Front Garden Report 2026- #3

The Front Garden is turning out so amazing! I have a lot to share.

First is the general view of the west side. This never fails to make me smile.

And of one part of the east side. I had to take a picture of either the part in sun or shade this afternoon. The shaded part only has greenery right now since the blue Globe Bellflowers finished blooming, so here is the part that has afternoon sun.

There is quite a lot to talk about right now. Let's start with Astilbe. I have one pink one and three white ones. These were some of the plants that cost me 10¢ each a couple of years ago, so I can't complain. But despite being where they should be happy, I've never had much luck getting Astilbe to thrive. I'm thinking about replacing them with other things if I find something I like better. They are OK, but they should be bigger and fuller.

The pink one is 'Rheinland.'

And the white one is 'Bridal Veil.'

I have one new hosta here. Betsy gave me a multi-clump of 'Hacksaw,' which is fun with narrow scalloped leaves. (Small Halcyon behind it- I just moved several of those this spring too)

And speaking of hosta- the 'Tiny Tears' are in full bloom now. A whole lot of this bed is edged with it.

I'm still trying to get this patch of white Lamium (Deadnettle) to fill in better. As you can barely see, it has white flowers too, although I'm much more interested in the white foliage.

Finally for today, the 'Landini' lily bulbs I bought on closeout at the end of 2024 are really looking great! I thought these would be more maroon based on the pictures, instead of the almost candy-apple red. In fact, most of the pictures of it on-line are much deeper- from maroon almost to black. It's possible they aren't getting quite enough sun as they are in almost total shade. Nevertheless, I really like these.

And the flowers are huge!

I've been working sporadically at putting a broken brick edging around this garden to make it a little easier to mow around, so I don't have to do as much hand trimming. You can see the Seven Sisters Rose in this shot.

There are still things that need to be moved around, and one section is pretty much a "weed patch" of bellflower and dwarf Solomon's seal. I'll continue to work on replacing some of that with other things. Additional plans for this year are to buy one Heucherella I want, but most of my upcoming plant purchases will have to do with the Moon Garden.

Here's a news flash! I was outside just after dark last night and saw... FIREFLIES! I don't know when the last time was that I saw any here.

In other news: I edited, walked a mile on the road, did some housecleaning including getting some of the recycling ready to take to where it has to go. My special hosta came today. Stay tuned. It came bare-root, but looking very healthy. It's in a pot and should be nice and perky in a couple of days.

Humidity not too terrible, so I kept moving pretty well.

Miles walked in 2026: 196.1

See Front Garden Report 2026- #2

Moon Nook Begun

I decided that I'd make a little "nook" where the small bench will be in the Moon Garden.

This needed to be started ASAP as one of the Brunnera I bought to go beside the bench was totally pot-bound and it had to get in the ground very soon because it was totally drying out and wilting every day despite heavy watering.

This was a couple of days ago. I had four blocks in place.

I've learned that there is a name for the building materials I'm using for paths and whatnot. (Broken concrete blocks, bricks, chunks of concrete, etc). It's called Urbanite! Love the name. I have some more coming, but I'll take broken blocks and bricks off your hands if you have some to get rid of.

Although today was quite humid after 0.8 inch of rain last night, the temperature stayed a little lower, so I was able to work outside a bit although the bugs were annoying.

I now have 6 blocks in place for the surface of the nook. There are 6 to go, I think- unless I decide to make it a little bigger. I'm using a variety of blocks so that I don't have to cut any of the larger roots of the tree. Several are full size, unbroken blocks. Two are thinner, one is a paver, and the others are broken in places that allowed me to slip them around the roots. It's pretty level the long way- I might have to adjust it a bit crosswise yet.

The Brunnera for the other end isn't as root-bound, but it needs to get in the ground soon- maybe tomorrow, depending on the heat.

This is all in the deepest shade of the Moon Garden. The pictures were both taken late afternoon when a bit of sun hits the west end, but it's all in shade for most of the day. It's good that I'm getting this section organized because I got notified that the one special Hosta I bought is on its way. I'll show you the plants more closely when I get them in place.

In other news- I edited; I fixed a couple of small broken things in the house.

See Moon Garden Beginnings

Nordhouse Dunes Hike

A group of us went out to Nordhouse Dunes for a hike today. There were actually 9 of us. Two people didn't want to hike as far as some of us did, so they went out and back.

We did one of the longer loops which includes a fair amount of loose sand, coming near Lake Michigan.

I guess I like this tree. I've taken its picture before.

Hoary Puccoon is in bloom all over the dunes.

We came back to the parking by way of Nordhouse Lake, still with lots of water in it right now. It often dries up in August and September.

It was a lovely 67° when we started, but was 81 with 70% humidity by the time we finished. That was brutal. I haven't done much else today. But if I'm going to hike this fall, I have to get in shape.

Miles walked in 2026: 195.1

Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness- old road to Lake Michigan, north to Lake Michigan Rec Area, Arrowhead Trail, Nipissing Trail: 6.9 miles.

See Nordhouse and Bells

The Other Verbena

I'm too hot to post anything very spectacular today. I'll just show you the other Verbena in my flower beds. Verbena stricta, Hoary Vervain. It starts blooming at the bottom of the flower head and work its way up to the top (the most common pattern).

I mentioned last year (link below) that a couple of these had reappeared, having gone missing after years of not weeding that garden. This year there are lots, and I've even dug some up to give away. They are popping up all over and I move the little ones to places I want them.

This is a wildflower- I dug this out of a ditch years ago.

I managed a tiny bit in the gardens today, and watered everything. It's supposed to rain Thursday, but things were looking wilty.

Did a fair amount of editing, and a lot of reading and trying to stay awake. Even though it's not as hot as a couple of days last week, I had a hard time today.

See Purple Hidden Amoung the Blue

I Think I Suceeded!

This little beauty is growing in my rock garden. OK, it's not too beautiful, but I'm pretty happy to see it.

This is the weed native plant I've been trying to get to seed itself in the rock garden, Bigbract Verbena. You might recall that I first identified it in 2106 growing along the shoulder of the road. Then it disappeared for a few years.

Then I decided I wanted to try to get some started in the rock garden. But it's an annual so I need seeds. Thought maybe I got those last year.

And, I am prety sure that I have some growing!

I showed you the tiny flowers last week, but we'll have to wait and see if it really develops those runners with the bracts all around.



I didn't get a lot done today becuase I still had people here for a while, and then others came later. Got in some garden time, but not much in the way of computer work.

Also, annoyingly, Google has changed the links to older blog pix, so almost every place where I showed an older photo on the blog for a second time to illustrate some point, the link is now broken.

I forgot somewhere I was supposed to be this morning. Hoping I'll be more with it tomorrow.

See Tiny Flowers