Why I Oughta...

One of the plants that I picked up at this past year's Morton Arboretum Plant Sale - BUT failed to post about when I planted - was this decidious shrub called a Spice Bush (Lindera benzoin).  I tucked it in back by the fire pit and mostly forgot about it.  Below is a snapshot of the sign from the sale that I took back in April and you can see that it has a Forsythia with yellow Spring flowers.   Below is the plant tag showing that it will grow up to be 6-12 feet tall and 6-12 feet wide.  And will handle partial shade: Below is a photo showing what it looked like when we brought it home with green leaves on woody stems.  It was about 15" tall from the soil-level. This was, clearly, not on the plan.  But, we still bought it, on a whim. The REAL reason that we bought it was that the lady at the sale told us about the Spice Bush Swallowtail, a butterfly, that relies on this plant during the caterpillar stage .  What's not to like about that, right?   Helps us continue to meet