Why I Oughta...

This post is going up in early July, but these photos are from a week ago - in late June.  The combination of the pink blooms from a pair of Stachys 'hummelo' paird with the long, white barrel-shaped blooms on the Little Henry Sweetspire erupted together.  At the same time.  They're both planted in our front yard, right along the front walk from our driveway.  Below is a look at the Little Henry Sweet Spire Spirea in full bloom: And, tucked right in front of the shrub are a pair of Stachys Hummelo with their pink blooms standing tall on the top of stalks.  I *really* need to plant more of these. Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' with Little Henry Sweetspire Spirea It was humid out when I took this photo, but below you can see them working together: Stachys monieri 'Hummelo' I also should expand this bed out this Fall - with the 'lazy bed' method.  Noted for my [Fall 2025] task list.  

In the Fall of 2023, I planted a pair of Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea shrubs - one in the front yard and one in the backyard.  The one in front didn't come back this year, but the one in back leaf'd out and is now on its second full growing season and doing well.   I was drawn to these during my Japanese Maple phase and when I saw another one at the Big Box nursery recently, I decided to bring it home to add a new, different color and texture to the front yard Island bed. These are dwarf-like shrubs that has lace-leaf or fern-like foliage.  Here's what First Editions says about the Matcha Ball shrub : Forming a perfect round ball fern-like leaves cover Matcha Ball® in a fresh shade of green, much like Matcha tea. When the leaves first emerge in very early spring, the leaves and petioles have hints of red and orange-peach that ultimately mature to green in the summer and yellow in the fall. The photo at the top shows off those orange-peach color.  Here, below, is...

In the Fall of 2023, I planted a pair of fern-like shrubs called Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea.  One in the front porch bed and one in the backyard - in the kitchen-curved bed .    The one if front appears to have been lost, but the one in back has ALREADY leaf'd out.  In a funny way.  The tips are full of leaves.  And the base is full of leaves.  But, the stems are a little bare.  See below for the current shape of this small shrub: This shrub behaved oddly last year - with a bud-burst in November .  Yes...November.  Late in the year, when the temps were dropping.   And, I documented some (dang!) rabbit damage on this thing this past Winter.   I'm pretty sure *that* is the reason for the odd growth pattern this year. 

The (dang) rabbits are indiscriminate with their gnawing this Winter.  Beyond girdling my Belgian Fence trees , they're also eating away at the green tips of my other shrubs, including this Matcha Ball Ash Leaf Spirea.  I planted this one in Fall of 2023 and really liked the fern-like, almost Japanese-Maple-like foliage .   Below is a picture showing the newly exposed centers of some of the branches on this shrub after they've been clipped right off by these furry pests. This shrub came back just fine last Spring and leaf'd out .  But, then something weird happened and it struggled with (I think) drought stress.  It dropped many of its leaves.  Then...in November...it set buds that STARTED TO OPEN (eek!) just as Winter was setting in .  Drought stress. Confused bud burst. Now, rabbit pressure.  This is one to watch this Spring. 

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: