Why I Oughta...

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

The third variety of plant material that I brought home from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale last week is the second cultivar of hosta.  And it is (maybe?) even more unique than the Waterslide one that has ruffled edges.  This one is called Praying Hands Hosta and according to Walter's Garden , it is "unlike any other hosta."  It also was "Hosta of the Year" in 2011.   Here - below - is the plant tag that shows the height being 14-18" and the spread being 12-16".   Here - below - is a look at the plant that I brought home.  It is really interesting looking.   If you looked closely at the photo of my Linden trees that I posted a few days ago, you might have viewed this hosta at the base of one of them.  I've been watching the sun/shade patterns of that area to see if it is the right place to plant this hosta.  I'd like it in a spot that can be viewed and highlighted - so underneath those trees feels good right now.  I'll do a shade stud

A little over a month ago, I posted a photo of the pair of soil tests that I was planning on conducting for my lawn - both front and back - from SoilSavvy.  These tests require you to take a composite set of soil plugs and combine them into a little tray that you ship off.  When SoilSavvy's lab receives the samples, they run them through their system and then send you off this analysis.   I ended up doing one test for my front yard and one for the backyard.  This is a little different in approach than I did last year, but I'm thinking this is the best way forward.  First, a quick review of where things were last year .  This year, the results show higher levels of just about everything aside from Boron.   First up, the front yard.  The N-P-K analysis shows that the Potassium is below the target area.  Surprised?  Not really.  Milorganite's N-P-K is 6-4-0 - so I haven't added any Potassium to the yard this year.   The Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur are all off the char

 The last time I shared a photo of our pair of Cordon Espalier'ed Greenspire Linden trees was back when I gave them a hard prune in July of this year .  Two months later, the trees have shown some new growth and are filling out the levels of the horizontal cordon.  I've decided to go with four levels and you can see those four levels starting to stand out in the updated photo below. After the pruning/shaping that I did earlier this Summer, I'm now seeing some direct response in the form of new light-green growth.  Check out the photo below for a closeup showing some of the new growth: In both trees, the second from the bottom set of horizontal branches are the strongest/most vigorous.  Followed by the top level - which I think is a reaction to pruning off the apical meristem.  The bottom level is the newest to emerge and to be trained.  If you look closely at the espalier wire system behind the trees, you can see that the lowest level isn't the same as the rest.  It is

Just putting this out here - to say that the clip from Seinfeld episode of the Real Kramer bus tour - where he hands out mini pizza - and the guy says, "What's this?  Pizza poundcake?" is something I say to myself anytime someone mentions the word pizza.  Not available on YouTube, so have this yarn.io embed:

 Yesterday, I started to share some items that I bought at the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale starting with a pair of Karl Foerster grasses and mentioned that I also came home with some other items.  Here is one of those: A Waterslide Hosta. They had a few different varieties of hostas that were unique - ones that you can't buy at Home Depot or most big box garden centers.  All of them were selected by the staff at the Arboretum to be good for Fall planting.  Of the six or so for sale, I ended up deciding on trying a few.  I mean...tell me that you could see a rack of these hostas and not want to buy one? Here's the tag showing the Waterslide hosta mixed in with some other more lime-colored hostas. And the back of the tag: The description on the tag reads: This beautifully ruffled hosta is a thrill to behold! Blue, rippled leaves hold their color all season long.  Lavender flowers appear on proportionate flower scapes. Here, below, is the sign that was up at the Plant Sale

 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