Rose bush is putting on its final show:  This past week, I took a couple of chicken wire cages off of some hostas that have gone dormant and connected them together to make a Disneyland Rose winter protection cage.  The last time I showed these roses in our sideyard was in September when I talked about prepping for Winter .   This past Winter, I protected *some* of the roses and left others unprotected.  This year...I'm going to just try to do what I can do.  I started with one - the middle one.  You can see that cage below and how I've started to fil

Posting a photo and trying to take a 'partial dubya' for a down-list item on my 2022 to-do list in the garden and yard .  This is an item that I was pretty sure I wasn't going to solve - and in fact - stated that on my late-season check-in .  But...I wanted to post here in the [garden diary] a note to show that I should take a partial victory.  Why?  I transplanted a small Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass that was under the Norway Maple to back by the gate.  See below, for a photo of the grass next to the fence gate on the south side: #24 on the list this year read like this : Clean up the south side gate entrance area. Expand the bed forward towards the street (and fill in the gully), lay out large flagstones for walkway and add self-closing gate hardware. Think about cleaning out strawberries that have run wild there and (potentially) expand the beds under the Lindens. This grass is helpful in moving that from 'kinda' to 'yes...a little bit'.   

A year and a month ago, I planted a pair of Crabapple trees along the side of our house on the southside.  After some hemming-and-hawing about what kind of trees I should plant in this spot (knowing I wanted to espalier them), I decided to plant Sugar Tyme Crabapple trees .  Why?  Because they're on the list of species that are both suitable for our Zone AND have 'excellent' disease resistance.  In the 13 months since planting, I've shown these trees in various posts - both about the trees as well as posts showing off the Disneyland Roses.  The most recent post was just last month when I was showing off the late-season blooms on the floribunda roses .    My plan for these is to create a Palmette Verrier shape , which calls for the bottom branches to be the longest, followed up each level with a shorter horizontal branch terminating in a vertical segment.  So far, I've trained out four levels on one of the trees and three levels on the second tree.  The wall these