Why I Oughta...

I've posted a series of times about the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that we have in our landscape and how I've been digging them up, dividing them and transplanting them to various spots of our beds to provide that notion of a cohesive design with repeating patterns of specific plants.  I started doing this last Fall and then did even more this Spring after realizing that the ones I divided last Fall were just fine.   Last week, I showed how I made eight new divisions in the backyard and planted them in various places in the backyard.  The final Karl Foerster grass that I needed to dig up and divide was this large one in between our driveway and front walk stoop.  It was left there as a hedge - but is suffering from some center rot.  It needed to be divided.  See below for the 'before'.  The two further back were divisions from last Fall and are showing some new green tips this Spring: After digging that one out and dividing it up, I put one of the segments back

Day three of running through what I brought home from the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale last weekend.  Started with talking about how I prioritized shrubs and came home (first) with three Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangeas and two Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas . #2 on my 2022 to-do list was to try to add perennials that had four-season appeal and I mentioned, specifically that I needed to buy more Hellebores .  Thanks to drafting a plan and bringing it to the sale, I'm really glad that I was able to prioritize both flowering shrubs and....able to fit in three Hellebores into the budget.   Our plan calls for twenty (20) Hellebores (Lenten Roses) in two different colonies .  Listen...I really LOVE Hellebores.  But, they're ALWAYS so expensive.  I'm talking $20+ for each one.  And, the big box nurseries never carry them.  But, I needed to - as I said - 'bite the bullet' and buy some.   We have just ONE Hellebores - Sally's Shell - that we bought in

 Yesterday, I started with the first set of plants that I picked up at the Morton Arboretum Plant Sale:  three Little Honey Oakleaf Hydrangea .  In that post, I talked about the sale (it is really great) and how I went in with a plan (shrubs first, others second).  I was able to (mostly) stick to my plan and brought home a total of five flowering shrubs - three Little Honey - and two Ruby Slippers Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  Again....I'll mention:  #1 on my 2022 to-do list was to focus on shrubs .  And, these two Ruby Slippers pays that off.  In my 'shrubs' post where I listed out needs, I talked about five Oakleaf Hydrangeas .  Turns out, I *think* that I really need either eight (three more) or (maybe) just five, but three more of SOME OTHER kind of dwarf flowering shrub.   Before we talk about placement, let's look at Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ruby Slippers'.  Below are the two that I brought home: Below is the sign at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  It des

This past weekend was the annual Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale.  I've gone the past couple of years and always have such a nice time and bring home really interesting plants that you just can't find at big box nurseries.  And, their prices are pretty fair.   Over the years, I've bought grasses ( All Gold Japanese Forest Grasses , Karl Foerster Grasses, Totem Pole grass ), trees ( a cool red Katsura and an Emperor 1 Japanese Maple ), ferns ( Ghost Ferns and others), sedges and both Epimedium and Pulmonaria.   Last year, I went in with a 'loose plan' and came home with a variety of plants that I really liked that work in our (mostly-shade) garden.   If you've never been, I'll tell you:  it is REALLY HARD to focus and prioritize.  Every table has something that is interesting and unique.  And, it is REALLY EASY to just start putting stuff in your box to bring home.  Soon, the total adds up and you're buying stuff that you are drawn to but...mayb

Our plan for the year called for a focus on shrubs .  Shrubs in the backyard, mostly.  But, also shrubs in the front yard.  In my post outlining the list of shrubs that are called for in the plan, I mentioned needing to replace one of the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas that are sitting in front of our front porch out front.  It started to decline last year and despite watering, it withered and died last Summer.  A couple of factors came in play (I'm pretty sure) that caused the hydrangea to die:  the surface root mat from the Norway Maple tree outcompeting the hydrangea COUPLED with the hydrophobic mulch that was taking place and not allowing the watering that I *was* providing to get down to the rootball.   I found four treeform Viburnum - Doublefile - at Menards and brought them home with the goal of adding them to our yard - mostly in the backyard.  Our plan called for eight additional Viburnum (Arrowwood Chicago Lustre) around the border of our yard that would complement the

There are some plants that I've bought at various nurseries that seem to have done well and others that don't make it.  Then, there are the plants and perennials that I've bought at the Morton Arboretum plant sales.  I'm pretty sure that aside from some Huecheras that I planted in full Sun and were trampled by workers building the house next door, just about everything that I've brought home has worked out well.  The first time I went to the Morton sale was in the Fall of 2020 - they had a Fall Sale due to COVID - and I brought home some new-to-me perennials.  The first of those were three Twinkle Toes Pulmonaria - or Lungwort - that I planted in our backyard in late September 2020 .  They survived their first Winter and emerged for their first Spring a year ago - in mid-March 2021 .   Ever since, they've just performed and had some nice growth along the way.    The last time that I showed these were in Fall of last year when they put on some new, post-Summer g

Last week, I posted some photos and details of the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses that I divided last Fall and transplanted around the yard with (so far...) success.  At that time, I mentioned that I had a few more grasses that I left in place as a sort-of hedge against the division killing all of the grasses.  This past weekend, I got around to digging up the remaining grasses and dividing them into new clumps ready for transplant.  Starting with the little bed outside our kitchen window, we had (as of this Spring) three large clumps.  Now, we're back to five smaller grasses - three in the back, two in the front.  See that below: The other grass that was ready to divide was one outside our screened porch.  I dug it up and divided it and put one of the divisions back in place - you can see it below.  The newly divided grass is on the right along with three other grasses that were planted in subsequent years.  Now there are four grasses in this little bed.  I'm thinking tha