Garden Chores: Dappled Willow, Arborvitaes, Little Henry Sweetspire

[@QueenGail]

Yes please more like this as I’m kind of new and we all can learn Blessings 💜💚

[@GardenSanity]

Thanks Gail -- glad you enjoyed it and want to see more! 🌲

[@d.wilbur5164]

Everything looks beautiful, Laura! I so enjoyed watching you work :) so yes, I like these videos a lot!! I play a little trick on myself saying that I can do anything for 10 feet or 10 minutes, usually a dreaded chore, which always turns into 30 feet or 30 minutes or more. - Doleen. We're having some cooler temps this week as well!!

[@GardenSanity]

Oh Doleen, I love that idea: 10 feet or 10 minutes! 👍🩷 I definitely find that telling myself exactly what I want to accomplish before I head outside helps me stay better focused. It’s definitely something I’ve been mindful of this year. So happy you’re getting cooler temps too! 😀

[@k.weinberger2421]

Love this style of video btw! Like watching Charles Dowding walk around in his vegetable garden and chat about the care for each plant. I find it relaxing and I like that you add your wisdom from previous plantings that didn’t work.

[@GardenSanity]

Thanks so much for your feedback! 😀 I really appreciate it. I want each gardener watching the video to feel like they are taking a walk with me and hanging out while I do some chores and share my thoughts. 💚🌺🐝

[@Carl-iw9sy]

Laura, the garden is looking great! Those little sweetspire look like a future addition for us 🤔 I also wanted to give you an update on the three bareroots Rozanne geraniums we planted back in spring, once they got established they took off and now are about 3 feet wide with non stop blooms. The Blue Star aster also performed really well and bloomed longer than I thought it would. Thanks!

[@GardenSanity]

Thank you so much! ☺️ Oh I just adore Little Henry Sweetspire, so if you have a good spot for it - I say go for it! 👍 I’m thrilled you are enjoying Rozanne and her amazing flowers! Some, but not all, of my Blue Star Asters were late to flower this year. They also have such a pretty color too! Glad you’re happy with these plants - and thanks for letting me know! 🌸🌱😀

[@lindapearson3340]

Yes I can agree with you that plant chores are never done until you start your Fall Cleanup and your put your plants to sleep for the winter. I am already doing my Fall Cleanup because I have a lot of Iris & Daylilies that are already done for the season. My plants are already telling me that we in Zone 5 are going to have a early Fall. We are already getting into the 50's at night. I will send the cool weather your way. I have that same Butterfly Bush and you are right it smells so good while you are gardening. Love your garden.

[@GardenSanity]

I’m jealous of your cooler temperatures Linda, but thankful you’re sending those temps down here! 🙂 Although I can’t yet start my official Fall Cleanup yet, I’m making quite a list in my head and am eager to get started. So happy you know exactly how good that Butterfly bush scent is while gardening! So soothing, like having a scented candle nearby! Only better! 💙🦋

[@marypugliese5424]

Yes,I too learned something new about arbervitti plant. I thought they were dying and would have to replace them. Thanks for the info.

[@GardenSanity]

Glad to help, Mary! And happy your Arborvitaes are ok, too! 🌲😀 I’m sure that’s quite a relief!

[@2teaspoonsforme]

Hi, I’m new here. Learning so much from you. As a side note, love your tops. 🌹🪻🌸🌻

[@GardenSanity]

Welcome Carly! I’m so glad you’re learning new gardening tips here! And thanks for the compliment on my tops! 🌸🩷🌲

[@willaerley7140]

Have you thought about growing a plant up the pergola? Clematis or a climbing rose, maybe? I’ve been doing a little trimming on my Boulevard Cypress. I don’t want it to look like a Blue Point juniper, so I cut back the upward pointing branches back into the body. 🤞🏻

[@GardenSanity]

The reason we don’t grow anything on the pergola is to avoid bees flying around us when on the patio. I’m fine with the bees, but sometimes guests aren’t. 🐝 Yes, I need to do that to my Boulevard Cypress too - it’s looking beautiful BUT I want to clip it back into itself like you said. 👍 What a great little tree. I’d love to plant another one, but haven’t seen them this year.

[@melissamartin8208]

I do weeding after a rain as it makes it easier to pull out.

[@GardenSanity]

Great tip Melissa! 👍 I agree, and if I’m about to weed in a dry area, I’ll water it enough to make pulling weeds easier. (And of course I can weed those “wet areas” of my gardens any time!) 💧💧🌱😀

[@PerfectPitch62]

I didn’t know about the attachment for the hose so the water doesn’t gush out! I always walk a mile to turn off the water each time I want to change or take off the sprayer attachment. Like you we have 2 or 3 hoses connected to each other. ❤😊

[@GardenSanity]

Yes Denisee, I walked forever back and forth to manually turn off the water too, so this little gadget was a game changer! I’m sure you’ll be very happy with it! 😀💧

[@k.weinberger2421]

I grew verbena bonariensis for the first time this year. It was incredibly thirsty! It was in a container on a south facing balcony, so yeah lots of heat and sun, but it did not like to dry out at all.

[@GardenSanity]

Isn't that funny you had the same experience! I think they need more moisture than people are led to believe, unless they get some shade at their base from other plants next to them. I'm going to try a shorter version (I hope) next year, something like Verbena Lollipop or similar. I'm curious what that will do in terms of being thirsty or not. 💜

[@stacy3005]

I'm especially fond of your wet garden... Beautiful! I'm new to gardening so I really appreciate all the helpful information. Everything you mention is extremely useful to me. I read that the Little Henry is good in containers...any experience with this?

[@sammysworld5485]

Hi Laura. Wow your dapples got huge. Would you ever tree form them? Mine have reached 5’ by 4’ already in the last 2 yrs. I’m contemplating if I should coppice to the ground next Spring to reset it. I just love how they move in the breeze.

[@QueenGail]

First 💃🏾

[@JohnDeMoss]

Hi Laura, I have looked high and low for dappled willow in my area. Would you be open to selling some cuttings the next time you prune?

[@jeangurnee]

I am in the process of removing landscape fabric underneath established plants in our new to us home (2 years in now) and it is a chore. The established plants are stunted. This video was fun and since I am looking for ideas for plants in a new section, the Little Henry Sweetspire seems perfect. I really love the red accents in the winter when it snows :D

[@GardenSanity]

Hi Jean - I feel for you removing the landscape fabric. It is indeed quite a chore! 🥵 However it will feel and look so much better when you’re finished. Weeding will be easier and yes the plants will be happier too. 😀 I felt like I was letting the plants finally breathe! 🤣 I’m so glad you enjoyed the video. I often talk about plants with Winter interest so everything isn’t boring when it’s the dormant season. 👍

[@jeangurnee]

@@GardenSanity Finished it today! I noticed that the work I did a week or so ago already encouraged fresh new green leaves on the camellia bush. Next project is planting a hedge of Pieris Mountain Fire.

[@GardenSanity]

@@jeangurnee Whoo hoo! Congratulations Jean -- I know that was a ton of work -- and not fun gardening work either! I used to have a Pieris before we redid our front yard landscaping and it is quite a beautiful shrub. I imagine a hedge of them will look wonderful. 😃

[@colsen4616]

We bought an old house that had two layers of different types of landscape fabric in the front beds and it was a nightmare to weed. I think I got the last of it out this year.🤞🏻

[@GardenSanity]

Oh geez -- TWO different types of landscape fabric?!? It's bad enough weeding with one layer! You have my sympathy -- and my admiration for removing it because I bet it was quite a job.❤ I still have it in various spots in the backyard and imagine that somehow on a cold Winter day I will go out and easily remove it. 🤣😂 Yeah, right!

[@colsen4616]

@@GardenSanity I did mine over the course of 20 years as we plugged away at landscaping. The annoying part was pulling up just a bit here and there and making sure it didn’t find its way into the yard waste. Lol on a good day I got a couple foot strip! 😄

[@GardenSanity]

@@colsen4616 Well I think I'm possibly going to be in the same boat -- a little at a time, over a long period of time. Because doing a lot of it at once is a huge mess and in my own experience, it doesn't all get done in one or two or three easy days! 🤣 Good point about the yard waste, too!