Life is Good in Color

Just thinking this morning that Life is Good! I was in my chair with a cup of coffee, doing my wake-up computer tasks. The deck door is open. The sun is shining, but it's cool yet with a light breeze ruffling the quaking aspen. House finches with their bright red-purple heads are enjoying the bird bath. I took my morning "walk" to visit the gardens and see what flowers might begin blooming today.

The rock garden is beginning to explode with the yellows of so many sedums, but this picture I took today has to be the color winner. This is a Red-spotted Purple Admiral on the Creeping Thyme

But back to the yellows. The taller stuff is the Sedum Sexangulare, but there are bursts of the still-blooming Sedum 'Weihenstephaner Gold' to the right and one Ice Plant 'Granita' to the left.

This is the Bloody Cranesbill with Dianthus 'Kahori.'

This one has a whole lot of plants. The purple is Creeping Thyme, Sedum sexangulare to the left, the 'Kahori' is beyond that. Just in front of the thyme is the patch of Sedum 'Atlantis' that is slowing getting bigger. A small patch of dark 'Dream Dazzler' Sedum and more Bloody Cranesbill is on the right.

This one was from last week. The variegated Vinca was still blooming. Now it's trying to spread runners to take over the world. I've been giving it severe haircuts. More Bloody Cranesbill to the right. It is also getting shaved on this pass through the garden.

I haven't mentioned this pink flower yet this year. This is the 'Siskiyou' Primrose. It is fairly nifty, although it, too, is willing to spread everywhere. I've currently let it take over two spaces until I get something else to put in the second space. More Sedum sexangulare. And just starting to bloom on the far left is the Sedum elecambeanum.

Finally, color in the sky last night. Very intense, and making even the clouds in the east turn pink.

In other news: I did all the usual things, plus laundry, and put a piece of decor back on the wall that keeps falling off. Yeah, me. Josh stopped by. He's looking good.

See Mostly Current Colors

Sedum Failures

It's really interesting to me that some sedums, even though they are supposed to be hardy, just don't seem to thrive for me.

And then, there are others that are too aggressive.

I'll start with the worst one of those. The yellow seaweed-looking thing is Sedum sexangulare. The rock garden is full of it, and it all came from one 3-inch pot. Right now, it's looking close to its best. But when it's done blooming, the stalks all have to be trimmed or it looks awful. And I have to rip it out of everwhere or it crowds out anything. If it weren't so aggressive, I'd put up with trimming it.

Here's another that I did manage to get rid of. This is Sedum acre. You'll see it all over people's lawns here in sandy west Michigan. It's nice in the spring, and then it gets bright yellow flowers and is beautiful, and then it just looks awful for the rest of the season even if you trim it.

Also in the running for a medal in the agressive category is the Sedum album. But it rips out easier and doesn't crowd other plants as much. The blue spruce sedum (Sedum reflexum) is not far behind, but it also rips out easily.

Then there are the ones that just fail to thrive. This is 'John Creech.' This is the second time I've tried it, and this patch is alive, but it just doesn't fill in well, and has never bloomed. It's supposed to get starry pink flowers and form a dense mat, but it just looks scraggly.

This one makes me sad. It is the 'Sea Urchin' sedum. It's not really hardy, although this little bunch did overwinter. Good thing, because the ones I brought in the house didn't do well. They really don't look any better than this one. I gave them a spot that should have had enough light, but they just got sadder and sadder. This is what Sea Urchin looked like the year I bought it.

And this was my second try at Sedum dasyphyllum. This was last year August, and there's even less of it out there this spring. It really should be happy here, but it's sure not.

Well, a nice garden involves a lot of trial and error and experimenting, right?

Here's an experiment. I bought another little sedum this year. It's very dainty, but if the patch is big enough it will work in my large spaces. Some sites say it's hardy and others say not. We shall see. I'll probably leave some out and bring some in this fall just in case. This is Sedum 'Little Missy.'

We got 3 inches of rain last night! Everything was way too wet to work outside today, but the temperature stayed tolerable. Tomorrow is supposed to be steamy again with even more rain.

I edited on two different manuscripts, went shopping (where I ran into friends and visited a while), and then worked on the other project I'm trying to get caught up. All in all, I get gold stars today.

See Sedum Successes

Some of the New Plants

I'm still waiting for one of the plants that I bought with the gift from the Confidence Camp friends, but I need to get the rest of them in the ground, so I'm going ahead with showing you these. Here's the pile.

Two of them are Heuchera that I've never seen before. You know I'm always looking for things that are a little out of the ordinary.

The first is 'Smoke and Mirrors,' with lovely gray leaves.

And this is the one I paid full price for, but I just had to get it. Look at the spots! This is 'Midnight Rose.'

I put both of these at the east end of the front bed, moved a couple of the small blue hosta (unknown variety), and split a small piece off the 'Wiggles and Squiqqles,' that I hope will grow. I think I'm going to have to move one of the ones I planted last year to show it off better, but we'll see. This space is definitely progressing toward looking good.

Now for three new Sedums. Well, I'm trying again with the 'Blue Pearl.' I do think I've got the correct plant this time. These came from a reputable garden supply rather than an eBay seller. (Bluestone Perennials- and by the way, these came packaged extraordinarily well). It's going into the same space where I had the one that got eaten. Daffodil leaves there, but they will die back soon.

The other two are color variations of the 'Coraljade' Sedum that I've been so happy with. Here's a reminder of what that one looks like this week. It's a patented hybrid.

And what its flowers look like- the flowering season is very long lasting, and it constantly changes tones. Here is a picture of it blooming last year.

So when I found out that there are two other colors of the same hybrid, I decided to get them. This one is 'Banana Split.' Its flowers will be shades of pale yellow.

And this one is called 'Peach Pearls,' and the flowers are supposed to be a peachy orange.

Stay tuned for progress, but these seem pretty safe since their close relatives have been so successful.

I did a lot of good stuff today- editing and cleaning the kitchen in addition to garden playing. Gave the rock garden a drink.

Looking at plant records from last year, there were a lot of casualties. That doesn't make me happy, but it's all a learning experience.

See New Plants 2025

Orange and Gold

Lots is happening in the gardens! It's hard to choose what to feature, but I'll do another piece of the color wheel. This is orange and gold.

I'll start with a treat for the front garden. I promised myself I would buy one 'Inferno' Coleus this year, and I did. I had moderate success with keeping some coleus over the winter and I've also planted those amid the old daffodil leaves. Hopefully, they will be nice enough to show you the whole lineup in a while. With one of the 'Inferno' in my possession, I can try to keep some over the winter.

Now, we'll move to the rock garden. This is one of the Sedums I've had for a very long time. I bought it in 2001- S. kamtschaticum 'Weihenstephaner Gold.' It's reliable. It fills its space but doesn't get too aggressive, and has fairly showy gold flowers in early June. I've now got it established in a second location. I'll probably grab a bunch of this and try for three.

This is a Sedum that is currently very popular in gardens, but there's a good reason for that. It looks great! The foliage gets golden orange in the sun. Here it is with 'Gold Rush' (which seldom looks gold) Sempervivum, and violet leaves on the left. It's Sedum ruprestre 'Angelina.' The SunSparklers line has come out with a miniature version of it, but my unhealthy soil keeps the full-size one from getting very big, so I'm content.

If it gets less sun, it stays a chartreuse color.

The ice plant, Delosperma 'Granita,' decided to open today! More about the ice plants in general another time.

And you must have guessed that we won't make it out of this color without yet another shot of Sempervivum 'Gold Nugget.' It continues to get ever more gold, and less red.

I edited and went shopping. Managed to finish trimming around the rock garden this afternoon and got the fence reinstalled. It's rather damaged. I am its worst enemy as I trip over it constantly. It's also my enemy. I haven't taken a bad fall yet, but I probably will at some point. Now I'm working on the trimming around the front garden.

I'll be showing you the new plants one of these days soon.

See Bright Pink

Sedum Successes

I think I already said that Sedums are the "backbone" plant of a dry rock garden. Well, unless you want cactus, but this is hard enough to weed already without adding prickles.

I just counted, and over the life span of the rock garden I have tried at least 44 different Sedums. Some are great successes, some not so much. Today I'll show you six that I'm very happy with. The criteria for making me happy today is that they are spreading well, are both interesting and visible this early in the season, and have a variety of foliage colors.

First up is 'Dazzleberry,' one of the SunSparkler series. This started as two tiny sprigs from a mail order in 2023. I love the color of the leaves, and it's grown and spread quite well.

This is a puddle that Jean gave me last year. It's about doubled in size. This is S. kamtschaticum 'Variegatum.' Not particularly fancy, but it will have reliable yellow flowers, and I'll be happy if it spreads as much as it suggests it will because I can use it to replace some of the really weedy sedums I have way too much of.

This is 'Ezawe.' It's not very happy in the first location where I put it, but the chunk that I moved here between rocks and in full sun is doing well. This is low growing and tiny. But I like how it fills between rocks.

This is the one my friend Betty gave me a couple of years ago. It's now gotten big enough that I'm pretty sure it's 'Vera Jameson.' This makes me really happy because I had one long ago that died. It took a couple of years, but it seems to be filling in better now.

The last two are both SunSparklers. These are technically hybrids, but I'm calling them sedums. The 'Lime Twister' is hugely reliable, spreading to make low mounds of light green and pink. I've split it several times and have chunks started in other locations. Here it's showing off with the Blue Fescue grass.

And the 'Lime Zinger' is a darker green, and it mounds up higher. I'm not sure you can tell the height in this top-down view, but I wanted to show how nice it looks with the Moneywort. Oh, and it looks like you get a litte mound on the right of S. hispanicum 'Pinkie.' This spreads all over the place, and I also have one that is much bluer, but I can't find its tag right now. It must be in my "to do" pile. I'm not sure if they stay separate varieties in the garden because the little balls just roll all over and then a patch appears out of nowhere. But they fill in small spaces nicely.

We just had a little pop-up thundershower that wasn't predicted at all! I had to go grab tools from where I had left them. It barely registered in the rain gauge, but it must have felt good to the plants after another day over 80°.

Very hot again today. I did errands and stuff and a little bit outside in the morning. Managed to keep moving fairly well, but I'm so far behind on so many things that it's crazy.

I think another time, I should show you some of the Sedums that haven't been such a big success for me. It's not always clear why they don't thrive on my hill, but it might be interesting.

See SunSparkler Sedums

Casualties in the Flower Gardens

Not a quality topic, but it sort of goes with the territory of gardening. These three plants which I bought last year seem to be really and truly gone.

Gone is the correct word for this first one. It is apparently also tasty. It was dug up three times last fall by something. Each time I replanted it. And then it totally disappeared. Although I paid a fair amount of money to get this 'Blue Pearl' sedum, I never thought that's actually what I received. See link at end. So, although it's annoying that an expensive one got eaten, I'm not too sad.



The one I'm really sorry about is the 'Deep Red' Rockfoil, Saxifraga x arendii. I think the rock garden was too dry for it. The store had more this spring, but not this color. I might try it again if I can find this one.



The loss of this one isn't a big surprise, but I'm moderately bummed. The Icelandic Poppies did not come back. It turns out that even though they are perennials, they are short-lived at best. I really enjoyed them last year, but I'm not paying money for what are essentially annuals.



I had a terrible time waking up today but managed to keep working on things all morning. After lunch, I realized I didn't feel very well so took a nap. That's really unusual for me. Had one of those strange dreams where I needed to move and just couldn't.

I feel better now. I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow.

See The Mystery of the Blue Pearl

2026 Rock Garden Report 1

I guess I don't have a full rock garden report from last year with a comparable date, but I found a couple of pix.

Here is the front view today.

And May 5, 2025. There was a little more color, but I really think we are a couple of weeks behind last year.

And for comparison, this is top part on April 27, 2024



And the top today.

It's filled in quite a bit more. Not all of the fillers are quality plants, but they help hold the soil until I can add better things.

Now for some goodies.

This is violets with 'Angelina' sedum and Sempervivum 'Gold Rush' (but it's red)

There's a lot going on here. The light purple is moss phlox, but the rock cress behind it is in bud (white). There are sedums greening up, and the pasqueflower is still blooming. I just like the colors and textures.

Here are a couple of bits of good news. The Lewisia has survived, and is blooming. It's not huge and healthy like it was when it came from the store last year, but I have hopes that it will improve in a year or so as it gets used to this spot.

And this sedum, 'Oriental Dancer,' which stays purple, gets tall, and has a dark purple flower heads is looking good.

I worked all day long on Confidence Camp. Was hoping I could find my notes from mapping workshops I did long ago because I knew I had some good materials for the handouts there, and I did find them! Also, Miki and I went out to look at the space for the final field exercise again, and we solved the last of the issues that needed to be checked there. I need a third "staff person" for that, and she has volunteered.

Also, Miki and Brian are going to let me borrow a campfire pit ring/grate that they just picked up. Hopefully, I can find one for me to keep in the next year, but now I am all set for this year.

A good day with good progress made.

See 2024 Rock Garden Report 1