Why I Oughta...

On the southside of our house, we have three different Disneyland Rose bushes.  They're floribunda roses and the two that are to the furthest East were planted directly into their spots and on the closest to our backyard was transplanted last Spring.  That transplanted one seemed to recover once Spring arrived and leaf'd out .   During the past two winters, I've built a little ring around these Disneyland roses with a net of garden/chicken wire and then filled it with mulched leaves in an attempt to protect them from the dangerous Winter temperatures.  However, I don't really know the efficacy of the protection since in the 2020/2021 Winter, I protected all of them.  So, this past Fall, I decided to leave one of them out - without any protection other than being tucked in against the house on the southside.  You can see the photo below showing the transplanted Disneyland Rose on the left - without protection - and one of the other, larger ones - on the right in the mulc

Last year, we had some Moneywort (Creeping Jenny ) in our front porch container that before Winter set in, I transplanted into a couple of beds to try to grow as ground cover.  One of the plants I divided and planted in the ' in between two driveways' bed that I was just establishing last Fall .   Another one of them ended up behind the fence, but along the house.  This bed is now set against the metal path edging and had a couple of legacy Hostas planted here and there over the years.   This particular Creeping Jenny seemed to weather the Winter just fine (it *is* tucked in against the house and has the fence not far from it, so there isn't harsh Winter winds that could hit it) and this Summer, it seemed to stretch out a bit.  You can see the current state of the ground cover below:  This seems like it needs a few shade tolerant plants tucked in on their side of the main planting of Moneywort, but it also tells me that I can replicate this in other dense-shade areas.  This

Six weeks ago, I posted a photo of part of our garden path on the northside of our house that we installed this Summer that featured a metal edge and a thick layer of Bluestone chips for the gravel.  In that post (from early August), I showed a view from a concrete landing forward to the gate on our fence .  The Bluestone garden path extends PAST the gate and (now) connects our driveway with our backyard.  Or....mostly does.  There's still another section to do that I think we're going to have to do in pavers with a retaining wall.   But, I wanted to capture in the [ garden diary ] how the path works with the driveway.  You can see below how I flared the edging out to make a wider birth and tapered it back to a 48" wide path as it makes the curve around that Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea.  As I said back in August, this project wasn't on my 2021 to-do list , but it should have been.  It was something that we NEEDED to get done and now gives me a bunch of opportunities t

This past weekend, our next door neighbors had a party on their back patio.  It was a really nice time (aside from a sting...) with a lot of great people.  At the party, I found myself sitting in one of their Adirondack chairs and facing my own house.  And I couldn't help but be struck by this big, blank wall staring back at me: This is part of the south side of our house that has a little sideyard that we've (mostly) neglected.  I have three Disneyland Roses over there - you can see two of them in the photo above.  But, there's just a linear, foundation-hugging border and some ratty turf.  Based on how the Village of Downers Grove mandates the grading, there's also a little ditch 1   but other than that, nothing much to see here.   I've long thought about converting all of this side yard into a bed; it gets a lot of sun, the grass doesn't do much for me and it would be a little bonus garden.  The downside is that nobody really sees it - including us.  But, th

A few days ago, I received a new comment from a reader of my garden diary on this post all the way back in late May 2018 titled: " Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Planted - Hedgerow Spring 2018 ".  That post shows the eight columnar European Hornbeam trees that had been delivered and were being planted in our back and side yard to create (at that time, what I hoped to be) a privacy screen.  The comment - from JennyW - is here below: I've talked this before, but I write this daily online diary because I get joy out of doing it. I don't run advertisements.  I don't run sponsored content.  I also write for a pretty narrow audience - mostly myself.  I also look at the analytics data and know that there are really three audiences - in declining size order:   1.  The largest part of the audience: (mostly) one-time search readers (they search for something, click on the link and end up at my blog).   2.  Second biggest audience:  Referral.  This means that people are reading so

  Getting this project done was *NOT* on my 2021 to-do list , but it should have been.  Although, I'd hesitate to call this project 'done', rather more like (this part) being 85% done.  The edging is installed (and has been for a month or more) and now I've put down the minimum amount of bluestone chips gravel, so the path is no longer a muddy mess.  The dark spots you see above are because I tried this path with larger paver/steppers laid in the ground with gravel around them, but it wasn't working.  So, I yanked them out and put down additional gravel.  They will dry out and the whole thing will look uniform in a half-a-day or so. This area has the firewood racks on the left and some random hostas and ferns that I've stuck here over the years on the right.  But...in looking at the inspiration photo here ...not too bad, right?   I still have to extend this path all the way to the driveway, but for now we've solved the most pressing part of the walkway that

Just yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of some newly emerged Frances Williams Hostas that I planted as tiny bare root plants from Costco . When I was out there taking photos of those new plants, I remembered that I had previously planted some bare root hostas - and wondered what their growth trajectory looked like.  So, I went over to the north side of the screened porch and found a grouping of three of the Bressingham Blue hostas that I planted as bare root plants in Spring 2018. That means that what you see in the photo above - a trio of Bressingham Blue hostas - grew like this: 2018 - Planted as bare root.  First growing season 2019 - Second growing season. 2020 - Third growing season.  I included a photo of these in a post in June 2020 . Note, the tops of the foliage reached the line where the foundation hits the house.   2021 - Fourth growing season.  Photo above.  You can see that they've grown in height and width.  And (in this photo) are starting to produce their flowe

A quick look at our trio of Disneyland Roses that are in bloom during the month of June this year with photos below.  I transplanted the third (or first, depending on how you are counting) of these floribunda roses to the southside of our house earlier this year before it broke dormancy .  The other two were planted in the Fall of 2018 and have fared really well without much care.   So, that means that one of them is in the fourth (2018, 2019, 2020 and now 2021) season.  And the other two are in their third growing season (2019, 2020 and now 2021).  First, the two more recent ones - below- with the best performing one located near our gas meter.  It is stretching out and up. And here, below, is a look at the other two.  On the right is the other non-transplanted rose and on the left is the transplanted one - and it looks like the transplant stress has had an impact on the overall size. Below is a closer look at the transplanted Disneyland Rose.  It is flowering, but is significantly s

 At the beginning of June, I posted a photo of the newly transplanted "Indiana Street Iris" that I received from my Sister Vic via her next door neighbor Wes and Suzie.  I'm calling it my Indiana Street Iris since it hails from Indiana Street.  After getting it in the ground, it surprised me by blooming pretty quickly - and you can see this purple bloom on the Iris in very early June - see the photo below:

Back in early March, I transplanted our original Disneyland Rose from our backyard to our sideyard where it joined the pair of other Disneyland Roses which are thriving in a sunny spot along the house.  I had never moved a rose before, so I read up on when/how to make the move and tried to follow the best practices:  pre-dug the destination hole, timed it before the bush came out of dormancy and waited to prune it back until a few weeks AFTER the transplant.   This week, I went over to check on all of the Disneyland Roses (and to confirm the potential location for a pair of espalier'd trees along the house there ) and wanted to see the difference between the three floribunda roses.   The pair of Disneyland Roses that were there pre-transplant were put in the ground in Fall 2018 .  And, I mostly neglected them.  Despite the lack of attention, they thrived and flowered.  And this past Winter, I tried to protect and overwinter them with a ring of leaf mulch .  Seemed to work.  The th

Last Spring, our neighbors to the north began framing their house and once the window placements were set, I came to the realization that our row of Frans Fontaine Hornbeam trees were doing a pretty great job of screening between our houses.  But, there was an edge spot - closer to the front of the house - that was going to be exposed to one of their new windows.  So, on Earth Day 2020, we decided to plant a columnar flowering pear tree (yeah...I know.  they're not great trees.  But, I needed to put in something that was inexpensive, narrow in habit and, ummm, fast growing.  The Chanticleer Pear tree fit the bill . When I planted it , the tip top of the tree was right at the fence level.  But, by the time Fall came around , it had put on more than 18" to the top.  Have a peek at it in October of last year .   The tree was beginning to do its job.   I've had mixed luck with these trees.  I had a large (3"+ caliper) planted in our front yard in 2017.  It died that firs

Back at the end of April, we planted a tree on Earth Day outside of our screened porch.  It is a Chanticleer Pear - which, I know....I know...isn't the best tree to be planting in our landscape, but we were facing a set of circumstances that warranted this approach.  Our neighbors to the north were building their house all this calendar year and while we had planted our row of eight Frans Fontaine European Columnar Hornbeams to provide screening from our back patio and screened porch , we planted them without knowing where the house was going to be built.   By Earth Day, the new house next door had the framing done and - much to our surprise - we had *most* of their windows screened with trees.  But, there was ONE new window - closer to the front of the house that was basically unblocked by the Frans Fontaine Hornbeams. Have a look at this post from back in April - where you can see the window I'm talking about . And now, have a look at the same view as it looks now - in late O

We have three rose bushes in our yard.  Two in our sideyard - with southern exposure and one planted in a rear bed outside of our kitchen.  They are all the same cultivar:  Disneyland Roses .  I don't know much about roses, but I'm learning.  It turns out, Disneyland Roses are Floribunda Roses.  There are a bunch of varieties of roses including tea, hybrid tea, Grandiflora and - what the Disneylad Roses are - Floribunda Roses. Sunnyside Nursery has a post titled "What The Heck Is The Difference Between Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora & Floribunda Roses? " that lays out the basics. Knowing I only have this one cultivar, I've begun to educate myself on the care of Floribunda roses.    According to HeirloomRoses.com , Floribunda Roses give you "Minimum upkeep with maximum color".  They detail what makes a Floribunda Rose unique here : The Floribunda Rose is a crossbred flower that is loved for its hardiness in harsh climates, minimal upkeep, and its ability to

These things keep doing better than they should.  They are on the southside of our house, in full sun and I've left them alone after I mulched them.  Here's what they looked like in Spring . They bloomed earlier this year and have kept on going.  Here, below, is a close up of the Western-most plant. Here, below, is the other one - closer to the front porch.  I have one more of these that I have to move over by these , but I'm not sure the best time - (seems like Spring before bloom time is the best). 

This pair of Limelight Hydrangeas put our a great show each Summer and Fall.  I posted a photo of them in October of 2019 when they were weighed down with tons of flower blooms .  And here's a photo from the previous Summer - just a little bit over two years ago - when these were greening up for the Summer.  These are located to the south of our front porch. I gave these a pretty hard prune in the late Winter and they're responding (seemingly) well this Spring.  Limelight Hydrangeas bloom on "new wood" , so that's a big part of the reason for the hard prune.  I gave both of these a heavy mulching this Spring - their first in two years - and they get plenty of water from our gutter run-off, so I think I've set them up for success. 

The last time I checked in on our Disneyland roses on the side of our house was back in September of 2019 when they were flowering .  At that time, one of them - the one closer to the rear of our house - was bigger than the other one.  Today, that trend continues with the one you see above being the one closer to the rear of our house.  Below, you can see the context of that Disneyland rose - adjacent to the vent in our house and the window well.  Here's the other one - closer to the front of the house - that is much smaller.  They're both showing signs of growth after being pruned late this Winter.  I pruned off some off some of the growth to try to shape them a bit into a compact form.  I haven't fed these things anything, but I know that roses need some help to bloom strongly.  Next time I put together an order at Home Depot, I'll be adding rose food to try to get these to keep up their growth.

The last time I posted photos of the pair of Disneyland Roses on the side of our house was right in the middle of the hot Summer in early July of this year .  At that time, I remarked at the time that one of them was much larger than the other - with the one being planted towards the front of the house/porch being smaller and without blooms .   Today, you can see a photo collage at the top of the post showing what these things look like come late September.  I've posted the individual photos below as a way to look back at them in larger format.   Planted in October of 2018 , these are growing at two very different speeds/pace. The first Disneyland Rose is the larger one - and it was larger in July, too.  When I planted it, this one had a small bloom on it .  Today, it is multi-stemmed and gaining some height and spread.  The blooms are big and bright.  The other one is smaller.  Just like it was at planting AND in July .  But it, too, is blooming.  So, tha

Back in January, I posted a photo showing off a Belgian Fence espalier that I fell in love with during a visit to Disneyland in Anaheim .  During a recent trip to Southern California, we ended up going back to the park and I found that same espalier.  I wanted to see if it had changed at all during the six months since we had seen each other last.   That's it in the photo above during the end of July.  And while there's some thickening-up of the branches, it is mostly the same as we last saw it.  Due to their climate, one would think that there isn't much seasonal differences, right?  They certainly get some growth in Spring and Summer, but Winter dormancy in Los Angeles isn't quite like what it is here in Zone 5B. Seeing this again, only enhanced - in my own mind - my desire to bring a Belgian Fence to our property.  It is #2 on my 2019 To-do List , but here we are in (almost) mid-August and I haven't even acquired the trees.  That isn't to say that I hav