Why I Oughta...

Back along the fence, behind the large colony of Summer Beauty Ornamental Onion is one of my first flowering shrubs - that has NEVER flowered :  Tuff Stuff Red Hydrangea .  Part of our plan is extending the current row of Oakleaf Hydrangeas with another few flowering shrubs that sit in front of - and in between - the Green Giant Thujas .   In order to plant the new flowering shrubs (I ended up finding another Oakleaf Hydrangea variety), I needed to move the Tuff Stuff Hydrangea.  It never has grown much in size (nor...flowered), so I knew I could tuck it into some smaller spots.  I opted for moving it right next to the other non-blooming hydrangea - the Everlasting Revolution - closer to the border of that same bed.  See below for a photo showing the location of the newly transplanted (and slightly larger) Tuff Stuff Red Hydrangea: With that out of the way, I can move on to planting the pair of Snowqueen Oakleaf Hydrangeas. 

We have a pair of hydrangeas that are what I'd consider somewhat exotic.  I say that because they're not something you'd come across at your normal Big Box nursery - like Limelights or what-have-you.  These were given to us by Nat's Mom as an anniversary gift back in 2017 - our first late Summer/early Fall in our house.  The two of them are a Tuff Stuff Mountain Hydrangea .  And an Everlasting Revolution Hydrangea .  They were both planted in 2017.  And I've posted about them over the years - where they've grown a bit, have survived, but NEVER produced any flowers.  I recently transplanted the smaller one - Everlasting Revolution - to be closer to the front of the bed due to its small size. Tuff Stuff Mountain Hydrangea - Has never flowered.  Always a bit bigger than the Revolution. Planted October 2017 June 2018 - first Summer .  Appeared to grow on both new and old wood. August 2018 - survived the first heat wave during the first Summer. September 2019 - end

Our backyard is mostly shade.  And, because of that, I'm a shade gardener and have been focused on adding shade plants to our yard over the past couple of years.  But, I haven't strayed too far from Hostas and Ferns.  I recently came this list of Shade plants that includes foliage and flowering sub-lists that I've been reading to get acquainted with some new ideas.   We also spent some time over the past few weeks at the Morton Arboretum walking the paths and looking at some of the gardens.  In particular, we spent an overcast morning puttering around the Fragrance Garden seeking inspiration based on seeing what they have planted in some of the shady spots.   Here's a few shots that include a mix of shade-tolerant perennials and annuals below.  This is where that list from Garden Design linked above comes in handy - for identification.  First up, a mix of some All Gold Hakonechloa macra grasses planted with (what I think are) Hypoestes (polka dot plant) and some bego