Just Wow!

  Never in my wildest dreams did I think the rock garden would look so good in this first year after the recovery effort. The color doesn't show up as much in the picture as it does in real life. Or maybe I took the photo too late in the afternoon.

Anyway, here are some more goodies. The bronze ajuga is blooming, joining the various colors of moss phlox. It's very happy, and it spreads easily. I'm going to move some farther out from the wall this year and see if it will tolerate the sunnier place out there because the foliage is nice all season.

Here's the moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia again. I can't believe how happy it is since it's never done anything before except be scraggly and barely survive. Near this patch, it's found a place to hide itself in a crack between two rocks and that looks especially nice. I hope it does more of that. You can just barely see a sedum friend beside it. That is also a sedum that I didn't think was going to survive. I bought it last year, and it was not very happy. But I guess it just needed to get better established. Soon, I'll do a sedum picture day, but I want some of them to get a little bigger first.

And I have two more daffodils for you, but I think these will be the last different species for this year. The first are some tiny Tete-a-tete in the rock garden. Another one I did not know was still alive.

Now, we'll move out of the rock garden. I should have pictured these yesterday before the rain. But I still have some Pheasant-Eye Narcissus. These came from my childhood home.

The 'Stewartsonian' Azalea was a bit stressed from being transplanted when it was in serious bud, so some of the buds just withered. But enough of them opened that you can see its color. This is now planted near the forsythia and the Flowering Quince (that doesn't often flower, but the bush is looking the healthiest it ever has, so there's hope). I like it. I used to have a sand cherry there, but it died.

But this is the real stunner. I had no idea these would look so great together in the spring. This is the 'Frostbite' Brunnera and the 'Peach Flambe' Heuchera. I'm pretty sure the 'Jack Frost' Brunnera has died. But I'm seriously liking the Brunnera that the deer won't eat. Their real beauty is later when the leaves get big and are colored. These ones will be mostly white. I'll probably get another.

Much was accomplished today. I only have 86 miles of campsites done, but I'm pretty sure I'll get to 100 yet this evening. And huge progress happened on other fronts. Stay tuned.

See Much Nicer Than Expected