Today's Cleaned Garden Space

 Today, I worked my way up along the retaining wall by the steps.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Blue Fescue Grass. I love the blue mounds- they are a nice size and they are quite blue. But... the ones you can see have been given a haircut three times this season. If they aren't trimmed, they look like this.

They also get stuffed with old thatch down near the base.

The first trimming of the year cuts off the seed heads. They are pretty, but if I don't do this I have thousands of tiny fescue clumps to weed out. These were just trimmed today.

I haven't showed you the 'Sparkling Bright' Thyme this year. It's spreading nicely. In fact, I took a clump and put it in another place, but it's not as happy. I think it got shaded and maybe too dry. (I haven't looked up how much it rained while I was gone, but I'm thinking not a lot) Oddly enough, the leaves smell a bit minty, not like thyme.

And this is a thyme I bought this year. I used to have one, but it did not survive the long neglect. It is called 'Archers Gold.' It seems pretty happy.

Here is a mystery. The first part is no secret. This got chewed off completely last year, but it should bloom this year. It's one of the tall autumn sedums, and it survived from the original rock garden. The thing is... the one in this location should be 'Vera Jameison' which is a deep purple. I did have an 'Autumn Joy,' but not in this space. Huh. Perhaps the variety reverted. Anyway, I think I'll get a chance to see what flowers I get from it.

And this is just a show-off picture. This is Artemesia 'Silver Mound' with a background of the Bronze Ajuga. Well, there's a violet in there. I pretty much let any violets live this year. Next year I'll decide where they get to stay. (And yes, they are chewed. Something small that got around the fence likes violets and one of the sedums.)

I already did my evening mowing because the internet was being a pill for a while. This is hard mowing and the result looks like crap. I'll have to do some raking, but at least it's getting done.

All day long I did things I was supposed to do. That should give me satisfaction, but it mostly feels like a big bore.

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