Why I Oughta...

We have a trio of Gold Cone Junipers that I planted a few seasons ago in our backyard bed.  I put them in the ground in Spring 2019 and three growing seasons later, they're turning into something very different that I was thinking:  they're turning into a lollipop-like conifer.  These Gold Cone Junipers are notorious for splaying when snow piles on them, so that first season, I wired them up to help prevent that winter damage .  By that first Fall, they were showing some signs of stress .  Then, after their first Winter, they browned out ...but came back in Summer. These also are more sun-loving than most things in our yard, so having them planted in the shade of a Walnut tree isn't ideal.  Not to mention....I planted these without consulting the plan, so they're sort-of orphaned here.  I don't necessarily WANT them here - nor does the plan call for them - but why rip them out now when I don't have anything else to plant there.  So, over the past few growing se

Yesterday, I posted a few photos of a pyramidal boxwood - Green Mountain - that I planted in a backyard bed and talked about how it was tucked in by the Belgian Fence and some ornamental grasses.  If you looked closely at one of the photos yesterday, you might have noticed a few other shrubs in their nursery containers in the background.  Today, I'm sharing the details in the [ garden diary ] of those other two shrubs hiding back by the fence. As part of our plan, the designer called for a series of Chicago Lustre Arrowwood Viburnum shrubs in a few different spots around the yard.  Below, you can see two areas that call these particular shrubs out. Part of the area you see in the plan above was/is called out as " Priority Area #2 " in this year's list of Priority areas.  You can see that it calls for four Viburnum in this section.  But...when you're dealing with some end-of-season shrub sales, you don't always get the quantity that you want.  I couldn't f

On Monday, I shared some photos of a trio of Green Gem dwarf boxwoods that I planted in the backyard after finding them on a late-season sale.  At that same time, I grabbed another small (1# nursery stock container) boxwood of a different variety - Green Mountain - and planned on putting it into the garden to provide a little evergreen structure on the other side of the yard.  Below, you can see the small  Buxus sempervirens ' Green Mountain'. Here's a closer look (below) at the container with the shrub specs:  The Missouri Botanic Garden has a listing page up for Green Mountain Boxwood ( Buxus sempervirens 'Green Mountain) where they describe it as: 'Green Mountain' is a dense, upright, evergreen boxwood that typically grows to 2-3' tall over the first 10 years. This is a slow-growing hybrid shrub that may eventually mature to as much as 5-7' tall. Kelly Nursery calls out that Green Mountain is typically grown into a pyramidal form .   'Green Mount

Fall shrub planting has included 8 Hicks upright Yews - in 2 locations so far.  First the pair for the (eventual) Block I topiary .  And then, last week a very SMALL hedge (in planning stage) of six more Yews along the south border in the backyard.   And a trio of dwarf Green Gem boxwoods .  Today's post is almost a year in coming but features two more upright Yews - planted close to the fence in one of our shade beds.   You can see one of the two #1 Yews that I planted in the ground in the photo below: I say that these Yews have been in the works for close to a year because it has taken me that long to complete the various steps that I needed to do in order to get these Yews in the ground. First, I suppose I should explain the WHY behind these yews, their location and what I'm trying to accomplish with this planting. I've posted before about learning from and gaining inspiration from Amy Fedele at Pretty Purple Door including her shared love of narrow, columnar trees .

Back in September, I showed off a partial flat of some viable Kentucky Coffee Tree Seedlings that I had collected and germinated from seed this Spring.   In that post, I talked about how to overwinter them and explored various methods.  With our climate (Zone 5b), it seemed that the best way was to dig them into the ground to provide insulation over the harsh Winter.  So...that's what I did.  I found a fairly sunny, but protected spot in one of our beds and dug a trench.  I put the flat in the ground, covered the seedlings up with dirt and then put a layer of mulch over the top.   Then I went in for the night.  What happened next?  The damn rabbits ate a bunch of them.  Now, these Kentucky Coffee Trees have - for a long time - a bare trunk and leaflets off of them, so I can't tell if the rabbits ate down the trunks or just the leaflets.   When I figured out what was going on, I grabbed some chicken wire and made a little perimeter fence.  Below, you can see the seedlings (or w

I planted three of these Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria (Lungwort) last Fall after buying them from the Morton Arboretum Fall Plant Sale .  It seemed to do fine to wind down the growing season last year and I was excited to see it re-emerge this Spring with new growth .  I don't seem to have posted any specific photos of these during the growing season, but I did sneak them into these photos from when I planted some Jack of Diamonds Brunnera this Summer .  When I was out planting the Green Gem boxwoods recently, I noticed that these had put on some LATE-Season growth and seemed pretty happy. Below, are a couple of photos showing (first) all three of them.  You can see the new, more-green foliage in the center of the plant as the new growth.  Then, in the second photo, you can see a close-up of the new growth. These have been a great addition to our shade garden and I can think of a half-dozen other places to add similar Pulmonaria plants.  Thinking I should put these on my 2022 Plant bu

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