Why I Oughta...

Over the past couple of years, our garden has been home to a couple of Spring Ephemerals:  Virginia Bluebells and Bloodroot .   They both naturalized via our neighbor's garden.  And... my neighbor dug-up a couple and gifted them to us a few years back .   They live in the 'kitchen curved' bed amongst the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and put on a quick Spring show.  Hence the name..."Spring Ephemerals".   As I was cleaning up a little bit in the beds this week, I came across this crown of a plant that was just emerging from the soil.  See below for the buds emerging from the soil - partially covered by snow: Since these things naturalize and have been spreading, I'm NOT certain which this is - but based on some of the images online - I'm pretty sure this is a crown of a Virginia Bluebells plant.   From snow-covered trees yesterday .  To these sure signs of life the very next day.  Spring is here. 

Over on the north border of the 'understory bed', there are some signs of life via these green tips of Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (Lungwort) that are emerging from the leaf litter.  The temperatures last week varied between 65 and 25, but I'm thinking that the soil is warming up and that's sending some signals to these perennials that they need to 'come alive'.    I'm not sure how many of these are over there, but they're from the division/transplant project that took place across the yard in the Fall of 2023 .   You can see the pair of spotted, fuzzy foliage plants in the image below:  You can also see A LOT of leaf litter.  Leaves.  Stems.  Some chopped up, some not-so-chopped-up.  What you don't see a lot of is bare soil - so I'll take a little (tiny) victory lap on that fact.  By the time REAL Spring comes around, I'm going to likely clean up some of this so it doesn't make a thick, impenetrable layer.   The signs of the ...

Out in the (enclosed) greenhouse portion of the garden center at our local big box store, things are starting to look like Spring.  The arrival of grass seed in big forty-pound bags along with the cardboard display racks of vegetable and annual flowering seed packets are usually the first things in-stock for the season. But the past few years, they've been joined by something new:  dahlia tubers sold in color-combination sets.  Last year, I saw Longfield Gardens bringing to market a number of dahlia 'kits' and Proven Winners was running some mixed bulb boxes featuring gladiolas .  and this year Proven Winners is out first with their "Garden Blends" boxes that combine a number of dahlia tubers into an easy-to-plant package. The Proven Winners site has a page up about bulbs where they share that they've partnered with Garden State Bulbs to supply the summer-flowering tubers.    Here's how they're described: Are you giddy for gladiolus? Do you adore dahl...

Down in the IB2DWs bed near the sidewalk are now the home of one of the FIRST signs of Spring.  Some of our tulip bulbs have sprung tips and they've emerged in a purple-ish cone-shape that is peeking through the soil and mulch.  See below for the first couple of these Spring flower bulbs arriving.   Last year, we had a very mild Winter and the tulips emerged in early January .  Yes..January.  We're about a month-or-so behind 2024.   We're CLEARLY NOT done with Winter, so these will stay in this state for a couple more weeks before putting on any vertical growth.  But, seeing these sure warms my gardening heart and makes me remember that the season is right-around-the-corner. 

In our old house in Elmhurst, our neighbor to the South had a massive hedge of mature Lilac shrubs.  They provided plenty of screening, but they also threw off a profusion of blooms each Spring.  When we moved, having Lilacs were on Nat's wish list.  Over the years, I've ended up planting four (two 'common' and two 'Nocture' ) and transplanting them, too.   The Common ones went in the ground in 2018 .  The Nocturne variety went in the ground in Summer of 2019 - a year later .    They never bloomed.  Too much shade, I suspected.  In the Spring of 2022, I opted to replace them with something that can tolerate the shade a bit more - and is evergreen .   That meant that I dug-up and moved all four Lilac across the yard to an area that gets more sun.   Their first year (in their new location), the Common Lilacs threw off blooms .  Surprisingly.  That was 2022.  Last year, I don't seem to have posted about th...

Just a month ago, the Lemony Lace Elderberry Shrub in our backyard was showing-off some neat-looking purple buds that were about to burst open with a mix of foliage and berries on the stems of this shade-tolerant shrub.  Fast forward to today - 30-or-so-days-later and the foliage of light green (lemon-lime color) and light purple is showing on the shrub that is tucked in against our fence.  See below: This Japanese-Maple-look-alike is something that I've grown to really appreciate and I'm planning on tucking in some groundcover in/around the base this year.  

The pink tulip bulbs that are planted down close to the sidewalk IB2DWs are up and showing out this week with blooms that are opening up.  This area was grass until September of 2021, when I declared this a 'hard-to-grow' spot that wasn't supporting turf.  Between the poor soil conditions (clay + gravel from the driveway and sidewalk installation) plus the heat that radiates from those during the Summer made this an inhospitable spot that held Kentucky Bluegrass turf that ALWAYS went dormant during the heat of the Summer.  Look back here for a photo of this section when it was grass .  In the Fall of 2021, I planted a number of tulip bulbs down by the sidewalk and they had their first Spring in 2022 .  That makes this (2024), their third year of blooms. That same Fall (2021), I added an ornamental grass - Panicum Shaenandoah Red Switchgrass in that same bed that has come back each season.  Last Fall, I planted a pair of variegated sedums - Sedum Kamtschat...

Last May, I planted a pair of Brookside Geraniums in the square beds on either side of our backstoop along with a pair of Spring Grove Ginkgos .  These geraniums were from the Morton Sale and I tucked them into the back of the little beds.  A month-after-planting, I looked-back-in on the planting and they were doing well - and in bloom by the end of June .   That meant that this past Winter was their FIRST Winter - and I didn't have any data on their reemergence.  We can now add these to the [garden diary] showing the Brookside Geranium foliage comes up in a small, dark-green clump in mid-March.    You can see the current state of this Brookside Geranium below: Last year, these sort-of 'spilled' out one side of the bed and didn't spread very much.  Perhaps this will be the year that these will fill-out a little more.  

This past season, I opted for a different method of winter crown protection for our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) than I've used in previous years.  In each of the past few Falls, I have set up a ring of chicken wire and filled it with chopped-up fallen tree leaves to serve as insulation on the crown of the rose bush.  This year, I opted for mounding of biosolids .  A 'hilling up' in the traditional way, but using municipal biosolids vs something like compost.  As Winter started to fade away, I went out and inspected the roses and discovered a good part of the canes were still green - so that means that the combination of a mild Winter, their protected location and the mounding of biosolids did their job.   That also meant that it was time to get out there and do an annual pruning of the roses - part of my 'seasonal tasks' that I keep-up on in each of my annual to-do lists. (This year will be no different.) I've done this each of the past-few late Win...

Just yesterday, I posted a photo showing some of the new red tips of peonies that had emerged from the mulch beds (in this case...a biosolid-top-dressed bed) and talked about how they were a sign of Spring.  But, the peonies aren't the ONLY red-tipped perennial that has arrived for the year: some of our Fanal Astilbes that are planted in our backyard shade garden are making their way out of the mulch to begin their annual foliage show.  Below, is a photo of the Fanal Astilbe that is planted at the furthest East-end of the row of these shade-tolerant perennials: I started with a dozen of these Fanal Astilbes planted in the backyard in 2020 along the south border and have moved them a few times.   By last Summer, these were thick, full and happy - so I put them on my Fall Dividing list.   And, I was able to dig-up and divide four of them - creating four new 'free plants' that I planted on the other side of the yard in a hosta-replacement project . ...

Over the years, we've had a tough go-of-it with peonies in our yard.  I suppose you can say that we were totally spoiled when we lived in Elmhurst.  We had a number of peony plants that were very productive.  But, in Downers?  Not a lot of luck.   I have long suspect that was a result of too-much shade, so that lead me to a number of years of moving them around.  From the far back to near(er) to the house.  And then, in 2022, I moved a couple of them out to the IB2DWS bed.   And guess what happened?  We got our first peony bloom in 2023.   Or, should I say 'blooms'.  The IB2DWs peony produced a number of blooms.  And, so too, did the ones by our curved-kitchen-window bed .   Each year, they emerge in late Winter/early Spring with their redish-purple tips.  Here's the 2023 version when they showed-up in early April .   Last year, because of the production, I decided to leave them as they w...

It is (barely) Mid-March and I'm ALREADY seeing our Saucer Magnolia tree (multi-trunk) in our front yard dotted with signs of pink petals that have begun to emerge from their wooly shells after a long Winter's nap.   What is MOST striking about this is the timing:  a full month ahead of 2023.  Here's a post from April 12, 2023 that shows the pink flowers at the same state they're currently in - photos below. 2023's bloom-time of mid-April was (mostly) in-line with historicals.  2022 saw the tree in peak-bloom in late April .   2024 - (so far) flowers emerged in mid-March 2023 - Mid-April peak-Magnolia bloom 2022 - Late-April 2022:  Peak-Magnolia at end of month 2021 - Mid-April 2021 : In bloom by mid-month (April). 2020 - Early April 2020 : Blooms began the first week of April. 2019 - The tree did NOT bloom at all. 2018 - Early May 2018 : Didn't bloom until early/mid May 2018. This tree was planted in 2017 , so this make it the eighth growing se...

I planted a lone Lemony Lace Elderberry (from Proven Winners) late in the season of Fall 2022.  It was bought at the end-of-season sale at the Growing Place and came back for the first time last Spring.  Here's a post showing the purple buds on the shrub in April 2023 .    Last year, I planted another pair of elderberry shrubs - this time they were dark-foliage Eiffel Tower varieties .   The Lemony Lace Elderberry has BRIGHT green foliage that resembles a finely dissected Japanese Maple.  It is also supposed to flower.  This one with big, white blooms that arrive before the foliage.  But, I didn't seen any blooms in the first growing season.  Maybe we will this year?   That's what happened with the treeform Doublefile Viburnum shrubs.  Planted in Spring of 222 and didn't flower that first year.  But, when they came back for their second growing season (2023), they put out a lovely set of large, white blooms . ...

The tulip bulbs that are planted (somewhat randomly) around the bed behind the large Northern Red Oak tree (Tree Swing Tree) have emerged for the year.  These are purple and yellow and white flowers that live amongst hostas, ferns and grasses.   And...wild onion.    Here's a couple of photos (below) that show the location of the bulbs - they're *mostly* scattered behind the tree trunk in the bed.

Right around this time every (early) March, the green tips of a set of daffodil bulbs emerge from the mulch in the bed behind the secondary Northern Red Oak tree.  These were inherited - and I didn't plant them.  I've observed them over the years - as far back as our first Spring here (2018) -  and here's last year's post .  They have flowered exactly ONCE.  Just once - in 2021 .   Will they bloom this year?  I doubt it.

I planted a pair of Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spireas in my burst of [Fall Planting] last October.  One in the front yard and the other by the Fanal Astilbes along the southside of the backyard border.    I was out puttering around in the back and noticed a flash of green on the tips of the shrub.  A closer look showed me that the buds on this shrub were/are opening up.   This is the first Spring for this thing, so I'm glad to see it coming back and (seemingly) survive the winter cold.  Below is a close-up photo of the buds and then a wider photo showing the overall structure:

In mid-October, I transplanted a groundcover plant (Burgundy Glow Ajuga) from one of the kid's container fairy gardens into the small foundation bed outside of our screened porch door .  It has a massive set of roots that I had to man-handle to get out of the container and that likely put the plant under a lot of stress.   Then...the cold temperatures arrived and it appears that this plant didn't have much time to recover and put down any new roots in its new home.   Here's what it looks like today (below).  It did NOT handle the cold temperatures as well as some of my other Ajuga colonies. Now...a closer inspection reveals that ALL might NOT be lost.  My eye spies a small (maybe quarter or less of the plant) that appears to have healthy (although winter-damaged) foliage.  That *might* mean that it can come back as the temperatures warm up.  I'll be keeping an eye on it in the next few weeks to see if it wakes up.  I'm going to try to ap...

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...

I was out in the backyard this week and after walking around and being bummed about all the rabbit (dang rabbits!) damage , my emotions turned back upwards when I walked over to the little colony of Hellebores we have planted underneath some large trees (Walnut and Catalpa).  All of the Hellebores are showing their new 2024 growth emerging from the soil with pink, almond-shaped buds.  Here's a few photos showing this year's growth:  Ivory Prince Hellebore Emerges in early February in Zone 6a.  As of this Spring, we had six (6) Hellebores in the garden.  I bought two (Merlin variety) at the Morton Sale and planted them along the existing four (1 Sally's Shell, 3 Ivory Prince) .   As noted in late August, both of the Merlins died .  Didn't even make the Summer.  Bummer.  My first real, true (and VERY FAST) failure from the Morton Sale.  I lost a Maidenhair Fern that I bought in 2021 that very same year, but I think that was due to ne...

Imagine my surprise when - on my walk to take the trash cans to the curb this week - I notice that there's some new, green foliage tips that have emerged from around the large Maple parkway tree in the front of our house.  "It's January 1st", I said to myself.  "What the heck is going on?" What is going on is (apparently) some of our tulip bulbs have begun to wake up and begin their 2024 growing season.  Here, below, are a couple of photos showing these confused (or, just too-early) tulips.  The first is a wider shot, the second is a close-up of the same tulip tips: Our tulips emerged in mid-February in 2023 .  This is a full six-weeks earlier.   That move to Zone 6a - from 5b - sure is meaningful, huh?   I suspect that these tips will remain just that - tips - for the next month-plus.  We haven't really had a lot of cold, cold Winter (yet), but I know it is coming in January.