Why I Oughta...

This is the second Spring with the pair of Weeping Norway Spruce trees (planted IB2DWs) in our garden - with this growing season showing the same unique color as last year:  red or purple cones growing at the tips.    Here's a post from last April showing the brightly-colored small cones on the tips of the Norway Spruces .   This year, the trees are showing those same red or purple cones - but in greater numbers.  Below are a couple of photos showing these colorful cones on Weeping Norway Spruce - Picea spruce 'Pendula': But those aren't the *only* Spruce trees we have in the front yard; as I planted a small Skylands Spruce in the Island Bed last Fall .  This being the first Spring (for the tree) is also the first year for the red or purple cones on Skylands.  Lovely to see.  Photo of Skylands Spruce with purple cones below: What follows these cones is the small burst of lime green - or in the case of Sklyands...likely chartreuse green - grow...

One of the public gardens that continues to stir my imagination - despite not visiting in a couple of years - are the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris .  We've revisited the gardens a few times over the years and I always come away with ideas, inspiration and plans that we can incorporate into our garden.   From annual planting patterns to espaliered trees to garden furniture to cocoa bean mulch to path edging to the long-desired Orangerie Box to a tree species that I planted because we saw it there:  The London Planetree.    In the Summer of 2019, I posted this photo showing the pair of columns of very mature London Planetrees that are planted around a pond/water feature and talked about how I wanted to bring this look to our garden.   The next Spring, we were in the midst of the early days of COVID lockdowns, so I would wander to the big box nursery early in the morning to see what they had on hand - only to discover one of these London Planet...

Recently, we had a crew come in and clean up the garden, edge out the beds and lay down a layer of mulch.  Was it leaf mulch?  No.  And, I'm ok with that.  It was hardwood fines and it sure looks good.  I channeled my inner Stu Finer and made the most of the installation.  Mulch and those edges play a role in what is called 'garden legibility'.  That was #10 on my 2025 to-do-list:  work on legibility in the garden .   This mulch - with its dark brown color - sure *does* make the garden more legible.   Below are a few photos showing the mulch in the beds.  Starting with the front yard - where the recently expanded front porch bed is now showing how much space there is for annuals.   The island bed in front is now larger, connected to the driveway and has a better, more organic shape to it.  This was #3 on my 2025 to-do list  (part of it, at least).  Below are a couple of photos showing the island b...

Last Spring, we planted a new Emperor 1 Japanese Maple tree in the understory garden of the backyard after bringing it home from the Morton Arboretum plant sale.  Of the various Japanese Maples we've planted, we've had the most luck with Emperor 1s.   Last year was also, unfortunately, cicada season for us in Northern Illinois.  Lots of cicadas.   I attempted to protect many of our trees with tulle - including this newly planted Japanese Maple ( see here for the cicada protection ), but it seems that the top part of this new tree suffered from the little slits the cicadas carve into branches to lay their eggs.   Below is a photo of the tree - where you can see the top half of the tree is dead. When you look closely at the leader, you see the telltale signs of cicada damage:  these slits along the branch: I pruned off the top/dead branch of this tree and am hoping that we can see some recovery.   Trees typically die from the top--...

Last May, I undertook a [garden edit] in the backyard that was aimed at accomplishing a few things at once:  First, it was part of my "hosta replacement project" - where I was moving some hostas (that don't provide four-season interest) further back in the garden.  Second, I was looking to improve the stumpery with some ferns and other shade-tolerant perennials.  And, finally....I had an established cluster of All Gold Hakonechloa Macra Japanese Forest Grasses that sat in the bed under our Tree Swing tree that I wanted to move.  Why move them?  Because that's where I put the pizza oven. Here's the post showing this garden edit and transplant of the All Gold grasses .  Pre-transplant, I had eight grasses in the garden .   I did some dividing (I think), because in this post , I count nine grasses in the garden edit.   As I've mentioned previously, last growing season got away from me thanks to the pizza oven build.  Weeding and wateri...

I haven't planted tulip bulbs in years, but I still have clusters of them in a few spots around the garden.  I've learned over time that tulips need to be interplanted with other things - to sort-of camouflage the foliage as it sticks around and (eventually) dies back.  Once the blooms are gone, bulb foliage NEEDS to stick around to collect energy for the bulb, but it usually looks ratty.   Because of that, I've held off on bulbs for a few Falls, but this year I should put it back my list.  Why am I thinking that?  Because the Spring 'hello' this little cluster of tulips are giving right at the edge of our driveway.  These, below, are IB2DWs, down by the sidewalk.     With all the Springs where we've had tulips, I've never gone out and cut them for a countertop arrangement.  Until this year.  Here, below, is my first Spring-time arrangement featuring tulips and daffodils.    The daffodils are the 'inherited' ones in o...

Yesterday, I updated my pizza oven project with the latest progress on the small, timber retaining wall that I've been building in front of the oven.  The goal is to create a small, flat surface that I can use to work/bake in front of the oven.  The grade required a small wall and after hemming-and-hawing on what to do, I opted for action:  get the oven operational. Yesterday's post showed how I set the timbers and backfilled with TONS of gravel for drainage .    The next step in the process is to fold over the non-woven landscape fabric on top of the gravel - this fabric serves as a 'separation layer' from the soil that is behind the gravel.  It also is the separation layer to the soil I intend to pile on top.  Below is a look at the fabric folded back on the gravel: After the fabric was in place, I started to dig out the large pile of earth that I excavated for this project and began to fill in the space.  After a few inches, I compacted the so...