Garden Notes

Judd Viburnum planted in shrub border — this shrub has fragrant blooms in spring, berry-like fruit in fall and colorful foliage in late fall.

We have a border of shrubs between us and our neighbors that is old and filled with buckthorn. This year our neighbor agreed to have his shrubs trimmed back and the buckthorn removed. As part of the pact, we offered to plant some new attractive shrubs. I hoped that I could still find suitable bushes in our local stores this fall.

I went to Menards, Home Depot, and 2 of our local garden centers and got really lucky at the fall closeout sales. I came home with 6 different shrubs, all looking healthy, for $10 or less and two of them were only $5.00. All of the bushes were small — maybe 12-18 inches high but that was just fine. Small shrubs are easier to plant and they seem to adjust more easily to their new homes. My purchases included a Judd Vibernum, 2 different Elderberries, a Dwarf Burning Bush, a Vicary Golden Privet and a Dappled Willow.

I took my new shrubs home, planted them in the border and watered them in. They should make a big difference next year as they start to fill in some of the bare spots with splashes of color. I also planted into that same border a Forsythia, a Hydrangea, a Pussy Willow and a Service Berry that were small volunteer shrubs growing in my yard next to the established parent plant. (We get a lot of bush babies in our yard, and mostly I just pull them out.) This year, I decided to move a few of them into the shrub border.

Since this is only October, there should be plenty of time for my new shrubs to get settled in and be ready for our Wisconsin winter. However, if they don’t make it through, almost all of the shrubs I purchased are guaranteed so I can get free replacements. At this point all of the new shrubs have survived the transplanting process and as far as I can tell, they are happy in their new homes. It is going to be a major improvement in our yard and I can’t wait until spring!