A Re-Do For The Front Garden

I usually write about what I have blooming around the garden for Fertilizer Friday but today I am going to show you what I bought on my trip to the nursery.  This nursery is the farthest from my home so I have not been there since the spring.

We're here and I am ready to buy because I have changes to make.

Our host was waiting for us!

Take a look at those spheres and obelisks and grasses.

It was a beautiful day, perfect for choosing some plantings for my front garden renovation.  As I looked over the shrubbery there was a person behind me with a name badge.  I asked her if she worked there, so I could ask her for a recommendation and she informed me that she owned a garden center in Milwaukee and was there for a group meeting.

The asters always look so good in the pots, but I have never had much luck growing them in the garden, except for my Purple Dome.

We talked about hydrangeas and all of the different varieties.  We both said we were not thrilled with Endless Summer and she said the growers are now suggesting that it not be cut down and mulched up to eight inches in the fall.  I was looking for Incrediball but she suggested I wait on that one because in her nursery they were very floppy in the pots, maybe they would be more upright when in the ground!

We both fell in love with a new hydrangea called Tickled Pink, beautiful color pink - bright, not faded.

I wanted a small shrub for in front of my evergreen plantings and she recommended Weigela Dark Horse, 2-3 feet tall and wide with dark bronze leaves and bright pink flowers.  I bought two of them, a little pricey but I think they will add some color out in front.

Foliage of Weigela Dark Horse from spring through fall.

I walked over to the the grasses with a real employee of the nursery looking for a small miscanthus that would stay about three feet high and I loaded two Miscanthus Little Kitten on to my cart.  I just love that name! 

Miscanthus Little Kitten

I couldn't pass up that new, most mildew resistant phlox called Candy Store Bubblegum.  Well, now I have to do all of the grunt work, pulling out and replanting.  Isn't this what gardening is all about?

Candy Store, Variety Bubblegum Phlox

This is a great time of year to purchase containers, fifty percent off at this nursery!

A sea of mums 

 I love those earth tone pots!

I hope you have enjoyed my trip to Planters Palette in Winfield, Illinois.  They are an upscale nursery that has a close relationship with the Morton Arboretum, located about thirty miles west of Chicago.