Last Garden Post for a While

Surprise! I have one iris blooming. Hey, it beats none.

I doubt that I'll have any time tomorrow to garden. I really wanted to get the front bed finished before I left for the hike completion. I came close, but no cigar. Well, maybe a cheap cigar. All the hard parts are done, so it won't take long, but I really need to stop and focus on getting ready.

I am going to miss the blooming of two plants. So few of mine are actually happy enough to bloom that I'm disappointed, but THE HIKE. MUST BE FINISHED. Anyway, the peony is going to have quite a few flowers this year. It's plain blah pink. But this may be the most buds I've ever seen on it. Some years, it doesn't even bloom.

This one... I'm really sad to miss this one. This is not the salmon poppy I show you every year. Actually, I don't think that one is going to bloom. We used to have a row of stunning bright red and red-orange poppies when we lived down nearer the road. The lilac hedge shaded them out. But at least 5-6 years ago, I found a tiny one alive and moved it up here to the front bed. I figured if the salmon one was happy, it would be too. It has slowly grown, and this is the first year it is going to bloom. I thought with the heat it might pop open this week, but it's only got one more day, and I don't think so. Well, the sun made the bud look nice.

I may also miss the yellow oriental lily that is in a tight prison since the deer love to chomp it off. It has a whole circle of buds. But maybe it will be blooming when I get home. There's another oriental lily that I have no idea what it is. I'd never seen it come up before. I'm sure it came from Ester. Her garden is such a dense collection of things, almost every transplanted clump has multiple items. (This has resulted in the enhancement of my plant collection!) It's tangled with a blue hosta which I think was the goal of the gift, so I'll separate them later this summer.

I've learned that I have three giant Krossa blue hosta growing- also serendipitous gifts from Ester. They are also now in prison for their safety. They aren't giant yet, but one of them is looking large-ish.

Here's my lost cause project for the summer. Yeah, I'm playing in the rock garden. I forgot to take a completly "before" picture. But maybe with some spaces cleared it shows that there is something under the weeds and grass to recover. Anyway, there are about 80 identified and numbered niches nestled in the rocks. They are not all the same size, but each has a "map" and a plant list. Ha! Not much is still alive. So far this year, I've weeded 10 spaces. You can see a few in this picture, working from the bottom up. The geranium is everywhere, but it gets to stay for now. There's no sense ripping out something pretty if everything else is dead. Some of the light pink one is still alive too (those light spots near the wall).

Speaking of things being dead or alive, I have so far found remnants of four other of my Sedums. If they have survived this long-term neglect, they are definitely hardy. I'm REALLY happy about two of them which were particular favorites. They are tiny, but have the potential to recover. One I have not found yet is common and hardy and grows all over the area in bare fields and lawns. If none of it shows up, I can get more for free, easily. I'm shocked that I haven't found any of that one yet.

Some of the cleared spaces are at the top of the hill. This includes the hybrid sedum I bought in 2020. It has turned a deeper purple- a common reaction of plants to the hot, dry environment. I like it even better this way.

I've found a few tiny Sempervivum (hen and chicks) survivors. Those usually recover quickly. There is so little that's still alive (think about how many plants were in 80 spaces- and they almost all had multiple plants), it will be almost like starting over. However, I think I have a little more sense about what kind of plants will live on the hill. I can give you a long, long list of ones that are not suitable!

Tomorrow is a Spirit of the Woods Chapter meeting with a pot luck meal. I am taking this salad made with pearl couscous. The recipe looked so good on the box, and the reality fulfils the potential. I had to make myself be good and not eat a bunch of it for my own dinner! But I get fresh juice from the leftover citrus fruits.

OK, if I can make myself be good, there is one more task I should do this evening. The heat today really got to me. I was productive enough to get by, but nothing great.

See A High Probability of Naughtiness