Gaillardia and that OTHER JOB

Here's the blanketflower you've seen for the past several years. It's still going strong. This one is Gaillardia aristata, 'Arizona Sun.' It's so happy in the rock garden, in fact, that I decided last year that I wanted another one, but a different variety.

The blanketflowers start blooming in June and they just keep going the whole rest of the summer.

The one I selected to add was 'SpinTop Red,' for having nearly solid red flowers. It was in an online shopping cart. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to cruise the garden center at Meijer, not expecting they would have anything I haven't seen there already. And, wow, this exact plant was there at half the online price. I've been waiting to share it with you until it had several flowers open at the right angle to show up well.

The OTHER JOB:

Are we the only people that seem to need a toilet repair incredibly often?

This time, I needed to pull the entire downstairs toilet and replace the wax ring.

At least the PVC flange wasn't damaged. Had to cut one of the bolts to remove it, but at least I have the tool for that. Got it all cleaned up and the new bolts await the ring and the toilet. (First trip to the store)

But, I'm sorry to tell you, I'm no longer strong enough to lift the whole toilet and set it onto the bolts. Cathy came to the rescue, and the two of us easily did it. Got it back together today, and then the stupid bolts that hold the tank to the base were seeping (Second trip to the store).

Replaced the gaskets. I'm not sure it's fixed yet. The porcelain is weeping with condensation, and it's difficult to be certain if the extra moisture is that or if one gasket didn't seat well. However, if I have to take that apart again, it's not such a big deal or such a big mess.

I did all the usuals, too. The temperature was down a few degrees today, but I didn't have much time outside due to laundry, and some housecleaning. There will be real people here this weekend. I need the place to be a tiny bit better than my hermitage mess.

See No category

All the Colors, Not the Rainbow

Red is for the Seven Sisters Rose. This is usually varied shades of light pink with an occasional darker flower. This year all the roses are very nearly red. Since I don't like this plant much, this is at least a color I enjoy more.

For orange we have another blossom open on the 'Frosty Kiss' Gazania.

Common Mullein provides yellow. Thes are on the plant that has the fuzzy rosettes of big leaves in spring.

Green is a surprise. I just don't know what the surprise is yet. These leaves have come up in some disturbed soil. It may be one of the prickly lettuces, but it doesn't look quite right to me for that. Stay tuned.

Blue and purple don't look very different in the pictures. In real life the plants do look different. This is the Viper's Bugloss, that weed I love. I've coaxed enough of it to self-seed in the driveway beds that it's looking very nice right now. I'll share a long shot another day so you can see how much there is.

And for purple, this is a plant Betsy gave me, Moldavian Dragonhead, Dracocephalum moldavica. And there's a scientific name that's easy to remember. Draco=dragon, cephalum= head, and the moldavian. It's an annual, but perhaps it will re-seed. This one is new to me.

For white, this is one of my new Moon Garden plants. It's still in its pot because it's going in a specific place that I don't have dug up yet. This is a Guara called 'Whirling Butterflies.' It's supposed to get 3 feet tall but probably not until I get it out of that pot!

Finally, what set off this color theme in my head was the black sky at mid-day! We had a fast but heavy thunderstorm. But if there was a rainbow afterwards, I missed it.

The heat today has been the worst so far. I may have to sleep on the deck tonight. The fans have lost the battle with the interior air.

In other news, I did the morning editing and stuff, but the hateful task in the basement is nearly done. Stay tuned. Only worked outside briefly. There is a little breeze now, so I might try for a few more minutes.

See Winter Rainbow 1

Next Round of Sedum Bloomers

This is one of my favorite rock garden plants, Sedum ellacombianum (now a Phedimus- guess I need to sort out what the new genera mean). I've had some of it in my rock garden since the very beginning, although recently a friend, Deb, gave me more of it.

It mounds up nicely so it's not invisible and the leaves have a nice greenish-yellow color. When it blooms it's covered with bright yellow clusters of flowers. It consistently looks good throughout the season. I do try to deadhead it when it's finished blooming, but that's not too hard since the flowers are clustered.

The other one that's in full bloom has two different looks. I'd been misidentifying it for years because the leaves usually turn deep red in the sun. So I thought it was 'Pork and Beans.' But last year, I wised up to the white flowers. It's Sedum album- album means white. And I think 'Pork and Beans' is larger. You can see the nice contrast between it and the S. ellacombianus side by side.

However, in shade, or occasionally even in sun, the leaves stay green. This is the same plant.

This little creeper is now everywhere in my gardens and yard. And it all came from one small pot long ago.

In other news, I managed to get outside for a few minutes this morning before the heat started blasting. Then I edited and all that stuff. Started a nasty project in the basement this afternoon. I've been saving it for this week because it's cooler down there than upstairs. Got it to the first stage and made a store run for parts, and then stopped for groceries too. I need cold pop and ice cream to get through this week. Open windows and fans are my friends.

Maybe I'll try another short round outside this evening. There are plants that need to go in the ground.

See More Sedum Fun

Critter Day

How about some recent critters in my world?

This is the flicker that has been hanging around the deck. He comes to the birdbath, walks on the deck floor and perches on this bar. I've never had a flicker come so close to the house before.

One of the days we were out doing trail work we found this clean painted turtle on the trail. It's quite a ways from any water. Seemed a little odd, but a nice find.

Another visitor that is usually closer to water. This is a female Common Whitetail dragonfly. She was posing on a rock in the rock garden. You can see a male in the link below.

And here's quite an oddity- a black cat calmly sauntering through the driveway. I have no idea where it lives. I haven't seen evidence of a feral cat in our broken outbuildings lately.

I worked in the morning and had a Zoom meeting in the afternoon. Managed a few minutes in the gardens, but don't expect a lot from me this week. I don't do heat well. Mostly I sipped cold drinks and read a book. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. I have a couple of jobs I can do in our basement where it is cooler.

See Critters at MatthaeiI

Moon Garden Beginnings

It stayed clouded over quite a bit of the day which allowed me to spend more time outside than I had anticipated. That meant I finished getting at least the first space in the Moon Garden dug up and planted, which includes the "entrance."

And look at this nifty stepping stone I got from a local artist, Matt Borema, to be at the very beginning of the walkways! It has the "tree of life" motif on it.

These are most of the plants I have so far. I suspect a lot of them will get moved eventually, but it will be easier to water if most of them are near each other for now.

This group has a variegated Miscanthus (the grass). It will get huge and can not stay here more than this year, but I have to decide just where it should go because I suspect I'll have one chance to move it somewhere. I could have ordered the Hakone grass I wanted. But it was very expensive, and not all the variegated ones are so white. Many are quite golden, and when you order, you can't actually see the plant. This wasn't very expensive and I picked the whitest one to bring home.

I got two things that are annuals because most of those are marked way down by this time of the summer. There is a Dusty Miller, and a 'Frosty Kiss' Gazania. I'm going to try propogating some of these over the winter. At the worst, I won't succeed, and at best, I'll have more plants for next year.

The little one on the left is Greek Mountain Tea. Betsy brought me this one. The leaves will get whiter and fuzzier. I was not familiar with it at all, so this will be fun to watch.

On the other side of the walkway are things I have lots of. The four plants you can actually see are Lamb's Ear. I have a ton, ton, ton of that- all spread from one sad end-of-season plant a few years ago. But it's perfect for many filler spots in a moon garden.

Behind that maybe you can see some tiny stalks. Those are common yarrow I dug up out of the yard. These are the wild ones with white flowers and the usual feathery foliage. But the flowers last a long time, so I think it will work well, and it spreads easily. They will get almost 2 feet tall.

Despite how much Lamb's Ear I now have, this is the first time one has bloomed for me. I'm much more interested in the foliage, but a flower is always fun too. (This is by the driveway.)

Now for a focus on another of the plants I bought that you can see in the first grouping. This is a Veronica (Speedwell) called 'Snow Candles.' I cut off quite a few of the flowers that are fading and it's getting some new ones. I'll probably trim it some more in a couple of days.

Basically, when I was cruising the greenhouses the other day, if I saw something on sale that was on my moon garden list, I bought it. I was surprised to find some things I thought I would have to order. Finding them locally saved me, on average, about 50% (factoring in shipping).

This was a surprise find- again 50% off for end of season annual. I'd never seen 'Frosty Kiss' before with the white foliage. One of the flowers opened today.

There's also a White Sage from Betsy, but it's small yet. I'll show you another day. She says it's annual here.

I have three other plants I've purchased, but they need to go in specific places. Whatever time I get to play outside this week, I'll need to work on getting them placed, hopefully in their long-term locations.

And, um... I may be guilty of ordering a specialty Hosta. I saved so much money on most of the ones I just bought that I splurged a bit.

And I have, for sure, two other plants I already own that can be split and some put here. But there's no rush on those.

I went to the annual patriotic concert this afternoon. It's always good, but this one was great! Lots of younger people involved which is sure important to the future of things like it. The instrumental music was live with local musicians, a full choir, and a children's choir.

And now they are saying rain tomorrow on top of the heat. But that's ok. I was thinking a whole week of heat without rain was going to be tough on the plants, and I'd probably have to water quite a bit. Now, maybe not.

Betsy has brought me so many plants I'm struggling to decide where they should go and get them in the ground!

See Bonsai Apple Tree Is Getting Friends