Why I Oughta...

This past weekend, our next door neighbors had a party on their back patio.  It was a really nice time (aside from a sting...) with a lot of great people.  At the party, I found myself sitting in one of their Adirondack chairs and facing my own house.  And I couldn't help but be struck by this big, blank wall staring back at me: This is part of the south side of our house that has a little sideyard that we've (mostly) neglected.  I have three Disneyland Roses over there - you can see two of them in the photo above.  But, there's just a linear, foundation-hugging border and some ratty turf.  Based on how the Village of Downers Grove mandates the grading, there's also a little ditch 1   but other than that, nothing much to see here.   I've long thought about converting all of this side yard into a bed; it gets a lot of sun, the grass doesn't do much for me and it would be a little bonus garden.  The downside is that nobody really sees it - including us.  But, th

Despite it being September, my brain is already thinking ahead to Spring.  That (for me), normally means bulbs.  And I'm working on that - as I type.  But, it also has me thinking about something else - that is new to me:  Spring ephemerals.   One of them that I'm most interested in - after seeing them LIVE in person at Northwind Perennial Farm - is Mertensia virginica - or Virginia Bluebells. View this post on Instagram A post shared by E R I N🌿The Impatient Gardener (@impatientgardener) That post, above, is from Erin the Impatient Gardener.  I've told you how much I like her garden - as she's in my zone.  I don't have many "Spring Ephemerals" that aren't Fall-planted bulbs and this one feels like a good add to my garden.  Here's a document from the Wisconsin Horticulture Department Extension office that talks all about them . A few things jump out to me - see for snippets below : Virginia bluebells can be used in borders or

I planted some tiny, upright Yews back in the Summer of 2019 in hopes that they'd, one day, form a cool hedge near the rear of our property.  They made it through the first couple of growing seasons and by last October, I could *start* to envision the future when I looked at the area .  My original inspiration for the wavy or curved hedge came via this post where I referenced a Bunny Williams garden that was, in turn, inspired by a Jacques Wirtz garden in Belgium.    This year, some of the yews have put on new growth - adding height and filling out.  Here, below, is a look at one of the tallest and the new growth from this season.  I planted a few of the (initally) taller ones together in hopes that I could get that undulating look earlier by engineering some selective height pattern.  Seems to be working in that the grouping of tall ones continue to lead the pack.   Below, is another look at the hedge from the side.  They need to keep growing both up and out - to close the gaps b

I was reading this post about what Margaret Roach from A Way To Garden includes in her September gardening chores each year and I was struck by one item:  she takes an inventory of late-blooming perennials as part of her critical look at the garden .  That made me pause.  And think about my garden.  And...what's in bloom?  The answer:  nothing. We're just BARELY holding on in lots of places.  But, not blooming.   Her post talks about thalictrums among others - that (now) have my interest.  One that wasn't mentioned was something that I, frankly, was unaware of until this past weekend.  I was also at Northwind Perennial Farm up in Wisconsin recently and came across this pink flowering perennial named Pink Turtlehead - Chelone lyonii 'Hot Lips' that I *SHOULD* have bought when we were there.  Alas, I passed on them because I didn't know where to put them in our garden.  This is a late-blooming perennial that has the added bonus of being able to tolerate a little

I have an idea for a garden-related project that has been knocking around my head for a number of years.  Well...there are tons of those kind of projects, frankly.  But, for this post, I'm talking about one of them specifically.  This one...involves trees.  And...I haven't moved on it - for a variety of reasons including shifting priorities, lack of need, the right nursery stock and the opportunity.   It starts with this post about Hollywood Junipers in 2018 where I posted a photo of a tree in a wooden box for a container .  And, was likely rekindled during one of my trips to Tokyo where I saw all sorts of container'd conifers.  Like this one from House of Bonsai below: Via House of Bonsai . This is not my photo. And, even more recently, I came across a couple of striking conifer trees by the bus stops down at Disney Springs.  They were relatively new (newly planted) and still had their tags on them. Here's a shot of them below: And, below, is a look at the tag reveali

Back on Earth Day this Spring, the kids and I went over to Benet Academy and picked up a free native tree seedling from their Environmental Club.  The tree was very small - a little trunk - and a lot of roots.  It was a Shagbark Hickory and I planted it in the backyard .  I then, promptly, forgot about the tree.  I figured it was dead.  Or never alive.  There were a couple of buds on the tree seedling, but I wasn't positive it had any life in it to begin with when I planted it in May. The tree has done nothing.  The buds didn't open.  The tree didn't leaf out at all.  Here is a look at the tree in the photo below: The photo isn't great because it is hard to get my phone to focus on the tiny, thin trunk.  Here's an annotated photo (below) with a red line showing the trunk and a few branches up top.  Again...no leaves at all on this tree. It is dead, right?  At least, that's what I assumed.  But, when I did the whole 'fingernail trick' on the trunk of the

A few days ago, I posted (once again) about the 'in between two driveways' part of our yard and talked about how the hot, Summer sun beats down part of the area so much so that I've had the grass go dormant every year.  In that post, I talked about taking on just a PART of the area - down by the sidewalk - which is the worst-hit portion of the turf each year.  My thinking was to convert this section to a bed and plant it with something a bit more drought-tolerant.    My longer-term thinking is to convert much of this section 'in between two driveways' to a long, linear bed with just a little bit of turf .  But, that's a big project requiring quite a bit of turf removal AND a lot of planting.   That means I'm going to start with a smaller section right now - and I started to carve out the bed last night.  Just to get the contours of the area that I want to transform, I removed the edge and will follow with removing the (now dormant) turf in the coming days.