Why I Oughta...

2024 is one of the years where our large, mature Red Oak trees aren't holding their leaves late into Winter.  This year, they've dropped MOST of them already - by December 1st.  I've posted about these two backyard Oak trees - the Tree Swing Oak and the southside Oak - over the years - documenting how much foliar marcescence takes places.   This year - here are a couple of photos showing the canopy of these trees on December 1st:  mostly bare. Here is December 6, 2019 - when the Oaks were holding TONS of leaves .   Here is November 23, 2020 - when the trees (both of them) had dropped all their leaves . Here is December 2, 2021 - when the tree swing tree was holding leaves .   Here is November 22, 2023 - when they were FULL of brown leaves .  

The larger, more-showy Alliums are long gone.  Bloomed, were show-offs, and now all that is left behind are husks of their former glory.  But, not Drumstick Alliums.  I planted 50 Drumstick Allium bulbs back in the Fall of 2021 .  And didn't think much about it.  In fact, I'm not sure they were planted in the right spots.  But today?  I'm finding them to add a nice little pop of color to our garden and think I should plant even more this Fall.   I have them IB2DWs, in back and on the side of our house.  They are blooming right now - mid/late June and they work well (for me) when they're interplanted amongst other things so the little purple flower head sort-of peeks out.   My Fall 2024 bulb planting should include more of these.  I could see a big MASS planting and/or interplanted in lots of places.  

Yesterday, I posted about how as I've matured as a gardener, I'm focusing on garden edits vs additions.  In that post, I called our four spots that I'd like to edit - Tree Swing tree, Kitchen Curved, Hosta Replacement and IB2DWs.   The first one that I've started with is the Tree Swing tree bed.  I was out with my shovel cutting in an edge and took on the edit - starting with finding new homes for some things. My edit criteria are: 1.  Work in our yard. 2.  Are appealing (to me). 3.  Have some four-season appeal. My plan is to feature Hakonechloa Macra grasses (the green ones) and Alliums to start - both of which check all three criteria.  Here (below) is the 'before' - the garden edit - where the plants sit currently.  Just in the wrong (to my eye) spot: First, I dug up the Seslaria Autumnalis (three of them) and pulled them out.  They're moving back in the garden, but that's for a separate post.  Below is a photo showing the hol...

2024 is shaping up to the year of garden edits.  A lot less additions in our backyard garden, but some edits to shift towards things meet some criteria:   1.  Work in our yard. 2.  Are appealing (to me). 3.  Have some four-season appeal. That means that changing out things that don't meet those critieria (hostas) and replace them with things that do - both plants that I have on-hand and ones that I need to bring home. My time in this garden is too short to spend time or effort on plants that I don't love.  The edits that I'm thinking about right now focus on mass plantings and repetition.   There's a garden in our neighborhood that I walk past and admire often.  It has a large property with simple, repetitive-planted beds that have hostas, groundcover and a couple of other perennials.  There's A LOT of beds, but they MOSTLY ALL planted in the same pattern - groundcover in front, hostas behind and a third perennial in the rear. ...

Last year, I planted a number of Seslaria Autumnalis (Autumn Moor Grasses) in our front porch beds that I picked up from Roy Diblik's Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin.  They did REALLY well in their first year - so well, in fact - that I decided to roll-the-dice and divide a couple of them in their FIRST Fall in the garden.  I divided three of them and planted the three new divisions in the backyard - around the tree-swing Oak tree .    Some of my other Fall Divisions dealt with some 'heaving' and I'm not sure if they're going to make it.  But, these three Moor Grasses?  See below - they appear to be putting on green blades for their second growing season: These are inter-planted with some Summer Beauty Allium that are planted closer to the border.  And, what appears to be some to-be-determined Allium bulbs (based on the foliage) closer to the trunk of the tree.   My plan is to (likely) divide a few more of the Moor Grasses in front, bu...

Fall is the right time to divide Seslaria.  And, I'm going to attempt to divide and transplant first-year Seslaria Autumnalis.  Why?  Because I've been so happy with them up front this year.  I identified the three largest plants in front - like the one below - and dug up and split it in two. I wanted to improve the ring around the tree-swing tree with something more interesting - so I moved the new divisions to sit in between the Christmas Tree hostas that I moved here last year.  These are behind the Summer Beauty Allium divisions from last year, too.   Below is a look at some of the divisions and where they went in the backyard. I tucked the original plants back in, too.  Now they were just half-the-size. There's a photo above of a TINY division.  I'm not counting that, so, we're calling this a +3 free plants for Fall Dividing. I'm posting this in November 2023, but I did this dividing and transplanting in mid-October 2023.

Late last year, I dug up, divided and transplanted a number of Summer Beauty Ornamental Onions (Allium) around the backyard - including four divisions around the tree-swing Northern Red Oak tree .   I also dug and and divided a large Christmas Tree hosta (that I really like) into three new divisions and planted them behind the allium, closer to the tree trunk . How have those divisions done?  In less than one year, they seem to have recovered quite well.  See below for a couple of photos showing the Summer Beauty Allium, spaced with some polka dot annual plants and the Christmas Tree hostas behind them: They are better than what was there before - a ring of hostas.  And, I've learned that I can pretty sharply divide Summer Beauty and move them around.  Note to self for Fall 2023 dividing.

Just a few days ago, I posted some photos showing a large amount (at least...it FEELS like a large amount) of Northern Red Oak acorns that are coming down in late July/early August this season.   In that post, I mentioned that it was time to document in the [garden diary] an inventory of what the canopy of the tree-swing tree (Northern Red Oak) looks like in early August. This tree was (I think) troubled and as a result, we started it on a course of treatment.  That included the application of a three-year growth regulator.  And, annual applications of a deep-root fertilizer and of some Two-Lined Chestnut borer treatment .   We've now done three-years of treatments on the tree. The growth regulator appeared to help and the tree seemed to have a different outlook after just one year .   I've been trying to document the canopy of the tree over the years - the last time was in Fall of 2022 when it was turning orange and brown .   The tree...

It has been a while since we have had any meaningful acorns to drop from our pair of mature, large Oak trees in our yard.  2019 was a Mast Year - with an enormous volume of acorns dropping.  We could hardly keep up.  But, 2020, 2021 and 2022 were all acorn-free.  I feared that the Mast Year was a result of stress and the tree was in decline.  And the subsequent years sort-of felt the same way. But this year?  The acorns are back.  And dropping in big numbers.   The Red Oak acorns are coming down in such heavy volume that it appears that the squirrels aren't keeping up.  I'm harvesting dozens of nuts out of the lawn every.single.day.  Maybe the squirrels aren't in 'get ready for Winter' mode yet?  So, they're not paying attention?  I've been picking up as many nuts as I can and piling them up on top of the fence on the side of our yard in hopes that the squirrels will find them. These Oak trees have been on a three-year pr...

Last Fall, like the previous ones, I went about trying to dig up, divide and transplant some of the perennials that we have in the garden .  Why?  Well...because...they're 'free plants'.  Nothing better than that, in my mind.  One of the perennials that I went ham-on in the backyard were the multiple colonies of Summer Beauty Allium that are planted around the backyard.  I divided one clump of these Summer Beauties that were in the south beds and divided the clump into four smaller plants and planted them around the base of the Oak tree - the tree-swing tree.  Here's that post from mid-October showing the four plants .   This Spring brings good news - as all four Summer Beauty Allium have emerged in their spots.  See below for a photo from this week showing the tips that have emerged for their first growing season in this bed: These are WELL ahead of the hostas and grasses that are planted in this bed.  I'm looking forward to seeing thes...

It was just last week when I posted a couple of photos showing the full, orange and brown Oak tree canopy in our backyard .  Our two largest trees were holding ALL of their leaves until early November of this year.   Then, we had a HUGE storm.  I'm talking heavy winds.  If you watched the Illini vs. Michigan State football game and saw the punts (into the wind), you know what storm I'm talking about.  What happened to our trees and their marcescence?  Most all of the leaves were stripped from the trees.  What does the backyard look like right now - in mid-November?  See below for a photo showing the very few leaves still on the tree-swing Oak tree and nothing else anywhere. 

On Friday, I posted a look at my initial attempts to divide some of our existing Summer Beauty Allium clumps in our backyard to create more new, 'free' plants.  As of that post, I was up to 27 'free plants' created through division.  Pretty good.  But, I had time and knew I had a few more viable Summer Beauty Ornamental Onion plants that were large enough to divide.  I also knew that I had a spot around the front of the Tree Swing Oak tree that is currently planted with hostas, but gets more shade than hostas typically like.  So, I dug those out and relocated them back into the understory garden bed. And, I dug up some Summer Beauty Allium from the southside beds , divided them and relocated some smaller plants to around the Tree Swing Oak tree.  Here, below, is the 'before' look - before I started to divide these.  My shovel is right in front of one of the clumps I divided. I added some of these divisions right next to the existing colony.  See ...

Right around Labor Day last year (2021), I planted a little cluster of three Hakonechloa Macra Hakone Grasses that I bought at Northwind in Wisconsin .  These were planted on the border of the north bed right around the Tree Swing Northern Red Oak tree.  They seemed to do fine during the Fall last year and then went dormant for the season.  This Spring, I marked their reemergence in May of this year and was happy to see them come back for their first true growing season in the garden.  What do they look like 11 months after their initial planting?  Here, below, is a photo showing how they've all put on size and are doing well in their spot.  The one furthest to the right is the smallest and is currently competing with a bunch of small Frances Williams hostas . I'm really liking these and think I can see even more of these repeated in a few spots.  They prefer shade, so I can't put them close to the house, but in the beds in the back, there's tons of r...

Last week, I posted a couple of photos showing off some tulip tips and allium tips that have emerged in the front yard as the snow has melted and the temperatures have turned upwards.  A few days ago, I wandered around the backyard to see if I could see any signs of life out there and sure enough....some of the tulips that are planted under the Tree Swing Oak tree have emerged through the mulch.  See below for a look at the red foliage peeking through: In the Fall of 2020, I planted 114 tulip bulbs in this bed - a combination of purple, white and yellow blooms.  Based on this redish color, I'm thinking that this one may end up being one of those purple flowers like Queen of Night or Negrita Tulips.  This is the second Spring these have come back - here's a photo from March 8th of 2021 showing the same bed .  These are planted in amongst hostas some grasses that I thought would be good companions in early Spring.  As the tulips die back, the hostas begin ...

Yesterday, I posted some photos of our Frans Fontaine Hornbeam hedge (eight trees) that are still clinging to their leaves as we head into December.  One of the known features of those trees is that they hold their leaves longer than most trees - something called foliar marcescence.  Oak trees do something similar - in that if you look around right now and see large, mature trees with leaves on them, they're very often Oak trees.   Last year, I posted a photo in mid-November showing the pair of mature Oak trees in our backyard that had - by then - dropped all of their leaves .  This was unique as I remember the Oaks holding their leaves deep into Winter.  I wanted to document what these two trees looked like this year - in early December. Here, below, is a look at both of the trees (and other parts of our backyard canopy).  The large Northern Red Oak on the right (the tree swing) has leaves up and down the main trunk and branches.  The other matu...

On Tuesday, I posted a photo of our Northern Red Oak tree turning yellow and putting on a nice bit of a [Fall Show] and today the tree is a striking orange and maroon that warrants a second photo/post in the same week.  The photos in this post (landscape at top, portrait on bottom) barely do this justice.  The reds are dark maroon and are coupled with a Frankfort Tiger-ish yellow/orange combination.  As I said earlier this week, this tree has been different every.single.season - sometimes going brown, sometimes keeping leaves, sometimes dropping.   But the color of the tree right now?  I don't think it has ever done this before.  Maybe it is the most striking tree in our whole neighborhood right now.  

Putting a photo of the large Red Oak tree - the tree swing tree - in the garden diary here to show a little look at the Fall show that the tree is putting on during the first week in November.  You can see in the photo below that the tree is a mix of green and yellow and has held much of the leaves still on the limbs this late in the season - which is typical for this tree and Oaks in general.   I posted a similar photo a year ago - in early November - where the same tree had already lost many of the leaves for the season.   For tracking in the [ tree diary ], I noted that both of our large, mature Red Oak trees had dropped ALL of their leaves by mid/late November last year .  Will be tracking if foliar marcescence will persist this year like it did in 2019.  Here's a photo all the way into December when this tree had leaves clinging to the branches . An additional note about this tree - it didn't produce any acorns this season.  Or, at le...

On Monday, I shared some photos of a trio of Green Gem dwarf boxwoods that I planted in the backyard after finding them on a late-season sale.  At that same time, I grabbed another small (1# nursery stock container) boxwood of a different variety - Green Mountain - and planned on putting it into the garden to provide a little evergreen structure on the other side of the yard.  Below, you can see the small  Buxus sempervirens ' Green Mountain'. Here's a closer look (below) at the container with the shrub specs:  The Missouri Botanic Garden has a listing page up for Green Mountain Boxwood ( Buxus sempervirens 'Green Mountain) where they describe it as: 'Green Mountain' is a dense, upright, evergreen boxwood that typically grows to 2-3' tall over the first 10 years. This is a slow-growing hybrid shrub that may eventually mature to as much as 5-7' tall. Kelly Nursery calls out that Green Mountain is typically grown into a pyramidal form .   'Green Mount...