Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos showing the transplant location of three purple Astilbes that I moved from the north bed to the south bed where they're (now) tucked in amongst some other Fanal Astilbes.  In that post, I mentioned that this was the first of my early Fall transplant moves that I was planning to take on as the weather begins to turn cooler.  On my [ Fall 2022 ] task list was another transplant project:  Twinkle Toes Lungwort .   I planted three of these Lungwort in the south bed back in the Fall of 2020 and they've done really well over the past two growing seasons.  All three of them have put on size and are really lovely dotted silver, low border-loving plants.   In my post from a couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to dig these up and move them closer to the front of the bed.  The reality is that they're low-lying plants and need to be closer to the front so I can plant something more intermediate behind them....

Starting with this post from early March and carried through as #1 on my 2022 priority list was the discussion of shrubs and how I needed to focus on adding them to add depth, structure and the notion of layering to our garden.  Then last week, over the course of a few 'shrub exploration' posts, I tried to organize my thinking via some specific garden bed sections - including the lilac area , a north-side mixed shrub section by the trampoline , the fire pit area and the spot that *could* be the home of a fire pit-area path extension . Across all of those garden bed 'slices', I was able to create a shrub list that included nine upright evergreens in three different colonies of three each.  Three in the north-side mixed area that would front the transplanted lilas, three in the (current) lilac area that would serve as back layer to a trio of Tardiva Hydrangeas and finally three that would either back three Little Lime Hydrangeas (or perhaps three + 1 to frame the event...

Having locked-in my 2022 priorities for the yard and garden last week , I have begun to think about the practical implementation of the first item on the list:  Shrubs.  A discussion of some of the shrub needs were walked thru earlier in March in this post that laid out a list of needs and included a reference to adding three Tardiva Hydrangeas.  Back in 2017, I included a look at that part of the beds that called for these Tardiva Hydrangeas here .   With all that background out of the way, I think it is useful to look at the current conditions of this portion of the bed AND my current thinking in terms of deciduous shrubs based on some pointers from others.   To be sure, this is NOT a 'clean slate' situation.  I've planted things there that NEED to be relocated. First, I have four Lilac shrubs planted along the fenceline.  Two common Lilacs ( planted in 2018 ) and two Nocture Lilacs ( planted in 2019 ).  NONE of these have worked here...