The quest begins

I like shrubs but I lack shrubs. I have two little spireas that are still recovering from a shoddy transplanting job I did two years ago. I also have a lilac I adore, a honeysuckle that bores me, and a forsythia I weep for. I inherited these three when we bought the house.

(Bor-ing)

Why do I weep for the forsythia? Because I love these harbingers of spring that brighten up the muddy March garden when it's struggling for breath after getting bodyslammed by winter. Unfortunately, my forsythia was planted in a terrible location: soil filled with lava rocks in deep shade. Consequently, it blooms anemically every spring, nowhere close to its full potential.

(It looks happy enough, but...)

Why not move it, you ask? Because those who planted it put it directly over the electrical, gas, and cable lines! Digging up this shrub means risking life, limb, and destroying cable TV for the entire neighborhood, which would undoubtedly result in an angry mob swarming my house with torches and pitchforks.

But enough about anemic forsythias and angry mobs; I'm looking to the future! The north border that I reclaimed from the lava rocks is crying out for a shrub to anchor its corner (or at least that's what I think it's saying). It has a tree at one end (which I believe is a box elder) and a number of perennials waiting to burst to life next year: 'City of Haarlem' hyacinths and 'El Cid' tulips in early spring, nectaroscordums and 'Ruffled Velvet' irises in late spring and purple coneflowers in summer that will hopefully be joined by yellow coneflowers (Ratbida pinnata), provided that the seed I have is viable and the seedlings survive. There are also tufts of little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), which are blogalong passalongs from Mr. McGregor's Daughter.


(One shrub, please! A specimen, not a traveling hedge-former.)

We'll see how that all pans out next year, but it will be a big improvement over the previous state of the border! As you've likely figured out, purple and yellow is the predominant color scheme. As you've also noticed, that's a lot of flowers and herbaceous material and not much (or really any) woody material. So I thought for a bit of symmetry and structure I should add a shrub to the currently empty corner. It would provide fall color and winter interest as well as a contrast to all the perennials. So I started searching...

This site is challenging, to put it mildly. It receives barely any sun because it's on the north side of the house and at the confluence of our fence with a neighbor's tree just above it. So shade tolerance is a must. The soil is my terrible clay along with a good dose of remnant lava rocks mixed in. On the bright side, there was a peony growing here when I moved in. I transplanted it and its brethren from this north bed to the front yard where they've exploded in the full sun, so I am confident that something can grow here. But what?

My first thought was goat's beard (Aruncus dioicus), which is actually an herbaceous perennial and would kind of negate the whole reasoning behind the shrub. But hear me out! Goat's beard grows up to 6' tall, thus is the size of a shrub, and it's a shade-loving native. It blooms with shaggy white panicles in early summer, hence the name. The problem would be lack of fall color and winter interest, which are two of the main reasons I want a shrub. It's a possibility, a fall-back, but not a lock.

Next I thought about a sweetspire (Itea virginica). It shares many attributes with the goat's beard: white panicles, shade tolerant, manageable size, North American native. Even better than the goat's beard, this one has gorgeous fall color and will provide more structure as a truly woody plant. Chicagoland Grows developed a particularly fiery specimen named 'Scarlet Beauty' that is proven hardy to the Chicago region. Perhaps a frontrunner?


(Lots of hibernating herbaceous stuff, could use some contrast.)

Then I started to think a little bigger. What about a pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)? It has a wonderful shape and would certainly add the structure I'm looking for. And I could just prune it to keep it at the correct size, right? I wouldn't neglect to prune a shrub, would I? That 'Golden Shadows' would look fabulous with the purple and yellow color scheme, that's for sure! But would this site be too shady for it? Does it maybe hopefully get more sun than I'm giving it credit for?

At this point I was thrilled with the possibilities and confused about what plant was truly right for this site. Yes, it's mostly shady thanks to the fence, but that also means it's a protected site, probably the most sheltered on our whole property. So then I began to think some more, and many other ideas swirled through my head above and beyond just shrubs. I'll share them with you in another upcoming post, as my quest for the shade border shrub continues...

Muse Day is graciously hosted by Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago. Please visit to see more thoughts on this first day of the month!

The First Act Ends

The start of July signals the halfway point of summer, the intermission of the gardening season, if you will. Maybe it's not the halfway mark astronomically, but certainly calendrically and horticulturally. The youthful exuberance of May and June will soon give way to the hot and buggy dominance of midsummer.

Gardens reflect the transition at this point. Irises and peonies are long gone, but the later bloomers such as mums and asters are weeks, even months, away. In the interim, daylilies, roses, dianthus and the like are stealing the show, and the ubiquitous hostas are finally sharing their flowers.

Around here the feel of the seasons has been amplified this year. Spring was extremely cool and soggy, but last week we got a taste of true midsummer with oppressive temperatures and humidity. My mini-vegetable gardening provides a snapshot: I enjoyed fresh, home-grown lettuces all spring, which now have been replaced by heat-loving bell and chili peppers.

This week I ordered spring bulbs to be planted in the fall--proof that the gardening season is both ephemeral and constant at the same time.

Overall, I'm looking forward to the second act of the season. My prairie corner in the front garden will burst into bloom as coreopsis and asters join the sedum; the Joe-Pye weed will beckon butterflies, goldenrod will shine, and those bell peppers, my favorite veggies, will hopefully flourish and ripen. What does the second act hold for your garden?

For more Muse Day thoughts, check out Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Garden Blogger's Muse Day--May

Can you believe it's May already?? I'm astonished at how much faster time seems to move every year. But that's not actually the subject of my musing. This post is kind of an add-on to Carol at May Dreams Garden, who feels May is the most exciting gardening month. I must agree that May is the most garden-centric month for me, mostly because it's the time when blooming really gets underway and the risk of frost here in northern Illinois is reliably past. As a result, May is the time to weed vigorously, plant copiously, and enjoy unabashedly.

I will be picking up two large plant orders from the Wild Ones this month and trying to squeeze in some trips to local plant sales, and I also need to plant my containers, transplant my seedlings, and add new mulch. I feel like I'm already lagging behind! But we're really underway with the gardening season now; I hope you're as excited about it as I am! For more musing, visit Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Garden Blogger's Muse Day--April

April is a very environmentally focused month, with both Earth Day and Arbor Day falling in this segment of the calendar. In fact they're falling within the same week; Earth Day is the 22nd and Arbor Day is the 24th. With these "holidays" focusing our minds on the natural world and our gardens really kicking into action, this is therefore a great opportunity to make a conscientious effort to do something beneficial for the world at large. It doesn't have to be something grand or elaborate. Hey, installing an entire geothermal heat-exchanger would be fabulous, but I know that's not exactly in my budget right now!

No, an act of environmental consideration can be as simple as trying to reduce your water usage, being diligent about turning off some lights (remember Earth Hour? That can be an hour each night), or planting a tree. Try including a few native perennials in your garden if there aren't any there already. You'll be amazed at how many bees and butterflies take up residence in your garden as they feast on their evolutionary colleagues.

Most importantly, let's remember that even though April trumpets environmental awareness with Earth Day and Arbor Day, we need to maintain that awareness every month, "holidays" or not. Let's try to establish some good habits this month and carry them through the year. I plan to continually muse about steps I can take to help the ol' blue marble, and I hope you'll do the same!

For more musing, see Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.