Tag: Bluestar
A Bit More Fall Color and a Spam Alert
There’s some decent fall color in our garden right now, though it’s an area I’ve identified for future improvement. This long, mild autumn has given us more time to enjoy the seasonal hues, though for some plants it may have delayed the arrival of fall color.
Clouds of Gold at Lurie Garden
This is Bluestar’s big moment at the Lurie Garden, particularly Arkansas Bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii). The big billowing plant with needle-like leaves has turned from green to gold. When I took these pictures yesterday, they were scattered around the garden like golden clouds come to earth.
July Fruit’n’Foliage
Don’t you think Fruit’n’Foliage would make a good name for a breakfast cereal? It could be made with kale flakes and blueberries. Or not blueberries – too common. Kale flakes and açai berries! You heard it here first. But enough of that. Today I want to look at interesting things in the garden that aren’t …
Blue June
By the first week of June our garden has taken on a more tranquil character. The orange, red, and yellow exuberance of the tulips, narcissi, and poppies has spent itself. Now the garden is full of the bulky greens of summer-blooming plants not yet ready to put on their show.
Curb Appeal
The front garden is the one thing that really brings out my exhibitionist tendencies. I want it to grab the attention of people walking or driving by. Late summer is one of the times when the front garden has its greatest visual impact. Some of the blooms of mid-summer become even showier and more prolific. …
Foliage and Fruits of June
Recently a friend told me I needed more color and variegation among the foliage in my garden. I admit that when I think about plants, the foliage is often an afterthought. That’s one reason I like to participate in Garden Bloggers Foliage Day, sponsored monthly by Christine at My Hesperides Garden, which nudges me to …
Winners and Losers in the Battle of Dry Shade
My back garden raised bed has been something of a permanent work in progress. I was in my Raised Bed Period when I created it. Somewhere, I really can’t remember where, I had read about the virtues of raised beds. Over the next couple of years I created four of them in the garden. Anyway, …
GBFD: September Foliage and Fruit
The colors of autumn are only starting to settle in here in Chicago. Grasses often have more of a fall look than does the foliage or flowering perennials. The ‘Northwind’ Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) are displaying their airy panicles, though the leaves are still blue-green. The ‘Northwind’ Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) are displaying their airy panicles. …
The Sidewalk Border: A Herbaceous Report Card
About seven years ago I dug up an L shaped length of turf, with the longer section along the front sidewalk and the shorter one along the property line with the neighbors. The result was a border in almost full sun, 4-5′ wide and about 25′ long. The soil was rich and moist, even before …
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