Why I Oughta...

Most every Fall, I've planted bulbs of some variety.  The last few seasons, it has been tulip bulbs in the front and back beds.  But, I've also planted Alliums over the years including these Purple Sensation bulbs in 2017 and 2018.  This year, I'm going to be digging in a little bit of both - including some Tulips that Nat bought at Costco and some Alliums that both she bought (at Costco) and some others that I ordered online.  I'll post about the tulips in the coming days, but first up are these Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that came home from Costco.   This is a pack of five - and because I bought other types online, we stopped with just these five, despite knowing that you're *supposed* to plant bulbs in big masses.  The package (below) shows a little child's head next to some MASSIVE purple Allium flower heads.  The listing at Longfield Gardens shows them as a pack of two , but, they're the *full* bulbs, while the ones at Costco come as a pack of five,

Last month, I created a new bed , down by the sidewalk that has historically been turf that has ALWAYS gone dormant in a big way during the Summer.  Currently, it is small - like about 24" wide and spans the space between our driveway and the large Hackberry tree in the corner of our property.  I knew that I had to think about some drought-resistant plantings down there due to the history of the site and upon excavation, I now know why:  there was a half-inch or so of topsoil standing on top of gravel.   My plan started by transplanting some of the Lemon Coral Sedum that we had in our front porch bed down there in late September .  Doing so, checked a big part of the box for #3 on my 2021 to-do list to work the 'in between two driveways' section.   I also wanted to add something else to the bed before things went dormant for the year, so on one of my trips to the Home Depot, I came across an ornamental grass that sounded interesting.  At 50% off, this Panicum Shenandoah R

I had a credit with an online nursery that was burning a hole in my pocket.  It came from a tree that I bought last year that died within the first few months of being planted here in Downers Grove.  When I saw an email that trumpeted a sale ALONG with Free Shipping, I decided to act.  I bought a four foot tall Ginkgo biloba tree.  I've been thinking about adding a Ginkgo to our yard for a long time, so when I looked at the total in my shopping cart was less than a few bucks for this tiny Ginkgo, I clicked the 'buy button'.   This isn't the first Ginkgo tree that we've had - we had a larger one that I planted in our old house that was given to me as a Kellogg graduation present from Nat's parents.  That one was at least 1.5" caliper.  This one?  About the caliper of my pinky finger.  This is the latest - and tenth tree that I planted this year, but it also is one of the smallest.  The most recent trees I planted were the Sugar Tyme Crabapples against the h

September is a good time to divide some perennials in our growing zone - 5b - due to the cooler temperatures, the little bit of rain we get and the warm soil temperatures.  I have a few plants in our garden that were planted in 2017 that haven't been divided to date - so that's five growing seasons without dividing.  And, when it comes to some ornamental grasses, it seems that they do BEST when you divide them every three or four years.   My Fall dividing plan starts with these Karl Foerster grasses that were planted next to our driveway and our front way.  I just posted a photo of these grasses last week showing the trio of them being full and wide .  That's about their total, mature size.  Coupled with the fact that I noticed some 'center rot' this Spring , I knew it was time to dig these out and divide.   I started with the grass closest to our garage - you can see it on the right in the photo below: I dug it up and divided it into quarters - with four sections t

About ten days ago, I posted some photos and details about a new pair of Crabapple trees that I planted right alongside our house on the south side that I'm planning on training into an espalier.  In that post, I talked about how the only thing over there were the three Disneyland Roses.  But, I don't think I did the three Floribunda roses (the *only* roses we have) justice.  Because they're STILL looking really great and throwing off some beautiful, multi-hue'd blooms: These roses started blooming in early Summer - photo from June 10th - and have gone through at least three cycles of flowers.  I haven't watched these that closely over the years, but have shown similar late Summer/early Fall blooms last year in late August .  And, by mid-October last year , they still had flowers on them, but were beginning to fade.   There are two that have been here since 2018 and one that I transplanted this Spring.  Below, is the one closet to the front of the house.  This one

Last week, I picked up these three Abiqua Drinking Gourd Hostas that I resisted in buying for a number of years due to not being knowledgable about the attributes of this big, beautiful hosta.  I decided to stick them into the border bed near the firepit out back - right in between the bluestone chips gravel and the tiny Northern Red Oak tree that I planted last year.  You can see the three hostas below and the Red Oak tree on the far left, the fence near the top and the firepit edging on the right. I kept them off the fence a bit - thinking I will extend the Yew hedge around (at least part) of the firepit.  Will check on these come Spring and hope they emerge from Winter after I tuck them in with a little bit of new mulch.

Earlier this year, I posted some thoughts about how I could create a Block I - University of Illinois - topiary in our backyard and how I was inspired by an Etsy listing.   In that post, I did some of the layout and decided on a 4' wide and 6' tall Block I that would be about 18" thick when mature.  I've been thinking about something like this topiary for a number of years after seeing a bunch of them at a nursery on Route 12 that were (mostly) created from Arborvitae .  But, knowing we have mostly shade out back, I went through the mental gymnastics to convince myself that if I bought an 'upright' Yew, I could make the Block I topiary a go.  So, imagine my delight when I came across some $5 Fall sale Hicks upright Yews at Home Depot over the weekend.  I stuck a couple in my cart and brought them home. I put them out in a few spots and thought about placement.  I kept moving them, walking away and viewing the pots.  I want to see it from near the patio, but al