I am not the person who is out there in autumn cutting everything back. Nope, not me. I do what I have to in the autumn and leave the rest for the snow to land on. Given the choice, I am way more anxious to get out in my garden for cleanup when we finally get a nice spring day. Today was that day!
The beautyberry bush was on my list. It was nothing but a bunch of branches.
But give it a haircut, add the missing chair, and already the area looks better. Yes, I cut it all the way down.
By autumn, it will be in its glory!
Learn more about the American Beautyberry in this post. Put this bush on your must have list for when the garden centers are stocked.
It’s inevitable – we are bound to buy more dahlias. Yay! Mike will grow 200 plants from our 30 tubers and plant 75 in our yard. You would think that would be enough. But no, I was on the internet today buying more tubers. I used Dahlia Addict to find sellers of Belle of Barmera, and we are buying from Valley Ridge Farm for the first time. And of course, once you get to a seller, there is so much eye candy. I couldn’t help myself. I bought four more.
Belle of Barmera – GiantHollyhill Jitterbug – SmallMingus Wesley – LargeSam Huston – Giant
Our own tubers come out of storage and get planted in the basement in mid-March. They grow sprouts, Mike cuts the sprouts off, roots them, and in about 3 weeks we have a new plant. So for us, one tuber typically makes 3-6 new plants. No guarantee as each tuber does what God designed it to do. The tuber (below left) would have come from our inventory, not a seller’s. Its too big to be brand new, plus the ones from sellers won’t come till May. They typically go right in the ground outside.
A sprout ready for cuttingCutting a sprout to make a new plant
We do a lot of plants, but if you are just doing a few, do like Frank did below. Make yourself a mini-greenhouse from a Styrofoam or plastic cup filled with potting mix and cover it with a plastic cup. A plastic cup on the bottom is nice since you can see when the roots are growing. It will need really bright lights. Fluorescent works just fine, a window does not. Watch for roots, put it in a larger pot as needed, and plant it outside after the last frost.
Yes, BROWN is a color. Yes, it can be quite boring. But in the category of “work with what you are given”, we have abundant BROWN during our Chicagoland winters. This little guy certainly “worked his BROWN”. He is BROWN to begin with, and he has chosen a BROWN scarf. Still, he is totally adorable. So give the BROWN some love, I’ll show you how.
BROWN might not seem so appealing in your garden, but it can be. I think sedum can be one of the highlights. Contrast it against snow, and you have instant pretty. We don’t cut ours back till spring, and as you can see, the sedum is not alone. Even the dried out annual in the milk can and the old BROWN pump add winter interest right from our back door.
There are a LOT of things we don’t cut back till spring. We let the snow land on plants that are past prime and its way better than flat. Sure, the sweet autumn clematis below isn’t quite in its glory, still, its better than looking at a plain ol’ fence. We did cut it back in 2021 and let the BROWN sun shine through. I’m not sure that was the best way to go since we saw more of our neighbors house. BROWN would have been better and we did let it stay this year. On the other hand, seeing more of our interesting BROWN fence is always a bonus.
Are you wondering what those BROWN stems are in the photos above? Well wonder no more. Consider weeping trees in your garden and be rewarded with BROWN winter interest. Here is our weeping mulberry, and no, it doesn’t make those messy berries.
My gosh, as I look around I keep finding more BROWN. Mike moved our log pile this winter. It just happens to be in our line of sight from the house. Who would have known that it would be nice to look at?
Then there is my favorite BROWN of all, Aubrey, happily running around the yard no matter how cold it is. 75 pounds of bouncy cute!
So go on out there and enjoy the brown while you can, because it won’t be long till you have to look at spring flowers bursting with vibrant colors instead.
It was very sad. My prolific Vista Bubblegum petunias stopped blooming…just like they did last year. Sigh! But wait – Captain Jack’s BT spray to the rescue. Two weeks later and they are again blooming like crazy.
On September 6th, barely a bloom:
On September 20th, back to magnificent:
Now don’t just go out to Walmart and get Captain Jack’s BT spray for $7.
First make sure you are treating the cause of the problem; in our case it was bud worms. I’d never even heard of the culprits before. And I still haven’t seen them. But we have seen the flowers they chewed:
And tiny tiny bud worm poop:
So do your homework, and hopefully you will get an A+ and be rewarded with happy plants.
I have gone to war on invasives – yet I continue to grow cleome. Yep, it’s a contradiction. There aren’t many plants that are more invasive, unless you go for the really crazy ones that are, or should be, outlawed. So why do I do it? Why do I subject myself to a plant that so freely self-seeds? It’s pretty, but that’s not enough. I have been vigilant against other pretty but invasive plants. It’s the combination of pretty and controllable that does it for me.
Here is the pretty.
And here is the controllable. Sure, it produces a million seedlings, but they are easy to identify and just require a slight tug to remove. Even if they get big, it still just takes a tug as I walk past. They must be easy to remove if I’m still doing it.
There are places where I just allow one to grow, like by my Garden Girl statue.
Most years I allow many to grow along one of the paths.
But don’t say I didn’t warn you. There were a few years where I let cleome have its way. Jurassic park, here we come!
I have an two easy answers for those of you looking to buy dahlias.
My first choice to get dahlias for your garden is to buy established plants at the Chicago Botanic Gardens when Central States Dahlia Society has their sale. You get plants that our members have grown, tried and true. Plus they are already plants, not tubers, so you get a head start. This year (2022) that will be May 7th and 8th, just in time for Mother’s Day. We sell a LOT of dahlias and I absolutely recommend getting there early for the best selection. The sale is from 10 AM to 4 PM. A few of our favorites, though I can’t guarantee what will be for sale:
But what if you, sadly, can’t come to the sale? You may find tubers at local stores, even big box stores like Home Depot and Meijers. Just watch the packaging so you know what size you are getting since a closeup of a bloom can be very deceiving in size.
On-line is absolutely an option, and its hard to know who to buy from. Or is it??? Lookee here…Dahlia Addict is a site that lets you put in the name of the dahlia you want, and it tells you which dahlia growers have it for sale!
Yes, I know that was a wonderful tip. Hope I made your day!
Last Saturday was March 5th and winter aconite was blooming in my front yard. I kid you not. Chicagoland. March 5th. Blooms. YES!! Now that’s a sign of spring that I always look for. Sometimes I have to look for the buds under snow since we are, after all, in Chicagoland, but I do find them.
Winter Interest – Goodbye
This year March 5th was miraculously warm, and I sadly spent time in my office. Gotcha! As you can see, my office is my garden. Lucky me. One of the perks of being retired.
My garden really needs me as spring approaches, mostly because I leave a lot of my autumn garden clean-up for now. After all, by the time autumn comes, I am admittedly not as interested in working in my garden as I am now after a winter of being garden deprived. I can also justify it as being very practical since so many of last year’s leftovers can add winter interest. So not everything gets put away or cut back.
Take these mums in a milk can and the sedums, for example. Really, I want you to take them. I’m done with them. Ok, that is not gonna happen, but I will still use them as two examples of winter interest.
The mums in a milk can were near my garden entrance where they greeted me each morning. I moved that for the winter to a spot where I could see them from my patio doors every day. Sure, they aren’t as pretty (understatement) as they were last fall, but they beat a flat landscape and the milk can is interesting all year.
The sedums are nice to look at all winter, and they get cut down early as the new growth is there early. So early that I was seeing plenty of new growth as I cut them down.
Much of the winter interest in my garden got moved that day. Really moved. As you can see, it’s not quite as lovely in its temporary location. Still, I celebrate that today’s warmth brought “Hello winter aconite and goodbye winter interest”. Like John Muir, I say: “Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.”
That title says it all. I could stop right here and have said enough with “Zinnia Seeds Are At Home Depot!”. Not just any zinnia seeds, but the great big beauties called State Fair. Some years we can’t find the seeds and have to buy plants, so I am pleased to announce that the seeds are now in my possession since Mike is addicted to Home Depot. Maybe you should even stop reading right now and go get some.
In case you have continued reading, I want to entice you a bit more. You may remember summer. We get summer here in the Chicago suburbs eventually. Today is not “eventually”, and we have the snow and cold to prove it. When August comes though, your zinnia garden can look like mine does every summer, a real showpiece.
We plant our seeds inside in mid-March. Don’t start too soon or they get leggy. I’ve proved that. Be sure to give them plenty of light too. I put them in the garden after the last frost, and here is the BIG TIP – plant them far apart. Mine are 12″ – 18″ apart, which allows room for air flow and greatly reduces powdery mildew. I especially like that they are low maintenance, so a bed this large is easy. The garden gets mulched, so I hardly ever have to weed. They like sun and heat so I hardly ever have to water. I don’t even deadhead till September. Maybe I would if they were closer to the house and seen closer-up more often.
Here is the garden in mid-August. Gosh, I don’t even fertilize. They just do what God intended them to do.
They’ll bloom till frost, making for lovely autumn arrangements.
Yes, zillions of zinnias is what the sign says, and clearly there is a reason for that!
Retirement has its advantages. For example, my October to do list has had “make a lampshade scarecrow” for at least three years, complete with a Pinterest picture. Retired…done. Then there’s the neighborhood pumpkin decorating contest. Retired…won! So what if there were only 11 entrants, Aubrey II is totally cool.
Angelica and Aubrey II
A few tidbits about Angelica…
Cost effective – these three lampshades plus one more for her hat were $16 from the Salvation Army. Important – be sure to use a glue that resists rain, just in case. We’ve found hot glue to be just the ticket.
Her hair is a braided luau skirt.
She has premade wings from branches.
Mike supported her on a wooden stake using hooks. The stake comes out of the ground since we really don’t want her out in the rain.
Then there is Aubrey II. Her inspiration came from a Cruella store display in Door County. It cost us $150 cuz of course I had to stop at the store and of course I liked the clothes. Win-win!
Here is our Aubrey and her pumpkin counterpart.
Which brings me full circle to retirement. When you retire, whatever you had planned can probably be done tomorrow, so extending a camping reservation (ok twice) is so doable. Plenty of time to find the perfect pumpkin and rocks for Aubrey II’s paws. I love being retired!
Wow – we have so many dahlia blooms this year. As usual, Mike planted about 70 dahlias. They performed! I took a lot of pictures earlier this week since we had cut a lot of blooms for the presentations we were doing for Downers Grove and Bloomingdale.
From left to right we have Drummer Boy, Islander, Embrace, Wanda’s Aurora, AC David, Woodland Wildthing, Steve Meggos, and Ketchup & Mustard.
If you think that’s impressive, here is the whole garden:
