Why I Oughta...

We made a stop at the Potbelly's in Willowbrook right off of Route 83 for lunch recently and sat underneath this poster that you see below.  It advertises the DuPage County Centennial Flower Show in Hinsdale on June 9,10, 11.  At the bottom it reads: "Presented by the Home Gardeners of DuPage County".    It is in a lovely vintage frame. And, if you look even closer at the bottom, you'll see this copy that speaks to how the poster was created:  "Made by WPA Federal Art Project, Chicago, Illinois".  See below for a closeup of that section:  Pretty cool, right?  I mean...what could be better than a vintage poster that is both LOCAL and about something that I'm into (gardening).   A quick spin around the Web and it wasn't hard to figure out the provenance of this poster. The Library of Congress has a listing for it and even dates it: Jun 22 1939. I'm guessing that's the day it was added to the collection, so my hunch is that it was sent to DC

Yesterday, I posted a terminal bud of our small Harry Lauder Walkingstick tree and talked about how Rutherford Platt was fascinated by tree buds and said they were as varied as jewels.  The next up in my [Winter tree buds] series is a revisit to where I started (last year) with the London Planetree that I planted in 2020.  Here's last year's post showing the buds .  Below, you can see some other looks at the buds including terminal and lateral buds.  They're pointy and red.  And look good for this time of year, don't they? This tree has been (somewhat) temperamental.  It reacts poorly if it is neglected in any way, but then responds really well when water is given to it in any way.  You could say that it is both needy and resilient.  It is planted in the back of the yard and is in a gap in between the scrub shrub and the largest tree we have - the hackberry tree that is covered in galls every Summer .   It will provide a lot of shade for future families, but for us?  I

The photo in this post is featuring the leaf bud of a small Harry Lauder contorted Walking Stick tree that we bought back in 2020 and was DIRECTLY inspired by our trip to Disneyland Paris and the landscaping around their Haunted Mansion called Phantom Manor .  I planted it in the backyard in the Summer of 2020 and have had it wired up with some bamboo poles ever since.  Early this Spring, I moved around the poles and wires because the growth was causing a little damage due to the pole locations .   Most every Winter, I try to include some updates and photos of the various leaf buds from some of the trees that I've planted, but in looking back through the [buds] archives , I don't seem to have included this particular tree and bud in the catalog.  The most recent buds that I posted a photo of were the damaged Ginko tree from this Fall .   Here, below, is a look at a couple of the Harry Lauder Walkingstick tree buds: Buds of our trees that get set in Fall and persist over Winter

Back in May of this Spring, I planted three Autumn Ferns - Dryopteris erythrosora - that I picked up from a big box nursery in an area of the backyard that is becoming a little Japanese-garden-inspired section with a dwarf Japanese Tamukeyama Maple tree anchoring the bed. I took that photo this morning and it is striking when compared to EVERYTHING else around our yard.   Those three ferns are seemingly UNAFFECTED by the frost and the onset of Winter.  Everywhere else I look, my ferns are gone.  Ostrich ferns?  Gone.  Japanese Painted Ferns?  Gone.  Ghost Ferns? Gone.  Lady Ferns?  Gone.  But, these?  They're tall, proud and....GREEN.  What the heck is going on?!? When I planted them , I referenced this listing from the Missouri Botanic Garden that talks about how they are "semi-evergreen".  I noted that in the original post, but I didn't think MUCH about it.  I suppose, I should have because this is a pretty great feature.  One of the things that I'm thinkin

The Wintertime is *the* time that we feed the birds around here.  Due to the critters we have around the yard (Raccoons, mice, voles, etc), I mostly lay off adding any feed to the feeders until the first frost arrives.  Once we hit that mark, I then tend to provide fresh food each weekday - both for the critters AND the birds.   Back a few years, we went through the process of becoming a "Certified Wildlife Habitat" via the National Wildlife Federation and part of the criteria is a yard that provides food for wildlife.  They ask for confirmation of a couple of types of feeding including natural nuts (we have Oaks and Walnuts) and seeds (birds, critters) and suet (birds).  We confirmed we go about it both ways - natural via the nuts the trees drop AND the addition of feeders with seed and suet. We put the critter feed - which is a mix of corn, cracked corn, sunflower seeds and some nuts - on the top of the fence.  The KotBTs likes to put it out in three spots.  And, for the b

The last time that I checked in on the five Amaryllis Christmas bulbs was almost two weeks ago .  We have five bulbs in three planters.  And three different varieties .  In late November, we had growth from all five with the initial appearance of a few of the flower bulbs.  Today?  We have stalks shooting up in four of the five.  And good foliage growth in the final one.  Below, in the photo, you can see all of them.  On the right is the largest bulb (Sunshine Nymph).  Behind it is the slowest starter, but another good-sized bulb (Lemon Star).  And on the right is the trio of the big-box bulbs (Red Lion).    Now is the time that I'm going to begin to start 'poisoning' them with an alcohol/water mixture in an attempt to stunt their growth (so they don't get too 'leggy' and flop over).  Without a true 'control' bulb, I won't really know if the alcohol mixture is working.   One other note:  when were picking out the bulbs, so too was another woman.  Wh

There we were, minding our own business on a little trip out in Oak Brook, when we came across one of John Lennon's prized Rolls Royce phantoms sitting out front.   Two quick things:  First, pretty sure this isn't a Phantom V ( as only 517 of them were made ) and second, it isn't John's, of course.  If you head here and scroll down , you can see that John's car had a third side window - and was stretched out longer than this beauty below.   Would make a heckuva wedding-day car, wouldn't it?  That's what I'm guessing it was doing out.