Thyme

If you need a plant to help soften the edges of a paved path, to connect surrounding plantings, or even act as a living mulch to help suppress weeds, you may want to consider the thymes. They are among the best-loved herbs for our area. These hardy, perennial plants are low growing, fragrant, vigorous spreaders and will cover any sunny well-drained spot. They will even tolerate very dry, gravelly soil.

The common thyme of the kitchen, Thymus vulgaris, is a delightful plant for its fragrance and usefulness in culinary recipes. It is a taller variety that will reach 6 to 12 inches in height and usually blooms white. The many creeping varieties such as the little wooly thyme (T. thracicus), Pink Chintz, Red Creeping, White Creeping, and Elfin thyme are favorites for making dense mats that extend into corners and cover otherwise bare soil. The creeping varieties may only reach a few inches in height and may be lightly walked on. These are just a few of the many beloved types of thyme that we carry in our herb section and in our collection of pathway plants.

Labor Saving Tips for the Home Gardener

In celebration of Labor Day, we have developed some tips and techniques to get the most from your yard with less effort. Gardening will always be work! However, we have learned over the years how to make the most of our time in the soil. This is a collection of tricks and tips gleaned from the staff at The Growing Place to save you some labor and truly enjoy your garden.

Watering: This can be the trickiest garden chore. Determining how much or how little can be difficult to gage. The best tools are a rain gauge and your fingers. If Mother Nature isn’t providing enough water, push your fingers down into the soil to feel if it is moist. If soil crumbs stick together when pressed, you probably don’t need to water. A long soak is better for plants than a quick rinse and plants will grow better and need water less often. Soaker hoses strategically placed can be an easy, efficient way to water. You turn on the hose, set the timer, and walk away. Watering at the soil line greatly reduces fungal and leaf diseases.

Mulch: Mulching can make your life much easier as it holds in moisture, balances soil temperature, and reduces weeds. However, to be effective, you need to know the needs of your plants. One good rule of thumb, is never mulch the stems. Almost all plants resent much against their stems or bark. For trees and shrubs, mulch in a saucer shape with two to three inches of material. For perennials, only about an inch is needed. There are a variety of types of mulch and all will gently decompose into the soil and provide a great environment for the beneficial microbes that plants love.

Right Plant/Right Place: Reduce your maintenance needs by planting plants where they will thrive. Plants growing in the soil and light conditions they enjoy will thrive and be lower maintenance. Incorrectly placed plants are often sickly and grow slowly, if at all. A little bit of planning can go a long way. Figure out how much sun and shade you have, and what your drainage is like. Look for plants that reach the size you want without extra pruning. There are many dwarf selections available. Consider adding succulents to your full sun areas for maximum texture with minimal watering. Ask us! The Growing Place staff holds a wealth of ideas and we carry a huge selection of plants. We’ve created a Growing Place Choice list of plants we find stay attractive, and live long healthy lives with minimal care when planted in the right place.

Weeding: Although a good mulch layer will keep weeds at bay, some always crop up. Weeding after a rain means that roots will come out easier and more completely. Try to catch weeds before they flower and go to seed and remove those flowers. Garlic mustard, for example, can have thousands of seeds on each plant. The old adage is one year of seeds equals seven years of weeds! A large bucket or garbage can lid can be a great tool to tote or scoot with you as you weed. Planting in groups can also reduce your weeding chores. Plants that thrive together will do a good job of keeping weeds at bay. Stepping stones and knee pads can make weeding easier by giving you some padding and somewhere to sit or kneel without disturbing the plants or the soil. Groundcovers and other creeping plants can also be a great weed barrier!

Dividing: Spring and fall are the perfect times to divide perennials. Many perennials benefit from dividing as they grow larger and dividing can improve the health of the plant plus give you extra pieces to plant elsewhere. A sharp spade and a sharp knife or pruning saw, make dividing an easier chore. Dig up the whole plant before splitting into pieces, and replant at the same depth. Peonies and iris prefer to be transplanted in September as soils cool and we get more rain. These two plants resent being planted too deep and require full sun and good drainage.

Pruning: Choosing the right plant for the right place can greatly reduce your pruning needs. There are many dwarf varieties of shrubs and trees available. Also, keep in mind the ultimate size of the plant and how fast it grows. Boxwood is much slower than yew, for example, but dogwoods and willow can grow almost three feet in a season. Consider choosing a plant that naturally grows more columnar, instead of shearing a hedge two to three times a year. Allow enough space for plants, so pruning isn’t needed. If a shrub grows five feet high, it most likely will grow five feet wide. Pruning in winter when leaves have fallen gives you a clear picture of the structure of the plant. However, avoid pruning early spring flowering shrub such as lilac or forsythia, as they have already set their flower buds for the next year’s show.

Creating Planting Beds: Instead of removing all that turf, there are some easy ways to add beds without all that digging. In fall, spread a thick layer of moist newspaper over the grass. Pile mulch, soil, compost, bark and other organic matter over the newspaper. By the following spring, the site will be ready to be lightly tilled or spaded as the organic matter and grass have decomposed nicely. Another way to clear an area for a new garden is to turn grass over, cover with organic matter, and leave it for winter. The grass roots will decompose and provide organic material for the new bed.

Tools: Use the right tool for the job. Sometimes a smaller shovel is the best tool to dig or divide. A dandelion fork can be used to grub out more than just dandelions. It makes removing any weed with a thick taproot easy. Sharp tools also make work go faster. A sharp set of pruners or loppers can make a real difference when you’re pruning.

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Plants Perfect for Creating Privacy

It’s summertime and we are spending more and more time outside enjoying our yards and patios. This is the season when we’ll often notice greater need for privacy and screening. We may love our neighbors, but not necessarily want to see their basketball hoop or play equipment. Plants are a wonderful way to create a living screen with four-season interest.

Some of our favorite screening plants include:

Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’ We love this large, upright grass as a hedge or screen, especially around utility boxes. It stays upright throughout most of the winter, where other grasses may flop and shatter. Although slower to start in spring, this grass will reach 5 to 6 feet high and 2 to 3 feet wide in a season.

Yews; ‘Hicks’, ‘Citation’, and ‘Captain’ are all more upright plants and can reach six to twelve feet high. They feature dark rich green needles, red berries and a are happy in a full shade to full sun site, as long as it is well drained. Yews can be sheared to stay narrow.

Yew ‘Hicks’

Spruces; ‘Columnar’ and ‘Cupressina’ are all smaller scaled, narrower spruces that are slow growing and enjoy full sun. ‘Columnar’ is a blue spruce that reaches 12 to 15 feet high but only 3 to 5 feet wide. ‘Cupressina’ has mid-green needles, smaller twigs, and reaches 25 to 30 feet high and 8 to 10 feet wide.

‘Techny’ arborvitae is excellent for screening in full sun with rich dark green foliage that turns slightly purple in winter. ‘Techny’ holds a snow load very nicely and becomes 12 to 15 feet high and 4 to 6 feet wide over time.

Arborvitae 'Techny'

‘Hetz’ juniper is one of our favorites for a hot, dry site. It is a softer textured juniper with dark green feathery branchlets and loaded with pretty blue berries.

Viburnum dentatum ‘Autumn Jazz’ and ‘Chicago Lustre’ are cultivars of our native arrowwood viburnum developed by The Morton Arboretum as landscape plants. Bright green, toothed leaves turn shades of yellow and orange in fall, along with clusters of blue berries. Both of these plants will grow in full sun to full shade and reach 10 to12 feet high and 8 to 10 feet wide.

Compact burning bush is another fall favorite that grows in either sun or shade and grows 6 to 8 feet high and wide. It is easily pruned or sheared.

Compact Burning Bush

Corneliancherry dogwood ‘Golden Glory’ lights up spring with clusters of yellow flowers in March. Deep green glossy leaves and red berries follow in summer and it ends the season with red-purple fall color and flaky grey bark. For full sun to part shade, this dogwood is slow growing, reaching 12 to 15 feet high and 8 to 10 feet wide.

European columnar hornbeam is a narrow tree with delicate leaves and beautiful smooth bark that grows 30 to 40 feet high and 15 to 20 feet wide.

Jack pear is a scaled down pear that reaches twelve to fifteen feet high and about eight feet wide. It still boasts pretty white flowers in spring and purple red fall color.

Only have a very narrow space? Consider vines on a trellis. We’ve found that iron trellises hold up best to our Chicago winters. We love sweet autumn clematis for its very vigorous twining habit and fragrant white flowers in September. Clematis virginiana, a native, is similar to sweet autumn, but blooms June through August. Both will easily cover an eight-foot trellis in a season.

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