Icing the Ice Plants

For some reason, ice plants just don't do well for me. The rock garden appear to have everything they should like, but it's a no-go. Or at least a no-thrive.

Here is 'Red Mountain Flame' this year. It's the one I've had the longest- about 4 years. It's also the happiest. (with a weed I missed pulling)

At some times of the day, the way the sun hits it, it seems to sparkle!

The other one that is just barely hanging in there is 'Granita.'



This is the 'Ocean Sunset' that I really liked. Here it is in 2024. That one died.



So I bought another one last year. Want to see what it looks like this year?

Yeah. Well, apparently there are some varieties that are tougher. The yellow one- 'Cooper's - is supposed to be really tough. But I have a ton of yellow in the summer and don't really want that. There is an orange one called 'Fire Spinner' that's supposed to be more hardy, and 'Dancing Embers' is sort of a pink-orange. The descriptions of all of them say they are OK in my zone, so who knows.

I'm tired of buying new ones and having them do poorly. Probably no more ice plants.

In other news: I edited. I finished my column for the Daily News. I finished weeding the rock garden and worked a little in the other gardens, and finished mowing the lawn. I'm beat, but it's all good!

Funny story from last night. I forgot to close the fencing at the bottom of the rock garden. I was looking off the deck and darned if that little 13-lined ground squirrel wasn't digging in the bottom of the garden. I clapped and yelled and he got himself back to his hole. He was digging where there are some bulbs, but I don't think he got anything. Fence is now closed. You can believe that!

See Ice Plants

Swapping Plants with Betsy

Betsy asked if she could stop by because she had some plants for me.

She wasn't kidding! She brought me a whole tray of plants, with 13 different things in it! And they've been cared for so they are as nicely established as anything from a nursery. Some are for the rock garden, and some for other places.

I did get three of them planted. It takes a hot minute to figure out where I want new plants to be.

This is Sedum ternatum, Woodland Sedum. It also grows wild and rambly in the woods, although I can't honestly say I've ever found it in the woods. I'm not sure that it likes full sun. I guess I'll find out. Supposedly it tolerates it, but it may not be as sprawling and drape as well as if it had some shade. It will have white flowers, and will contrast nicely in any season with the 'Firecracker' Sedum- the purple to its left.

Anyway, I'm trying it here where the purple rock cress was. That is barely alive. Not sure why- it should be very happy where I put it. Anyway, it's now in a pot and will hopefully recover.

She gave me two Sempervivums that I did not have. I'd been thinking I needed something like these for the spaces between logs at the top of the garden.

This one is 'Chocolate Kiss.'

And this is 'Blue Boy.'

There is some other plant news on the horizon too, but this is certainly enough for one day.

In other news: I edited, I got groceries. Then Betsy came. She already has most of the things I have available to share, but I did send her home with a few plants. It's fun to have a friend who likes the variety of plants as much as I do!

And, you know, I'm contemplating another garden space in my head.

See Betsy's Rock Garden

Color Me Smiling

I got my bu++ out of the chair today and then put it right back down in the seat of the lawnmower. There's really no excuse for why I don't do a better job of keeping things mowed now that we have a good mower. But I don't. Oh well. I did 3 of the 4 areas that I mow (if you don't count the space out back for Confidence Camp). The rest might happen tomorrow.

While I was riding around, of course I took a look over at the rock garden. Wowser! The camera doesn't do it justice. Actually, I've figured out why. The human eye can continually change focus to see the long view and then note the spaces of purple and yellow and maroon and all the shades of green which it puts back into the brain in the long view memory. Forgive the drawbacks of a camera; it's looking really nice right now.

The yellow Asiatic lily opened its first blossom today.

And looking westward in the front bed, this is a nice shot of the blue globe bellflower with the bright pink firefly heuchera flowers behind it.

And just for proof of mowing:

The weather was delightful today. I didn't have to beat myself into going out to work because it was too hot or whatever.

Finished one editing job. Mostly mowed. A little weeding, trimming, etc. But now I think I'm tired.

See Life Is Good in Color

More New Things

We'll start with the last two of the new plants. The final one I had ordered came today. It's very tiny, but I have hopes it will spread. Actually, it will probably do so faster if I separate the rosettes. Maybe tomorrow. It's a Sempervivum- one of the arachnoideum (has filaments like a spider web on it) and is called 'Arctic White.'

Here it is in context. Definitely need it to spread. I spent a fair amount of time deciding where best to put it.

The other new plant I bought last month may turn out to be a mistake. Or not. The leaves are a vary dark green, which is a nice contrast depending on what's next to it. (Not much yet.) And the flowers are a deep blue. But they are also very small, so they are pretty much lost in the rock garden. We'll see if it survives. It is Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue.' Common name- Creeping Speedwell.

The thing down on the road that is new is the paving project. Lots of people are complaining about how disruptive it is, but I can assure you that when I was a kid a project of this magnitude would take at least one whole summer. They will probably have all 5 miles of this done in a month. I'm impressed. The only thing that's tricky is they are doing it so fast you never are positive which lane is the one you are supposed to be in. No accidents so far!

This is new only in the fact that I've never seen a mourning dove come on the deck before. It both used the bird bath and took a few seeds from the saucer. Fun!

In other news: We got 0.7 inch of rain yesterday, but things dried out pretty well by afternoon so I could work in the garden without getting too wet. I did all the tasks as usual. Still trying to work my way through the rock garden for the second time this season. But I've now completed all the spaces where I have to be slightly acrobatic to get to them. The rest will definitely be easier.

Sigh. I have 3 plants in an online shopping cart. Because I had a gift card for most of what I've bought so far this year, I'm not even remotely close to what I spent on the gardens last year. But I still need more money for my tooth, and I just had a big car repair too. Decisions, decisions!

See Some of the new plants

Not On the Lake

We tried again. Still no boat ride. Haha.

Once again, Dan hosted the Spirit of the Woods board meeting at his cabin on Harper Lake with the promise of a boat ride afterwards. Last September, it got dark on us. Today, it rained all afternoon and evening. So we were not ON the lake.

So, although we were not on a boat on the lake, the cabin is "on the lake." At least it was a nice view.

We conducted a lot of important business. I'm really pleased with the way the chapter is developing a leadership team rather than one or two people doing all the work.

Maybe some day we'll get that boat ride. Although the next meeting is going to be at a different place, so it seems unlikely for September.

In other news: I got my quota of editing done and spent a fair amount of time doing prep for the meeting.

See Almost a Boat Ride