Much Nicer than Expected - 2024 Rock Garden Report 2

  I never expected the rock garden to look so good the first year after cleaning it up. A lot of plants that I thought were dead and gone have showed up. Here is the view from the deck, just for comparison with last fall. You can see that it looks fairly full, and not much of that is weeds. I think by next week, I'll be able to start carefully cleaning again.

I showed you these daffodils two weeks ago. They are still looking really nice. Pretty sure they are Narcissus Canaliculatus, although 'Minnow' is still in the running. They seem to be getting a little tall for the rock garden, but they are OK in the space they are in. Since the flowers are smallish, that works well.

Here's a daffodil I had no idea was still alive. I had purchased bulbs for a lot of miniature ones. A number of them seem to be truly gone. This is N. pumilla, 'Rip Van Winkle.'

I wasn't sure this sedum was going to make it. It never looked happy at all last year. But look at it now! This is Sedum pluricaule, 'Ewaze." I like the color, and I think it stays rather blue-ish all season.

Here's a little plant that just refuses to die, although it never is happy. My hill is really way too dry for it. This is Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea.' Hey, I'll take any tiny bit of colored foliage. I don't think it's ever bloomed. I just leave any little bits I find instead of digging them up. It has a grape hyacinth friend.

Now, for two carefully staged photos, but no photoshopping! These views look like what I want the garden to look like all the time. This one is a section of violets and light magenta moss phlox (it used to be candystripe phlox, but it reverted to this color and white).

This is the very best! Would you look at that Pasqueflower still going gangbusters after a full month since it first bloomed! Filling in spaces is magenta and white moss phlox. There are some sempervivum and sedum starting to get bigger in between, and a few violets. The best of all is the white grape hyacinth in the middle. There are some scattered blue ones popping up all over. But the white ones were a gift from my mom a long time ago. I had no idea there were any still viable, and sometimes the oddball varieties don't last as well as the old standards. And, it's not just a couple of stalks, but a whole clump! This is what a spring rock garden should look like.

Mostly I worked on the book. 100 miles of campsites, some formatting and fixing things. Also edited for 30 minutes for someone else. I might be able to beat myself into a little more yet this evening.

See 2024 Rock Garden Report 1