Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a 2021 update on the Japanese Painted Fern 'Pictum' that I planted in 2018 on the side of the screened porch and mentioned that I had another one that I planted this season.  I'm posting this in July, but I planted this (second) Pictum fern back in May.  And took the photo at the bottom - of the fern in the ground - in mid-June. This is the second Pictum, but (now) the sixth Japanese Painted Fern with the addition of four Ghost Ferns earlier this Spring .  I bought this one (below) when I saw it on sale at a big box store and brought it home.  My thought was to plant a series of them in Priority Area #1 this year , but when Nat came up with the fire pit area plan, I decided to skip planting in Area #1 (for now).   Here, below, is the tag from this fern that came in a 1# nursery pot.  It shows 8-12" height and 15-18" spacing.  As I mentioned above, I planted this in May, but posting in July.  The in-between photo you see below of the fern now

 Yesterday, I checked in some Bressingham Blue hostas that were planted in 2018 as bare root plants and had now grown to be fully established and thriving.  In that post, I mentioned that there was a Japanese Painted Fern planted in between some of the hostas.  I figured that fern deserved a proper [ garden diary ] update for Summer 2020.  You can see the fern below - it is happy and healthy, despite being crowded by the hostas.   If you go back to the post showing when I bought and planted this fern in 2018 (bought for just $2 at Menards), I included a photo of the tag.  And that means that I can confirm this is a Pictum Japanese Painted fern.  My plan (as of yesterday) is to try to split up/divide the hostas this Fall to provide this fern with a little bit of space.   As for growth history, here's what I have: 2018 - planted in Spring . Looks like it struggled due to Summer + transplant stress, but also likely because I ignored it, but it came back after a little bit of wateri

Just yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of some newly emerged Frances Williams Hostas that I planted as tiny bare root plants from Costco . When I was out there taking photos of those new plants, I remembered that I had previously planted some bare root hostas - and wondered what their growth trajectory looked like.  So, I went over to the north side of the screened porch and found a grouping of three of the Bressingham Blue hostas that I planted as bare root plants in Spring 2018. That means that what you see in the photo above - a trio of Bressingham Blue hostas - grew like this: 2018 - Planted as bare root.  First growing season 2019 - Second growing season. 2020 - Third growing season.  I included a photo of these in a post in June 2020 . Note, the tops of the foliage reached the line where the foundation hits the house.   2021 - Fourth growing season.  Photo above.  You can see that they've grown in height and width.  And (in this photo) are starting to produce their flowe

In what feels like a totally different gardening season - but was just late April - I planted nine Frances Williams bare root hostas in our yard.  They were part of a bundle of bare root perennials that Nat picked up from Costco that included some Bressingham Blue Hostas and some purple Astilbes .  I'm posting this in early July, but the photos from this post are from mid-June (hence the blog post title being June 2021). In terms of success, I saw (and posted about) many of the Bressingham Blue hostas that came up (not total 100% success) and how most of the Gloria Purpurea Astilbes not only emerged from the ground, but also flowered in June .   But, up until the middle of June, all but ONE of the Frances Williams hostas were nowhere to be seen.  Close to the trunk of the Northern Red Oak (tree swing), I had one of these variegated hostas emerge and put out a nice little package of foliage.  Here's what that first one looks like: But, when I took a closer look, I see a bunc

Back at our old house in Elmhurst, we had a pair of Hops growing on trellises along our fence in the backyard.  We had both Golden and Cascade Hops and I really liked how they added a vertical element to our landscape.  In our current plan, we don't have any trellises planned nor does the plan call for Hops vine in any location.  But, when I came across this REALLY full 1# nursery container of Cascade Hops (Humulus Cascade) at The Growing Place, I grabbed it and decided to figure out a good spot for this later.  Here's what the container looked like when I brought it home below - very vigorous and healthy.  The container was BULGING - you can see it below.  And It seemed like this Hops vine was VERY root-bound.  So, it took some time to get this thing out of the container.  And when I did, I had to trim up some of the roots to get it from strangling itself.   As for the location, you can see below what it looks like after being planted for a day or two.  Within the week (after

Posting a couple of photos of two trees in our yard that I took earlier this month.  First, we have two Catalpa trees in our yard.  Starting around June 8th and running through the middle of the month, both of our Catalpa trees were in bloom with lovely white blooms.  I inherited both of these, so filing these under [inherited tree] like I did with the Oaks and River Birch clump .   Here, below, is Catalpa tree that is closer to our house in bloom.  It is a really nice tree that I never looked at very closely.  It is tucked in behind the large Northern Red Oak tree and in front of one of our large Walnuts.   You can see the blooms scattered on the ground under the tree in the photo above. The other tree that I wanted to share was the Dawn Redwood tree below.  It was VERY slow to break bud but by late April, it started to come alive.  With the drought we've had all Spring, it seemed to my naked eye like this tree hasn't filled out as much as it has in previous years.  But, now

A quick look at our trio of Disneyland Roses that are in bloom during the month of June this year with photos below.  I transplanted the third (or first, depending on how you are counting) of these floribunda roses to the southside of our house earlier this year before it broke dormancy .  The other two were planted in the Fall of 2018 and have fared really well without much care.   So, that means that one of them is in the fourth (2018, 2019, 2020 and now 2021) season.  And the other two are in their third growing season (2019, 2020 and now 2021).  First, the two more recent ones - below- with the best performing one located near our gas meter.  It is stretching out and up. And here, below, is a look at the other two.  On the right is the other non-transplanted rose and on the left is the transplanted one - and it looks like the transplant stress has had an impact on the overall size. Below is a closer look at the transplanted Disneyland Rose.  It is flowering, but is significantly s