Orange We Happy?

These plants were looking healthy this year, so I was hopeful they would bloom. It's Blackberry Lily, Belamcanda chinensis. I don't think they've bloomed since 2011. They haven't been a huge success although they do survive. In fact, they have spread a bit. However, they never really fill in to make much of a splash of color. But they are pretty interesting. I may share again when the seeds pods open.

Here's something I never noticed before, and I love it! The buds are spiraled like a soft-serve ice cream. They close at night and open later in the day.

I haven't showed you the blanketflower this year (except the seed heads). The variety is 'Arizona Sun.' I think next year I'll look for one other variety. They tolerate the heat of the rock garden quite well and bloom for a long time.

You will hear more about the marigolds later. A few are blooming.

And I gave in to temptation and bought one of the popular Heuchera. This is 'Caramel,' sort of orange. Not marked down. It's not my favorite, but it is a bit different from the others I have.

I was doing well until about mid-afternoon. Not sure if it's the horrible air quality, the humidity, age, or just whatever. But I did work some on most of my projects and the gardens. Walked 3 miles this morning and braved the store. Meijer was a zoo. Maybe I'll blame my fading energy on the stress of shopping.

Miles hiked in 2025- 321.6

See Back to the Blackberry Lily

The Mystery of the Blue Pearl

Nice title. It really is turning out to be something of a mystery.

This is the plant I ordered in the spring that is supposed to be 'Blue Pearl' Sedem. This is one of the patented SunSparkler varieties. I moved it to a new space today, and here is what it looks like.

It does not look anything like the pictures you can find on line. ID apps say it is a Kalanchoe. Now, I'll NEVER bet the farm on the photo ID apps, but it does lend some weight to my thoughts.

Here is one pic of Blue Pearl from the web.

I contacted the seller. I don't think they did anything dishonest, but somebody could have mixed something up. She assures me this is 'Blue Pearl,' but it won't look like the pictures until it is older. OK...

Here is another picture from the web.

And this is a 5-year old one. Large leaves, doesn't look anything like my plant.

Well, here is the tiny new growth at the base of what I have. I suppose it's possible it will grow up to look as advertised. In fact, I'm the one who keeps pointing out how different plants can look at different times. But a complete change in form? We shall see!

I had a total rest day in mind, but ended up puttering at things that need to be done. For example: those of you who think I'm disciplined, I had left the total kitchen mess over the weekend. It was pretty bad. It's mostly cleaned up now. Played in the garden slowly and moved some things. Came home from the weekend with some new plants I'll show you soon. Did some computer stuff. Avoided a trip to the store, and hope to be able to continue to do so for a couple more days.

See Sedums I Ordered

A Chicken with No Name

Remember the knitting project I said I couldn't show you until after it was delivered? Here it is- new home with author friend Jean. And that fluffy brown lump in front of her? That is real live chicken, Mr. Millie, who came to the event today to help sell books.

Before the chickee could go live with Jean, she took a tour of my yard.

She liked the garden best.

And Mr. Millie does a good job of selling books. And the chicken I brought is supervising, but Jean wants help to name her. Suggest names and I'll pass them on to Jean. Or go to her Jean Davis Facebook page and post suggestion there.

It's been a long day- all good. I did quite well at the event. But now I have to place a book order yet tonight, and then I can rest.

See Previous View of the Knitting Project

Jean's Been Weeding

Since the last time I was at Jean's house a month ago, she's been doing a LOT of weeding. Lots of her garden hill now looks nice.

She has lots more room for large plants than I do. This is right near her front entrance.

Her garden space is also on a hill, and she has stone steps with an interesting creeping evergreen growing over them. Just ignore the hose. We didn't pose the pictures.

The color of these lilies is stunning!

And 'Stargazer' lillies are always good for a show. It's no wonder they are so popular.

Oh, you want to know how those chicks that had just hatched a month ago are doing? Sure.

Laya is being a good Mom to them.

Tomorrow we'll be at Holland's Art in the Park!

See Jean's Hobbies

Bigbract Verbena or Not?

In 2016, I encountered this plant while walking to town one day. It's Bigbract Verbena, Verbena bracteata. It's kind of funky, and I hoped it would grow in the same place again, but it's only an annual, so it would need to reseed.

I've never seen even a hint of it again, and I've been looking. These pictures were taken in August of 2016. The appeal of the plant to me is the texture of the bracts.

So imagine my surprise when a couple of days ago, in the correct location, I saw this.

Could this be some of last year's seed stalks?

Maybe. I gathered up those dried stalks, and yesterday here's what I did. I had to take the daffodils out of a rock garden space they were too tall for. I put them along the lower edge of this as-yet-unnumbered space. Mixed in compost. Stripped the seed stalks and mixed them with some soil. Filled the top part of the area.

Hopefully, something will come up and then I can find out what it is and if I want to keep it. I'll be really happy if it is the Verbena.

It was nice and cool this morning, almost chilly for July. I walked 3 miles. Other than that, it's all the usual stuff, including finishing the trimming around all the gardens. That looks decent. Editing, computer stuff, am writing my next column. Researched some ideas to water my flowers with less water waste.

The lilies are almost done for the year, but a few other things are starting to bloom, so stay tuned.

Miles hiked in 2025: 318.6

See Bigbract Verbena

Some Rock Garden Colors Without Flowers

Very little is blooming right now, but if I take pictures from careful angles there are some nice colorful areas of the rock garden. This is my goal- that there will be nice contrasting colors all season, everywhere. Well, that is certainly a few years in the future! But I like the process, not the completion, so it's all good.

This is an area that looked really nice last year too, but I usually showed it to you from a different angle. The plants are larger this year, and it still looks good. White- Lamb's ear, red- 'Wildfire' sedum, tall yellow-green- Hylotelephium spectabile 'Rosenteller', low yellow-green- Sedum 'Lemon Coral.' And various other green foliage. One thing for sure- there is less bare dirt this year compared to last.

This is the 'Red Heart' Sempervivum which isn't as deep maroon as some times of the year, and Sedum 'Thundercloud the greenish-white below it.

This is turning out to be a nice-looking space this year. The dark red is Sedum 'Firecracker' (which spreads quickly!), the white again is Lamb's Ear, and the yellow is Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget' which is finally turning more gold.

And this space is suddenly looking pretty good because I picked up another $3 Sedum 'Wildfire' from the sale table last week. It's huge and sprawly. It won't come back that large at first next year but right now, it looks great with the yellow-green Sedum elecombeanum. The white rock helps too.

I walked again in the morning. Got some rock garden work done also in the morning because the forecast was for rain! I got some bulbs moved and planted some seeds I want (maybe- more on that another day), worked in some more compost.

Indeed, about noon things got cool and dark. So far we've had 0.3 inch. Very nice.

Editing, computer stuff. And I finished that knitting project I can't show you yet. Just a few more days and I'll share that. I sure haven't wanted to play with yarn when it was so hot!

See Late May Garden Color

One Handful of Hosta

Several of my hosta that have never bloomed before are doing so this year. Some of those are only in bud right now, but I hope to get a decent picture of each before I'm done.

Here are a few of them. This is the 'Forbidden Fruit' hosta that I got for ten cents. OK, OK, eleven cents. It's turning out to be one of my favorites just for the color and shape. And on top of that, the flowers are big.

Here's the whole plant with buds on a stalk.

And a closer view of the flower. Very pale purple. Almost white with lavender tinges. And the flowers are somewhat clustered.

Of course, hosta flowers don't have a lot of variety. The plants are grown mainly for their leaf colors. But that said, it's fun to compare. The 'Royal Standard' is a variety with big white flowers that really give a nice display, but the plants are much bigger than I want in my garden. But I've seen stunning borders with them in bloom.

Meanwhile, here is one of mine I have no variety name for. This is the bright yellow-green one I stole from a city planter quite a few years ago. When I found out they threw them all away at the end of the season, I no longer felt guilty for swiping a couple of leaves and a root. I now have two nice patches of it. It might possibly be 'Lemon Lime,' but there are so many similar proprietary ones, I can't be sure. The flowers are very typical.

I didn't zoom that picture in because you can see small dark green leaves behind the yellow-green ones. That is the 'Tiny Tears' hosta. It's blooms weren't spectacular this year, probably because the garden didn't get quite enough water while I was in NY.

But here is a picture of it from last year when it went nuts! The flowers are a deeper purple. Very nice. I have a border of it almost the whole length of the front flower bed. It spreads like crazy and I started with one small puddle. The flower stalks are only about 6" tall, and the mounds of leaves about 2" high.

I probably saw this one bloom long ago, but I don't think I have pictures. This was the first variety of hosta I ever had, given to me by my then pastor's wife. It's one of the oldest named varieties- 'Francee.' I had a lush strip of it along the house, but the deer ate it down to the roots several years in a row, which is tough even for a hosta. It's coming back, and a few of them bloomed this year.

Nice large flowers, although spread apart on the stem somewhat.

And the last for today, another one given to me that I have really no hope of identifying the variety. The flowers are typical. The leaves are a bright green with thin yellow edges.

There are several others in bud, so hopefully, there will be another handful of hostas later. Of course, the poor 'Mouse Ears' got chewed. I already showed you the bud. Maybe next year.

Feeling unhappy with my lack of exercise lately, I got myself out early this morning and walked 3.5 miles- roadwalk. I have to tell you that since the big NCT hike, I really have a hard time convincing myself to go do a road loop. But it was 66 degrees when I started and 75 when I finished. Not too bad.

The day was hot, but not as humid. I did all the usual stuff, and watered some of the gardens. But now I need to get the computer off my lap. It's just too hot!

See Poor Little Mouse Ears

Compost and Cole Slaw

What do those two item have in common? They alliterate. Both of them figured prominently in today's activities.

I've been composting for decades, but I rarely seem to get around to using it for anything. Decided to change that today. Look at this beautiful, rich dirt!

Some of the spaces in the rock garden on the far edge have an awful lot of really heavy clay soil. There are pockets of clay in the sand here. It was a terrible problem when they rebuilt the road in front of the house in 1990. It's a pretty bad problem in a garden too.

Can you see the three spaces that are darker? I mixed that compost in with the clay to lighten it up.

That was all the outside time I managed before things heated up.

But I had bought a cabbage yesterday so I could make cole slaw. However, I did not buy an onion because I thought I had one more than I did, so only half of the cabbage got chopped up for now.

Here's another thing this compost and cole slaw have in common- they are both in round containers and they are both made from natural ingredients.

One feeds me, one feeds the plants. What else?

I'm feeling entirely too sedentery, but it was too hot to function. I watched a movie and did computer stuff most of the day.

See Swimming and Slaw

Blueberry Tart?

I am too hot and tired to post anything very wonderful. I did OK at the vendor event. The heat is just intolerable.

So, this is the possible result of my search yesterday to try to find what variety of Hosta this is. It is smallish, has long pointed blueish leaves, and what turns out to be the key feature, long petioles (leaf stems).

It may be a variety called 'Blueberry Tart.' The only thing that doesn't fit is that variety often has a purple tint at the base of the petioles. I can't see even a tiny hint of that. However, everything else fits, and I can't find any other varieties shaped quite like it.

And, it's going to bloom, so you'll get to see it again.

I had to get groceries on the way home from the event. It's so hot... I had potato chips and ice cream for dinner. So there.

See Hosta and Heuchera

More Blue and Purple

Look what's going to happen soon in the driveway flower bed.

These aren't in full bloom yet. This is the globe thistle I transplanted last year at the totally wrong time. It has lived, and has two blooms this year. It's small, but give it another year or two and it will be 5-6 feet tall.

Like these- the patch from which I moved this one. You can see the ball on the left is at about the stage of the ones above, but the big one in the middle is is full bloom. I really love these!

I moved two more up here last fall, and one of those also is blooming.

And then, in the front bed is a nice little surprise that came up last year. We think it was a hitchhiker from a friend's garden in something she gave me. This is only a promise of a bloom. And it can't stay in this location. But if it continues to grow maybe I can save some seeds and get it started out by the driveway.

I'll let you guess what it is for a little longer. But Betsy should recognize it!

It may not really bloom this year. The last wind we had bent the stem. It's struggling to pull water up to those buds, but I've got it supported, so we will see.

In other news: I edited, I weeded, I spent way too much time trying to ID one of my hosta varieties. I really like to know what they are but this one came from a friend's garden and she has no idea. May have narrowed it down. Miki stopped by. I worked on other things. Life is good in the gardening lane.

See The Unrelenting Drive to Reproduce