Why I Oughta...

We have boxwoods planted in both the front and the back of our house.  The ones in front were planted by the landscaper who installed our initial plantings and beds.  The ones in back were planted the following growing season and are near our kitchen window.  The first look I can find of them here on the blog was in April of 2019 when I pruned them up a little bit to be more ball-like .  By last Fall, these same Boxwoods (Green Velvet) had grown up and out and were starting to come together .   One of the things that I've missed out on (consistently) is working in evergreen trees into the landscape that I've been planting out back.  I added the Weeping Nootka Cypress this year to help, but I know that I can do more.  In terms of evergreen shrubs, we have a mixed report.  Both in terms of species but also in terms of making progress with evergreens.  In terms of inventory of evergreen shrubs....We have the aforementioned boxwoods.  We also have the pair of rhododendrons next to

 I planted this grass in our front bed earlier this Spring after bringing it home from the Morton Arboretum Spring sale.  It is called the Totem Pole Switchgrass.  Named: Panicum virgatum Prairie Winds.  And, I broke the rule of buying just one of anything , but since this thing was billed to be SO BIG (6' tall) and I wasn't sure where it was going to go, I brought home just one.  I ended up sticking it behind the Norway Maple in our front bed.  And, that tree has been killing EVERYTHING in sight, so I wasn't sure how this particular grass would do in this spot.  I've lost hostas, ligularias and even a hydrangea in this area.  So, my fingers were crossed that this would provide a little bit of vertical interest and survive the shallow roots from the tree that seem to out-compete everything else around the tree.  Here, below, is a look at this grass after being in the ground all Summer.  It is about three-and-a-half-feet tall and doing decently well.  It has put up the

 We have 14 Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses planted in various places around our yard - five outside our kitchen window , four outside our screened porch, three in a little island between our driveway and front porch stairs and a pair planted 'in between two driveways" (IB2Ds).  I've posted photos of these various grasses on the blog over the years, but I wanted to drop a series of photos of these in the [garden diary] so I can track their progress. First up, four grasses planted outside of our screened porch.  I planted one back in 2018 because I had one too many.  But, last Fall, I added three more to make this a four-pack below:  Next up, three large grasses that were planted in 2017 before we moved in and our house was finished.  These are good-sized, but are experiencing (I think) a little bit of center-rot where the center part of these grasses is dying - and the recommended course of action is to dig up and divide.  Here's a look at these grasses in 2018 ,

 The folks at The Growing Place in Naperville and Aurora have recently posted a list of some "new" or at least "new to them" plants and trees that they will be carrying this season .  There are a few things that I'm seeing on the list that are interesting to consider, but one item in particular made me go and do more research.  It is all.the.way.at.the.bottom of the list they published.  Go ahead, click here .  And scroll down.  There, you'll find the Lindsey’s Skyward Bald Cypress tree.  Here's how they describe it on their site: What's that?  Narrow form?  Oh, you know me, I'm a sucker for narrow, columnar-form trees.  A quick look around the Web reveals even more details including: "fern-like needles", "very upward facing branches", "Winter interest", "dramatic symmetrical columnar habit", "showy bronze carpet".   You hand me at fern-like + narrow.  And, here (below) is what it looks like in t

 I bought a total of eleven All Gold Japanese Grasses from the Fall Plant Sale and put them in the ground in two locations with the aim of making two distinct masses of these grasses.  I put five in the front yard - and I'll post about that shortly.  And, I put six in the ground in the backyard - in between the largest Flowering Pear tree and the 31" Red Oak Tree on the north side.  These are in 'front' of the Apple Tree Belgian Fence .  You can see that location in the photo below: The grasses might be hard to pick out, so below, you can find an annotated version of that photo showing the location of these six grasses interplanted with some hostas and our lone Azalea.  This is a brand new - this year - bed.  You can see it as bare mulch here .   I supplemented the soil around these six with a couple of bags of composted manure to try to enrich the soil and give the grasses a good headstart.  I'm going to water these in every few days this Fall to keep them establ

One of the plants that I've been chasing for a while is a Japanese grass.  I posted a 'dreaming post' back in January of this year featuring something called "All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses ".  I wasn't the only one in our house that has had a little bit of plant lust as Natalie had snapped a photo of a neighbor close to Randall Park that has grasses in their yard and she said:  "I like these" when she texted me the photo.  So, imagine my delight when I went to the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale and came across a bunch of these All Gold Grass - Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold'.   The sign you can see below carries this description: A vigorously growing, all gold version of the Hakone grass.  A cascading habit makes it perfect for the landscape or container.  Spreads slowly through rhizomes.   I ended up buying quite a few of these and have plans to put them in both our front (side) yard and the backyard.   Here's what one of them looks li

 Last week I went over to the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale and picked up a few things for Fall planting.  They had some items that I've come across before and others that were new to me - having not come across them at either a garden center or big box store.  I'll post about the groups of plants (and one tree) that I brought home over the next few days.   First up are a pair of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  I've posted about them over the years - and have a series of them planted outside of our kitchen windows in back , three of them planted by our landscapers between our front porch and driveway and one solo grass planted outside of our screened porch.  I bought six and only planted five by the kitchen windows, hence this other one being all alone. I really like these grasses as they provide a mix of coloring through the year - from green to purple to gold - and provide a lot of interest all year long - including Winter.   Back to that one outside our screened por

Spring and early Summer has treated our Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that are sandwiched between our front walk and driveway really well.  There are three of them planted in this little bed that I mulched earlier this Summer with some cocoa bean shell mulch.  They're all happy and putting on a little lacy show right now.  I've posted photos of these grasses over the years.  They were planted when we moved in back in Summer of 2017.  And here's a look at them their FIRST year back - in early June of 2018 .   By August of 2018, they had finished growing and were transitioned to golden tops/tips .  The last time, I posted a photo of these were last October (2019) when they were on their way to dormancy for the year.  In the photo at the top of this post, you can see them right now - happy and green.  With a lot of top growth that is lightweight and moves with the wind.  Here - below - is a close-up view of those tips.  They are really striking RIGHT now.