What's Blooming Now

 I have to lead with the stunner, the oriental poppy. This is a great success story. I rescued this nearly shaded-out and dead poppy from the hedge down below when all that was left was a tiny sprig. That was only a few years ago, and look at it now!

While we're in that front flower bed (which I have begun to weed), let's look at the Heuchera. I really don't care much about the flowers, but they are the reason that the common name is "coral bells." The wonderful 'Peach Flambe' plant has light pink to white bells. You can barely see them on that tall stem. Remember the song, "white coral bells upon a slender stalk?"

This Heuchera I got from my friend Margaret. I don't know the variety, but it's similar to one called 'Firefly.' The flowers are actually attractive in a darker pink. Behind it is the dwarf Solomon's seal. I've shown you that quite often.

Now let's move to the totally un-reclaimed flower bed out behind the house. Much to my surprise, the Star-of-Bethlehem has survived. I think a few of these might get moved to the rock garden. They are not supposed to like shade, but that's about all they are getting where they are now!

This is one of the Dianthus I bought last year, 'Kahori.' I discovered this year that it was in the same space with all the N. canaliculatus daffodils. Not an attractive plan as the daf leaves linger. The dafs were too tall for that space anyway, so I've dug all the blubs from under this and will move them. Despite the disturbance, this is very happy. It's covered with buds.

Here's a plant I wish I'd never bought. It's everywhere, and I have to just keep ripping it out. I've left a few clumps. It's variegated vinca. The flowers are twice the size of the regular vinca (creeping myrtle, periwinkle), and it's not quite as invasive, but it's a pest.

Speaking of nuisance plants, I'm working on keeping the Bloody Cranesbill geranium controlled to certain areas of the rock garden. Meanwhile, I have to admit that it does fill things in beautifully with color. The flowers are the magenta. The lighter color is a pink geranium I got years ago for free. Maybe G. cinereum. It's not nearly so invasive. Right now, the rock garden is primarily magenta and pink with these plants. I have put a few plugs in the new section because I want it to look balanced in the long run. Even the pink one that was a tiny sprig I moved last fall is blooming already this year. They all look brighter in person.

Finally, this is one of my last year's purchases that is making me very smiley. This is the Red Mountain Flame ice plant. Instead of one reluctant blossom at a time, it's going to just bust out with color!

There are several other plants with buds on them. Very exciting!

I edited other people's stuff and my own stuff today, and went shopping. Big vendor event tomorrow and Sunday.

See The Rock Garden Eats More Plants and Rocks

More Goodies from the Woods

 No wonder I was so tired yesterday afternoon. I forgot that Gary and I held up this clump of trees so everyone could walk under it.

We saw several kinds of ferns, but I'm always a sucker for the Northern Maidenhair, Adiantum pedatum. These whorls are just perfect.

This is nothing special, but it's one of my favorite sedges, just because it's kind of showy. Carex intumescens.

Probably because the wind brought them down, we saw a lot of oak apple galls.

This one must be very new. The structure inside wasn't filled in like I usually see. For example this one

Here's another little oddity. This bracken fern should have 3 branches. But something has damaged the growth meristem. The frond that should have grown there is all bunched up. It looks kind of like "witches broom," but that usually only is found on woody plants. Like galls, this can be caused by more than one thing. Insect damage, a pathogen, a chemical. When you see something similar on goldenrod, it was probably caused by a midge or a fly making the plant create a chamber where its egg can grow. But I've never seen one on a fern before.

In other news, I edited big time. Minnesota is taking a lot of work. I had the data collected, but put it aside because I hadn't settled on a format that worked in all situations. But once I get Minnesota whipped into shape, everything east of there is pretty clean.

I also worked in my gardens for over an hour, total. I edit until I have to wiggle, then go outside for a while.

See Gary Hits 100

Gary Hits 100 (aka Colette Hike #2)

 This was Colette's second leg of her quest to hike all of our Chapter's miles of trail this year. But it was a milestone day for Gary. He completed his Hike 100 Challenge for 2024.

Everyone was hoping to find some Lady Slipper orchids, and we did. Cypripedium acaule.

Now for two plants that don't look alike, but have recently been linked as cousins by DNA testing. This is False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum racemosum.

Its cousin is the familiar but much smaller Canada Mayflower, Maianthemum canadense.

Another popular spring flower is the Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum.

We saw several other nifty plants, but I think I'll save them for another day. Also saw a leucistic robin (had white spots). And I forgot to tell you about the best sighting from last week's hike. A vary large blue racer snake was parked in the trail. But he felt me coming, and was outa there like a flash. No chance at all for a picture.

Here is our intrepid group for today. The weather was cooler, and the distance was shorter. It was a lovely day for a hike.

I had high hopes for getting some work done this afternoon, but I answered a few emails, opened a file and fell asleep. Guess a rest day is not out of line.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 237.4, of which 94.3 is North Country Trail.

North Country Trail, Lake County, MI. Bowman Lake TH to Upper Branch Bridge, 5 miles

See Gary and the Six Dwarves

New Rhubarb Recipe

  The picture of these cookies with the recipe looked amazing. The reality... not so much. They are OK. Just a basic brown sugar cookie (which I've made from another cookbook and previously also declared "meh.")

These have little chunks of rhubarb in them. They're OK, but I have a book that I'll bet has some much better cookie recipe that uses rhubarb.

If anyone local needs rhubarb, I have a ton. Just contact me.

I edited a lot today. Worked outside for a bit, but it was still very wet when I was out there. Then I met with my proofreader. Oh, and I made cookies. Somehow, the day disappeared. I have a meeting this evening.

See Two Uses for Flour

The Rock Garden Eats More Plants and Rocks

  Well, I allowed myself to cruise some of the places to get plants this weekend. Found two I liked already marked down and rescued them. Found a few others at reasonable prices.

There are six new plants and six new rocks in the rock garden, and you can't really tell where any of them went. I'm exaggerating a tiny bit on the rocks. Of course, I can see the rocks. The lower outer edge of this space never got finished. I worked on it last summer, and hope to get it really finalized this year. Still needs more rocks, and the logs Miki brought me. I need to get those spaces defined and leveled. Today is a good example of why. The rain just washes down the open slope with nothing to break it up.

Here are my new plant friends.

First is a rescue that isn't even hardy. However, it was really marked down, and if I remember to take it inside this fall it will be fine. Otherwise, it was really cheap, so... This is Sedum rupestre, mexicanum 'Lemon Coral.' It's a cousin of the 'Lemon Ball' I bought a few years ago that was marked as hardy, and isn't remotely so. Incidentally, Home Depot is still selling the Lemon Ball, and it's still marked as hardy. Ha! I won't make that mistake again. You can see the two little sad bits, but they may recover. If not, the larger portion of the plant is fine. It's supposed to stay that chartreuse yellow all season.

I'm just a sucker for various Sempervivum. I'm always hopeful they will actually end up looking like the pictures of what they are supposed to become when out in the sun, instead of like all the others. This one is 'Gold Rush,' and it should get reddish with bright golden tips on the leaves. I do like these ones that make babies on long runners. They look good no matter what. If it does get golden, I might have to move it, since I seem to have plopped it very near two other yellow plants. No big deal. There is a really bright golden variety called 'Gold Nugget' that gets bright yellow and orange. Quite unique. I suppose if I really wanted that, I'd have to order it.

Unless I do order things, I'm pretty limited to what the local places carry each year, which is not much. I cruise the aisles to see what they have that is different this season. When out of town, stopping at nurseries is something I always hope to have time to do. Here's another Sempervivum. Its variety is 'Black.' That sounds promising, right? I would hope it will turn very dark like those outer tips. The pictures on line aren't particularly dark. We shall see.

I'm always looking for interesting sedums. The Sunsparkler ones are just the cream of the crop. They are developed right here is west Michigan, somewhere. But the exact location seems to be something of a secret. I've emailed them twice to see if one can tour their research plots, but haven't gotten an answer, and can't seem to find what city they are in. I don't think I would have ordered this one, but there it was in the store. It gets bright pink blossoms in late summer, so that's a good time that always needs more color. It went in one of my "new" spaces. I have no idea what friends it will have yet.

The other sedum I got is some variety of Sedum spurium, the most popular ones of which are 'Dragon's Blood,' and 'Tricolor.' It's neither of those. Of course the label is useless. Tricolor would have pink on the leaves. This seems to be a variation that has only green and white. I kind of hope it stays that way because I have tricolor from two different sources (that are slightly different) already.

Speaking of 'Dragon's Blood,' I had one that was gorgeous called 'Fulda Glow.' I'm not sure if any of it survived. I have a sprig that was in the right place, and it's alive and labeled. Maybe it will bloom this year and then I'll know. A lot of the less colorful ones have survived.

Finally, I've been having really good luck with the several dianthus I got last year. Most of them were on markdown, as was the one I bought yesterday. Even the one that got seriously chewed is trying to recover. At the store, I was feeling a little sorry for myself because there was a bright red dianthus that would have been amazing. But it was full price. Anyway, I now have this pot home and deadheaded, and I love it! I may stop back and see if there are any of these markdowns left. They had several, and the garden could certainly hold another pot. Most of them bloom almost all summer. Can't beat that. This one is 'Red Dwarf, Eastern Star.'

I managed to get a few minutes in the garden between rain storms. Did some volunteer stuff and edited. A good day. I sort of wanted to goof off and read, but I managed to stay focused.

See Rock Garden Report 2