Rock Garden Report 7

I wanted to get this 100 percent weeded before I did a report. I didn't quite make it, but I probably will before I leave. I'm really close. Anyway, I'm doing the report today.

I got some logs from friend Miki, but I haven't had time to finish the far edge yet. Maybe in October.

Here's the view from the deck. You can see I've got it pretty clean. Just ignore the other parts for now! You probably can't even tell in this long shot.

Now for some details. This is one of the sedums from Betsy. Sedum 'Thundercloud.'

This is one small space that's beginning to look like it's supposed to. The hen and chicks is one I bought early in the season: super-cheap-on-sale-broken-pot. Sempervivum 'Ruby Heart.' I have to say that I don't get the ruby heart part. It hasn't even turned red in the sun, but that's OK. If it is hardy (it's supposed to be), I'll be happy.

The trailing thing is Sedum sarmentosum. It is great to fill in cracks and droop over rock edges. It has yellow flowers in June and turns golden in the fall. A little of it survived the reclaiming, and Betsy gave me a bit more. It grows fast too.

Here's another Sempervivum. This one is 'Red Heart.' Whatever. I love the trailing babies. We'll also have to see what this looks like after the winter, but it seems to have settled in and looks happy.

This is one I'm really, really happy about. I paid full price for this, and it was only a little tiny clump. This is one of the Sunsparkler Sedum hybrids. This is called 'Razzleberry.' The foliage is blue-purple, and as you can see the flowers are bright raspberry! I hope this spreads well.

You might remember that a couple of days ago I said the variegated ajuga did not like the sun in the rock garden, but the bronze ajuga would tolerate it. Actually, it looks really good in the sun because the leaves get very dark. When it's planted in the shade the leaves green up more. In front of it you can see a wild violet. I let a lot of those stay in the rock garden because they are a good height and they fill in nicely for now.

I may have to fence the top of the rock garden next year. Somebody has been chewing on plants up there. I don't think they've killed anything, but a couple of the autumn sedums won't bloom this year. They must be really tasty. The bird netting is working really well on the front garden, and it doesn't look ugly. I may get some more of that in the spring.

One final plant. I let some wild Clammy Ground Cherry (a tomato relative) stay near the retaining wall. They are native, and what the heck- they are happy. They are really too tall, but for now, they provide some interest. You can see this also got chewed, but it also flowered and fruited!

I spent almost all the day preparing for the Workshop I'm leading at the NCTA Celebration. I can tweak it on the road, but I need to make sure I have everything included that I need from home before I leave.

See Rock Garden Report 6