Why I Oughta...

Last Fall - as part of my #FallPlanting sprint, I dug in three Ruby Muhly Grasses right at the edge of the boardwalk (that I installed last season).  I bought them in Late Fall - when they were on an end-of-the-season sale at The Growing Place and were container-bound.   This is an area of Full Sun during the hot part of the day and despite not baby'ing these, they seem to have done just fine this year.  I last posted about them in mid-August; about five weeks ago .  At that point, they were all blades.  A blue-grey thin, whispy set of blades of grass that sort of splayed from side-to-side.  But, at that point, no seedheads.  And...the seedheads of Ruby Muhly Grass - Muhlenbergia reverchonii 'Undaunted' - which I think are called "panicles" are the real star of these grasses.   These went in as quart-sized grasses, so they still need some time to mature, but have a look below at what they look like right now.  They're showing off their first seed heads: While

Late last year, I planted a singular Cardoon IB2DWs after seeing some of them growing in the Fragrance Garden at the Morton Arboretum.  It was eaten a little bit by rabbits, but I ended up protecting it over the winter with a ring of chicken wire.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it seemed to survive all Winter and then grew in Spring and Summer.  By July, it was good-sized and started to bloom .  The blooms were these out-of-this-world purple-spiked blooms that look like they belong on Pandora (Avatar).   After it bloomed, I decided to cut it back to the ground.  I left just a short segment of the stalk that seemed to die-back to the ground.  That was it, I figured. But...something has happened recently.  Foliage started to emerge from the mulch.  What the what?  Have a look at the current state of my cardoon - coming back in late Summer/early Fall.  Is this thing confused?  Will it survive the winter?  Will it bloom again?  The orange zinnias next to these are doing really we

The dahlias keep producing blooms.  I can cut an arrangement almost EVERYDAY if I'd like to do that.  I've been giving them away - to neighbors, to my mom, to my sister, to Nat's sister.  2024 is certainly the year of cut flowers - here, here to hitting my 2024 to-do goal for #2 on my list .  Below are a number of blooms that I cut and put in to-go cups for my Mom.

My last check-in on the oven showed the 4th chain of dome bricks rising up.  I call it the 4th, but some call it the 'soldier plus three'.  Whatever.  There are 12 or 13 total chains that are needed to close the dome, so four is about 1/3rd of the way.  Today, I'm showing off the sixth (or 'soldier plus five') chain installed.  Along with the 'anchor brick' for the next chain up. We're starting to get a real pitch on the bricks - see below: And, we're starting to see some curvature to the dome, too.  See below: Lots more to go - including the inner arch.  

One of the not-so-planned set of shrubs that went in last Fall in my Fall Planting spasm was a set of three Soft Touch Hollys that went into the backyard nook area.  They were a late-season sale purchase , but I thought it was wise to diversify away from yews and boxwoods in my evergreen shrub collection.   Have they put on size?  I think so.  See below for the current state of these three Japanese Soft Touch Holly in our backyard - Zone 6a/5b.  They're fronted by some Dark Side of the Moon Astilbes and Ajuga Chocolate Chip that I put here during one of my 'garden edits' this Spring.  

2024 continues to be (for me) the Summer of the Dahlia.  Specifically....the Milena Fleur Decorative Dahlia.  Last Fall/Winter, I ordered six Milena Fleur Dahlia tubers - my first mail order dahlia tubers.  I also bought a couple Cornell Bronze Dahlia tubers at the same time , but based on what I was seeing/reading from Erin the Impatient Gardener on her Instagram, I bought MORE Milena Fleur dahlias than anything else.   There was A LOT to like about these:  they're 'compact' - meaning they stay short and don't require staking.  As a beginning Dahlia grower, that was important.  But, also...the color.   These are billed by White Flower Farm as "blossoms that blend tropical shades of coral pink, papaya, and gold." My journey started earlier this Spring when I potted up the six Melina Fleurs in one-gallon nursery pots - indoors .   At the very beginning of May this year.   After they sprouted, I started to bring them up and outside for hardening off - a little

One of the conifers that we have in our backyard is *supposed* to be a really lovely columnar evergreen tree:  a Weeping White Spruce.  I planted it in 2019 along the fence on the southside with hopes that it would grow up-up-up and be a sort-of 'exclamation point' in our garden bed.  Here's what it looked like in Fall of 2019 : it was 46" tall from the soil to the top of the leader.   Then, this thing suffered a little bit from drought.  And, I lost the leader .  That was Summer of 2020.   Now...four years later, the tree is...well....ABOUT THE SAME.  See below: I took out the tape measure because my eyes weren't telling me if this thing actually grew.  This tree was 46" to the tip in Fall of 2019.  Five years since planting - and four years since the leader was lost - this tree is NOW 49" tall.  That means....we're up 3".  Just 3".  But, because of pruning of the 'lost leader', I don't think that tells the full story.  I suspec